Empire Falls
Reviewed: Geoff Ryman's The King's Last Song
Book Reviews
First published in England in 2006, Geoff Ryman’s novel The King’s Last Song balances stories about the lives of four characters: a 12th-century Cambodian king, an archaeologist working for the United Nations, a young “motoboy” who chauffeurs tourists on his motorcycle, and a former Khmer Rouge loyalist. There is no irony in the novel, little humor, no verbal pyrotechnics, and, despite the full cast of characters, few intricacies of plot; instead, Ryman has crafted a solid historical novel with an authentic feel for both ancient and modern Cambodia and, mercifully, none of the arid expository expanses that sometimes make historical fiction a chore. Naturally, the Khmer Rouge’s staggeringly vast genocide looms like a ghost over the story, though the infamous killing fields are only alluded to. One character, a Communist and kidnapper, gives perhaps the most trenchant assessment of a Khmer Rouge leader and the devastation that Pol Pot’s regime caused: “[He] kills about a thousand trained, sensible, politically aware, intelligent Cambodian Communists because, only because they’ve lived in North Vietnam.…He takes over the country. He’s so incompetent; he kills a million people without even knowing he’s done it! How do you kill one million people by mistake and not know?” Those tragedies are embodied in Map, an ambiguously sinister Angkor Wat policeman. He’s guilty of unspeakably grisly crimes as a Khmer Rouge cadre—his scars mirror the wickedness he perpetrated. Yet he suffers, too: His family has been killed, and he’s tormented by hallucinations of his victims. His story is intertwined with tales of other contemporary Cambodians and of the medieval king Jayavarman, a notably egalitarian ruler. In a... Continued 
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- Submersion Journalism
Thursday, Oct. 16, at Busboys & Poets
Event Calendar: This Week in Books
Fri. Oct. 10, 2008 - Thu. Oct. 16, 2008
- ANDREW BACEVICH
discusses and signs copies of The Limits of Power.
Politics and Prose,, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Fri., 10/10, 7 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919. - ANDREW BILLINGSLEY
discusses and signs copies of Yearning to Breathe Free.
Politics and Prose,, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Sat., 10/11, 1 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919. - ROBERT BROAD & JOHN CAVANAGH
discuss and sign copies of Development Redefined: How the Market Met its Match.
Busboys and Poets,, 2021 14th St. NW. Fri., 10/10, 6 p.m. Free. (202) 387-7638. - KEN BRUEN & GARY PHILLIPS
read from their latest works.
Busboys and Poets,, 2021 14th St. NW. Sat., 10/11, 6 p.m. Free. (202) 387-7638. - MIKE BRUNE & ANTONIA JUHASZ
discusses and signs copies of The Tyranny of Oil.
Busboys and Poets,, 2021 14th St. NW. Thu., 10/9, at 6:30 p.m. Free. (202) 387-7638. - MISTI BURMEISTER
discusses and signs copies of From Boomers to Bloggers.
Barnes & Noble,, 7851L Tysons Corner Center. Sat., 10/11, 2 p.m. Free. (703) 506-2937. - JOHN DIAMOND
discusses and signs copies of The CIA and the Culture of Failure.
Politics and Prose,, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Sun., 10/12, 5 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919. - IVAN DOIG
discusses and signs copies of The Eleventh Man.
Politics and Prose,, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Fri., 10/10, 4 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919. - KATE FEIFFER
discusses and signs copies of President Pennybaker.
Politics and Prose,, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Fri., 10/10, 10:30 a.m. Free. (202) 364-1919. - PETER W. GALBRAITH
discusses and signs copies of Unintended Consequences.
Politics and Prose,, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Mon., 10/13, 7 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919. - SUSAN MCCORKINDALE
discusses her book Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl.
Barnes & Noble at Tysons Corner,, 7851 L Tysons Corner Center. Thu., 10/16, 7 p.m. Free. (703) 506-2937. - MARION NESTLE
discuss and sign copies of Pet Food Politics.
Politics and Prose,, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Thu., 10/9, 7 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919. - JOHN PODESTA
discusses and signs copies of The Power of Progress.
Politics and Prose,, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Sat. 10/11, 6 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919. - BRUCE RIEDEL
discusses and signs copies of The Search for Al-Qaeda.
Politics and Prose,, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Tue., 10/14, 7 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919. - JOHN SCIESZKA
discusses and signs copies of Knucklehead.
Politics and Prose,, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Wed., 10/15, 4:30 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919. - PADMA VENKATRAMAN
discusses and signs copies of Climbing the Stairs.
Politics and Prose,, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Thu., 10/16, 10:30 a.m. Free. (202) 364-1919. - SARAH VOWELL
reads and signs copies of The Wordy Shipmates.
Avalon Theatre,, 5612 Connecticut Ave. NW. Thu., 10/9, at 8:15 p.m. $10. (202) 364-1919. - BILL WASIK, BARBARA EHRENREICH, ANGELA VALDEZ, AND KEN SILVERSTEIN
discuss and sign copies of Submersion Journalism: Reporting in the Radical First Person from Harper's Magazine (see page xx).
Busboys and Poets,, 2021 14th St. NW. Thu., 10/16, 6:30 p.m. Free. (202) 387-7638. - JAY WHITNEY
discusses and signs copies of Historic Photos of Ronald Reagan.
Barnes & Noble,, 2800 Clarendon Blvd., Arlington. Mon., 10/13, 7 p.m. Free. (703) 248-8244.
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This Week in
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