A 5 star account of the complex history of the Karen ethnic group in Burma and a heart felt portrayal of the 'chronically oppressed' Karen people. There are some spoilers for the first 40% of the book (as far as I got before deleting this from my Kindle) below in my rant, so be warned. Miss Burma tells the story of modern-day Burma through the eyes of Benny and Khin, husband and wife, and their daughter Louisa.
It reveals their discrimination and powerlessness in a Burma which has forced them to be displaced numerous times, to being tortured during various wars, and betrayed by their own people. Now I know a great deal more and how broad of an effect the power struggles of WWII, the ensuing revolution and tA richly rewarding read on many levels. A strict report, worthy of sympathy. Miss Burma tells the story of modern-day Burma through the eyes of Benny and Khin, husband and wife, and their daughter Louisa.
My clearest impression was of the time in 2004 when the country refused any foreign aid after the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Welcome back. What puzzled me was the gap between what I’d learned from family members about American involvement in Karen affairs (for example, that my mother’s first husband had been in discussions with the CIA) and the general absence in scholarly literature of information about this. It was an ambitious novel that could have been truly great, but just didn't deliver, in my opinion. He was an Indian-Portuguese Jew born in Rangoon, but raised in Calcutta. She was Karen, one of the repressed ethnic minorities of Burma. It tells of the disillusionment and mistrust among the various factions in the revolution for independence. When it became clear that the Allies were winning the war, Aung San switched his army’s loyalties. Meanwhile, the Karen fought on behalf of the British, staging what some have called the Second World War’s most successful guerilla operation against the Japanese forces. Sadly, during this time of largely unreported turmoil, domestic and foreign business interests, encouraged in part by U.S. policies, will no doubt continue to increase their efforts to stake out locations for resource harvesting in mostly minority areas now controlled by the Burma Army. by And once they are gone, the dominant tribe proves that they have NO interest in unity and proceed to impose various forms of persecution on the minority group. by He had just returned to Burma when he saw her at a distance, fell in love, and asked to marry her. This was some time before she died. And why did it sometimes seem that my mother wanted to keep me in the dark about her personal and national history, almost as though I were unworthy of it? I knew little about Burma before reading this: a small country in Asia, tea plantations, elephants, jungle, some British involvement, and lots of ugliness in WWII w the Japanese invasion. Craig uses the word Burma, not Myanmar. Published Based of the lives of the author’s mother and grandparents, Miss Burma tells the story of modern-day Burma through the eyes of one family struggling to find love, justice, and meaning during a time of war and political repression. Why, when she mentioned the past, did she speak of her love for the same country that practiced a systematized form of ethnic cleansing—a country whose government had apparently put a price on my mother’s head? by I was on a plane when I finished reading it, it was one of my wonderful flight , thank youI hate this book enough to break my "no DNF if I am more than 20% of the way in" rule.