ambodian teenager who flees her homeland and its horrible war to live in the United States, where she discovers not paradise but an entirely new set of overwhelming problems. Her life may no longer be in danger, but her identity certainly is.
Crew portrays Sundara not as a superhero-in-the-making (in contrast to Ende and his portrayal of Bastian), but as a very real and vulnerable young woman-in-the-making. The book immediately shows Sundara to be a caring girl in her treatment of her aunt and uncle's newborn baby, but that peaceful scene is suddenly torn apart by the coming of the Khmer Rouge as the country is thrown into renewed warfare.
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