I offer my profoundest gratitude to my mother, who, through a lifetime of conversations, has been my abiding partner in a journey across time and continents. I am indebted to my stepfather for sharing his war experiences as a Lon Nol government soldier who, like so many of that time, brought his young family to the battlefields, convinced that it was the safest of many risky choices.
My thanks also to Hin Yuthika, Kim McDevitt, and His Excellency Oum Maknorith for the glimpses they shared of the Phnom Penh social milieu of the 1960s; Om Chhem and his fellow village elders along the shores of the Tonle Sap Lake; the demining professional and former soldier Nhiem Khon; the archaeologist Chea Socheat; the builders and artisans Kann Mony Rath, Khorn Bora, Yich Yanyan, and Touch Det; and Nen Ekneka, Prach Mara, Mak Sophea, and Chey Savry, for their insights into the struggles of contemporary youth.
I would also like to acknowledge the numerous, meticulous analyses of the Khmer Rouge period published by the Documentation Center of Cambodia, as well as historical studies by David Chandler, Philip Short, and Ben Kiernan, which have proved indispensable in confirming key events. Reyum Publishing has provided an invaluable service in publishing Khmer language works on traditional music and ritual, including illustrated volumes by Keo Narom and Ang Choulean.
I am deeply indebted to my agent, Emma Sweeney, for her steadfast support and wise counsel; and to my editor, Trish Todd, for her astute eye and insightful probing. My journey as an author has been all the more rewarding because of these two guardian angels at my side. I offer my heartfelt thanks also to Susan Moldow and her amazing team at Touchstone—David Falk, Tara Parsons, Brian Belfiglio, Jessica Roth, Meredith Vilarello, Kaitlin Olson, Kelsey Manning, and Cherlynne Li—for shepherding this story into the world; and to Wendy Sheanin and those at Simon & Schuster for their sustained faith and enthusiasm.
My boundless gratitude to my larger family for their generous love and support always—in particular, my beautiful sisters, Leakhena and Lynda; my fellow artist and musical inspiration, Patrick; my superhero Joann; my lovely sister-in-law, Juliana, and the kindhearted Ann-Mari and Mitchell.
To my husband, Blake, I offer my heart and soul. To our daughter, Annelise, I give my unconditional, limitless love. I am inexpressibly grateful for their love in return.
Touchstone Reading Group Guide
Music of the Ghosts
This reading group guide for Music of the Ghosts includes an introduction, discussion questions, ideas for enhancing your book club, and a Q&A with author Vaddey Ratner. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.
Introduction
As Music of the Ghosts opens, Teera’s beloved aunt Amara, the only link to her traumatic childhood escape from the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge genocide, has just passed away. Now, she must return to her homeland to rediscover a family legacy.
At age thirty-seven, Teera is in many ways a stranger to this new Cambodia and the stories it holds. In addition to fulfilling her promise to return her aunt’s ashes to Phnom Penh, she has been called by a letter from a half-blind man, the Old Musician, who is searching for a peace he can’t find in the temple compound where he earns his keep by playing for ceremonies and funerals. Still, the Old Musician and the young woman are bound by history, and the story of the three instruments that are her birthright.
In this lyrical and poignant novel (the follow-up to the author’s bestselling In the Shadow of the Banyan), the heartbreak of the Old Musician’s past intertwines with Teera’s own voyage of self-discovery, as questions of past trauma, present justice, and the legacy of love change both of them forever.
Topics & Questions for Discussion
1. Teera feels sure that Amara has had to live with a “divided self” since fleeing her homeland and coming to live in Minnesota. In what ways does Teera, herself, live with an incomplete sense of her identity?
2. When she first visits Wat Nagara, Teera panics, feeling sorrowful and isolated. “She wanted to be alone with the ghosts, to seek communion with her loved ones. Instead she came face to face with her aloneness, saw it reflected wholly, indelibly, in the engraved invocation.” Compare these two kinds of solitude. Why is one so much more painful for her than the other?
3. Among the many parallels between the musicians’ lives, both Sokhon and Tun abandon their young daughters on the eve of war. Review each father’s reasons for doing so. Is this abandonment more cruel or more kind?
4. Compare the ways in which the novel’s three main female characters, Channara, Amara, and Suteera, deal with the trauma of the Cambodian genocide. What are the “breaking points” for their grief? Would you characterize some of the women as stronger than others?
5. How does Mr. Chum become a father figure for Teera during her visit to Cambodia? Describe the many ways the novel invokes the meaning of family, disrupted and recreated.
6. “The hues of one love simmer in another.” There are many layered relationships in the novel, in which certain figures become standins or foils for another. Choose a few pairings to discuss. Some ideas include: Channara/Teera, Sokhon/Tun, Teera/Sita, Teera/Lah, and Narunn/The Old Musician.
7. Several times in the novel, Teera’s first encounters are infused with questions from the past, as in her descriptions of meeting the Old Musician and Dr. Narunn. How does the author’s writing convey this interplay of perception, hope, and memory? What does it reveal about the characters?
8. Much of the novel explores how we adapt to and survive in the face of inhumanity. Still, it doesn’t sugarcoat the lasting effects of fear, desperation, and ruthlessness on its characters’ psyches. Would you say that Music of the Ghosts has an optimistic message?
9. “Foreigners have often said ours is a ‘culture of impunity.’ An English phrase, as you know. . . . What does it really mean?” Discuss the abbot’s question. Judging by Ratner’s description in the book, would you describe the Cambodian culture as such?
10. One of Music of the Ghosts’ most resonant themes is that of justice: what it entails, and what its limits are. What is your definition of justice? Is there a difference between justice and retribution, as the Old Musician suggests?
11. Consider the modern children in the book: the young monks, Lah, and Makara, the young addict-turned-novice. How are they affected by the legacy of the war and genocide?
12. The Old Musician feels responsible for Sokhon’s fate, and a single question has tormented him for decades. Was he right to do what he did in Slak Daek? What would you have done in the same situation? The question is a good one for debate.
Enhance Your Book Club
1. Read an English translation of Arthur Rimbaud’s poem Guerre, which makes such a strong impression on Tun as a student at Chomroeun Vichea high school. What light does it shed on the character of the young Tun, or the Old Musician he becomes?