hello,
I had been wanting to comment on this post but was waiting for a response from the magazine (Uptown) that ran this interview. However, I feel compelled to respond to the anonymous comment above.
I am the author of Dogs at the Perimeter, the novel written about in this post. I have asked the magazine to take down this article because it is, unfortunately, full of errors and mis-quotes. The journalist did not digitally record the interview; he took notes by hand. In the process of writing up the interview, he seems to have pulled up snippets of phrases and then reconstructed the sentences, erasing all context. We spoke about the difficulties facing survivors and refugees; and then the interviewer *created* quotes.
I absolutely did not say 99% of the things he quoted me as saying, and was appalled and disturbed to see these lines attributed to me.
I have asked the magazine to take down the story until they are able to verify each quote that was used. I agree with Anonymous that the quotes are not only "ignorant and stereotypical" but rife with factual errors, not only about the novel itself, but about Cambodia.
Over the last five years, I have returned to Cambodia many times, spending months researching, interviewing, and writing. I'm very sorry for the views promulgated in this article; I wholeheartedly disagree with them.
Please feel free to write to me directly at : dogsattheperimeter@gmail.com
very best,
Madeleine Thien
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