Spirit of Survival - Softcover

YA In 1980 Sheehy found herself in one of life's passages which she had explored so thoroughly in her book Passages (Bantam, 1977). Providentially, while on assignment in Cambodia, she met Phat Mohm, a child refugee. Sheehy circumvented the bureaucracy and brought Mohm to New York to be a part of her busy life there. The book serves as a cathartic record of Mohm's struggle to deal with the memories of the past, as well as her difficult adjustment to a new culture. Along with Mohm's testimony, the book offers a well documented description of the Khmer Rouge regime and insights into Cambodian mythology and culture. Sheehy also explores the larger issue of human evil and the ability of personality to transcend it. This is a well written biography of a heroic teenager who has survived the most brutish physical and emotional abuse through the healing power of love. Anne D. Johnson, formerly at St. John's School, Houston
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In 1981, while in Thailand researching a news story on the Cambodian refugees, Sheehy interviewed an 11-year-old girl whose family had been annihilated by the Pol Pot regime. She was unable to forget "the little girl who could not cry" and overcame heavy odds to sponsor her to come to America. Sheehy welcomed Mohm as her daughter and began to help her recover her lost childhood. This book is Mohm's story, as she recounts the details of four years of killing that reduced her to terror and apathy. From Mohm's experiences, Sheehy deduces "hallmarks of the victorious personality," a technique of overgeneralization that made her Passages and Pathfinders so popular. Her love for this child and anguish for her people, however, give this book an immediacy that transcends her previous work. Suzanne Druehl, Little Rock P.L., Ark.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.