Audiobook review: Slow Noodles by Chantha Nguon

BOOK DESCRIPTION

A haunting and beautiful memoir from a Cambodian refugee who lost her country and her family during Pol Pot’s genocide in the 1970s but who finds hope by reclaiming the recipes she tasted in her mother’s kitchen.

“Take a well-fed nine-year-old with a big family and a fancy education. Fold in 2 revolutions, 2 civil wars, and one wholesale extermination. Subtract a reliable source of food, life savings, and family members, until all are gone. Shave down childhood dreams for approximately two decades, until only subsistence remains.”

In Slow Noodles, Chantha Nguon recounts her life as a Cambodian refugee who lost everything and everyone—her house, her country, her parents, her siblings, her friends—everything but the memories of her mother’s kitchen, the tastes and aromas of the foods her mother made before the dictator Pol Pot tore her country apart in the 1970s, killing millions of her compatriots. Nguon’s irrepressible spirit and determination come through in this emotional and poignant but also lyrical and magical memoir that includes over 20 recipes for Khmer dishes like chicken lime soup, banh sung noodles, pâté de foie, curries, spring rolls, and stir-fries. For Nguon, recreating these dishes becomes an act of resistance, of reclaiming her place in the world, of upholding the values the Khmer Rouge sought to destroy, and of honoring the memory of her beloved mother.

BOOK REVIEW

Slow Noodles is Chantha Nguon’s memoir of her life before and after the Pol Pot regime devastated Cambodia. She describes a life of plenty which suddenly turned to nothing, and then the difficulties of being a Cambodian refugee in Thailand. One thing she held onto was the memory of her mother’s recipes, and she shares those recipes along with her story.

As she begins to relay the pain of her journey, she asks us to close our eyes and imagine losing everything we have, piece by piece, including family and even food. This book is a reminder to treasure the things that really matter. The story is both heartbreaking and uplifting, and the recipes sound wonderful. Especially poignant is the fact that Nguon used the recipes as a way to keep her family traditions alive even in the midst of so much loss.

Although I received a free audio copy, I also ordered a hardcover copy for myself. This book and these recipes are meant to be saved and cherished.

The audiobook narrators, Kim Green and Clara Kim, do a wonderful job of portraying the loss, pain, devastation, and death, but also the ray of hope that remains in the form of family recipes and traditions. The whole audiobook production just swept me away to this difficult time and place.

I received a free copy of the audiobook from Hachette Audio. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

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