Review of A Boy Named Rindy by Olivia Talbot

 

If you love deep, touching, heartfelt stories that include history and a beautiful faith story, you won’t want to miss this book. It’s based on the true story of a man named Rindy in Cambodia. I’ll be honest: there were times it got so heavy I had to put it down to process my thoughts. I never knew the people of Cambodia went through so much in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

There was great darkness surrounding Rindy from the time he was a young boy until he was an adult. As a mom of four, I can’t imagine my young child facing the responsibilities, loneliness, torture, hunger, and emotional distress that he did. And yet, because the darkness was so great, the threads of light shone more brightly through at different points in his life until they culminated in a beautiful tapestry of hope, salvation, and future ministry opportunities.

This book is long but worth your time. Not only will it remind you that there is hope in the darkest of places, but it is also a word of warning for us. The people of Cambodia were caught between the battles of other nations, including a communist one, while claiming to be neutral. Yet all the while, insidious factions were rising within their country who believed they knew the best answers. When one of the factions took over power, they enticed the people with lofty promises of provision and wealth to be shared throughout their nation. They insisted that the state must take control over everything, and then they would dispense as needed. But necessary things were never dispensed. The people were told what was appropriate to think, believe, talk about, and do. Everyone was encouraged to look at their neighbors with suspicion and to report certain things. Before they knew it, they were completely controlled and suffering under their own people who had promised so much. They had become a communist nation.

This is not a light-hearted, touchy-feely book, but one of substance that will point you to God and remind you to plant seeds even when you don’t see fruit because you never know how God will use them. I highly encourage you to invest the time in reading this book. Thank you, Olivia Talbot, for following the call to write it. 

Get A Boy Named Rindy here.

Book Synopsis:

Based on a gripping and inspirational true story of a survivor of the Cambodian Genocide, who finds redemption.

Cambodia, 1968.

Rindy is a young boy of the jungle, but he is hunted. Due to his parent’s divorce in a time of political upheaval, he falls between the cracks as rejection sinks its claws into him. Shuffled around and forgotten, he finds himself at the ruthless mercy of Buddhist monks. Safety and belonging are ever exceeding his grasp. He must learn to grapple with questions of good and evil.

When the shadowy organization known as the Khmer Rouge emerge as the “saviors” of Cambodia, he is thrust into a radical political takeover, which ravages his country. As hopelessness pulls him under, Rindy’s desire to live and his remarkable ability to survive, wavers. In the wreckage, he hears of a God who is rumored to be alive and of a Savior who wants to take his pain instead of inflicting it. If he finds this Savior, will he cease to be prey? Will he be too broken to truly live?

A Boy Named Rindy

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