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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Classism
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A wonderfully written and imaginative novel about the struggle of a man living under the totalitarian regime of North Korea. Though his story is very fantastical at times, reminiscent of Forrest Gump, the book paints a very real portrait of what it's like to live in a country where the dictator is called Dear Leader, work camps abound, and parents cannot even trust their children. The novel is switches between multiple perspectives in part two to explore a variety of themes including love, sacrifice, individuality, and bravery.
I found this title a bit difficult to get into, but am glad I stuck with it. I did see the comedic elements that others did. while you can call this a political dystopia novel it differs in that it is based on an actual totalitarian regime, which is both terrifying and fascinating. I much preferred Part Two of the novel, with more forward moving action and layered, multi-perspective narrative. I also found the Q&A with the author at the end interesting, especially since that is when I understood the title: the protagonist is the "everyman" of North Korea, meaning that all their citizens may be considered orphans of the state and the Kim regime the ultimate orphan master. in that sense, perhaps the author is predicting how the people may one day overthrow their leaders.
There is a lot packed into this coming-of-age tale of an orphan boy in North Korea, much of it harrowing, frightening and unimaginable. I was surprised to discover in the Author Q&A at the end of the novel that some of the shocking details I was sure were exaggerated or partly fictional, were true. It is these details that give so much depth and breadth to the story, and brings into relief the contradictions and sheer absurdity in the lives of the characters living under this secretive and dehumanising regime.
I started this book in May...and read 56 books in the meantime before I felt I should finish it on principle. I don't understand how this wound up winning a Pulitzer. Sure, there isn't much NK fiction out there, and it's a terrifying, fascinating, mysterious and upsetting place - so kudos to Adam Johnson for cashing in on the disturbing exoticism that any NK-based account will bring. The characters, though, were lousy, the plot uncompelling and over-the-top melodramatic (yes, things are terrible in NK! I don't need to be told that explicitly over and over - maybe just let the sad tale speak for itself than telling me how I should feel?). I care about North Korea, a great deal. I could not bring myself to care about this book. If you're the kind of person who ate up "Kite Runner" and everything it did for spotlighting Afghanistan, though, this book might be right up your alley.
The orphan masters son is Pak Jun Do. He lives in an orphanage and has a special relationship with the master there, who he thinks is his father. The reader knows almost from the start that he is really an orphan.
He has an interesting life; he becomes a tunnel fighter below the DMZ, kidnaps unsuspecting Japanese people in the dead of night, goes to language school and learns English, listens to radio signals while stationed aboard a fishing boat, is chosen as part of a team to go to Texas to meet a Senator there and, upon his arrival back home, is thrown into a prison mine.
This life story has a bit of a satirical feel, especially summarised in this way. The author himselfs says in an interview in the back of the book that he sacrificed plausibility to a degree to include more material. I thought the setting lends itself well to satire because some of the tenets of North Korean life are just ridiculous all on their own. The satire element is not very strong though, just a feeling that comes through from time to time. I am not a big fan of satire, as it makes for a less immersive reading experience for me.
In the second half of the book, the perspective and the way of storytelling shifts. We find out that Pak Jun Do has killed Commander Ga, minister for prison mines and holder of the Golden Bealt in Teakwondo, deep in a mine and taken his place, even with his wife, the actress Sun Moon. Kim Jong Il, who is an important character, accepts this. The new first person narrator of this second part of the book is an interrogator living in Pjongjang. The section opens with "Commander Ga" in custody and being interrogated. We then get flashbacks showing how he got there. These are told in regular third-person narration, but in part through the fiction that a story is being told over the North Korean loundspeakers (CITIZENS!) with lots of propaganda thrown in. It turns out that "Commander Ga" helped Sun Moon and her children to flee North Korea and sacrificed himself in the process. In the end, the interrogator helps him kill himself and then ends his own life. Right at the end, we get the "North Korean" ending over the "loudspeakers".
This section was much more complex, narratively speaking, than the first and had a completely different feeling to it. The "loudspeaker" sections verged on the bizzare; I don't know how much of the facts around these loudspeakers are actually true.
This book has definitely inspired me to pick up more North Korea-themed books, like a defectors memoir.
He has an interesting life; he becomes a tunnel fighter below the DMZ, kidnaps unsuspecting Japanese people in the dead of night, goes to language school and learns English, listens to radio signals while stationed aboard a fishing boat, is chosen as part of a team to go to Texas to meet a Senator there and, upon his arrival back home, is thrown into a prison mine.
This life story has a bit of a satirical feel, especially summarised in this way. The author himselfs says in an interview in the back of the book that he sacrificed plausibility to a degree to include more material. I thought the setting lends itself well to satire because some of the tenets of North Korean life are just ridiculous all on their own. The satire element is not very strong though, just a feeling that comes through from time to time. I am not a big fan of satire, as it makes for a less immersive reading experience for me.
In the second half of the book, the perspective and the way of storytelling shifts. We find out that Pak Jun Do has killed Commander Ga, minister for prison mines and holder of the Golden Bealt in Teakwondo, deep in a mine and taken his place, even with his wife, the actress Sun Moon. Kim Jong Il, who is an important character, accepts this. The new first person narrator of this second part of the book is an interrogator living in Pjongjang. The section opens with "Commander Ga" in custody and being interrogated. We then get flashbacks showing how he got there. These are told in regular third-person narration, but in part through the fiction that a story is being told over the North Korean loundspeakers (CITIZENS!) with lots of propaganda thrown in. It turns out that "Commander Ga" helped Sun Moon and her children to flee North Korea and sacrificed himself in the process. In the end, the interrogator helps him kill himself and then ends his own life. Right at the end, we get the "North Korean" ending over the "loudspeakers".
This section was much more complex, narratively speaking, than the first and had a completely different feeling to it. The "loudspeaker" sections verged on the bizzare; I don't know how much of the facts around these loudspeakers are actually true.
This book has definitely inspired me to pick up more North Korea-themed books, like a defectors memoir.
This was a hard book to rate. It is very well written but hard to read at the same time.
Is there a 6 rating? This novel that recently won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction blew me away. Fabulous writing and a fascinating story set in North Korea. Read my full review at:
http://bookbybook.blogspot.com/2013/05/fiction-review-orphan-masters-son.html
http://bookbybook.blogspot.com/2013/05/fiction-review-orphan-masters-son.html