Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language: Mild swear word said three times

Violence: Life can dangerous and hard in the dump.  Ki is robbed and receives a head wound from a gang.  He begins to carry a knife for protection.  The gang intimidates other pickers.  Lucky Fat (a boy) is beaten up by the gang.  A gang member (Maly’s brother) is beaten up and then killed in retaliation for Lucky’s injuries.

Cambodia’s political unrest and cruel government are briefly described.  In the 1970’s the government killed many people, especially the educated.  Sopeap Sin’s husband, young son and maid are shot and killed during this political unrest.  Some of the stories Sopeap shares with Sang Ly briefly describe violence (an elephant has been shot and is dying, Capt. Ahab kills Moby Dick, etc.)

Sexual Content: Sang Ly and Ki tease each other insinuating they want to be intimate later that evening

Adult Themes: Sang Ly and Ki live in a dump and collect recycled materials.  There is a daily struggle to earn a living.  Sang Ly and Ki face stressful health concerns about their chronically ill son, Nisay.  Sopeap Sin faces her own mortality. Sang Ly is saddened, as well.  Maly begins her period and Sang Ly must explain to her why it happens.  Maly must stay hidden or her brother, a gang member, will sell her into prostitution.   The police are corrupt. They will take bribes and sell Maly into prostitution themselves.

Synopsis

Sang Ly, her husband, Ki, and their chronically ill young son live in the city dump in Cambodia.  Each day they collect recyclables hoping to earn enough money to pay for food and rent, while hoping to stay safe from the perils of the dump.  Sang Ly wishes for a better life and desperately wants to find a cure for her son.  This help comes from an unlikely source—the ill-tempered rent collector—who agrees to teach Sang Ly to read.  A beautiful  friendship  grows between the two as lessons about life, love, and literature are shared.

I really loved this book!   This would make an excellent book club or high school English class book. There are great discussion points about what good literature is and why it matters.  The author used a real setting and real characters, but fictionalized what would happen to them if Sang Ly were to become literate. I enjoyed the relationship between Sopeap Sin and Sang Ly.  My favorite line from the book was, “Literature has been called a handbook for the art of being human.”  The Rent Collector was a 2012 Book of the Year Award finalist.