The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

4.04 AVERAGE

cthedan's review

3.0
Second time reading this. First half is compelling. Second half is a Potemkin villiage.
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sundancer_srb's review

DID NOT FINISH: 28%
DNF at 28%, a rrambling story that goes nowhere. I vaguely wanted to know if he ever meets up with his mom again but not enough to read the rest of it
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upyernoz's review

5.0
I was completely taken in by this book. It reads like a dystopian science fiction novel, except it's not science fiction at all.

bergamee's review

4.5
adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

stoutthehatchet's review

4.0
challenging dark sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
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gorseyhorsey's review against another edition

5.0
challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
laurensatterfield's profile picture

laurensatterfield's review against another edition

3.0
dark emotional funny informative sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

bryforce's review

5.0
One of the best, most compelling pieces of fiction I've read in a while. And though fiction, it offers such terrifying truth and insight into the horrors of the North Korean regime's control over the lives of its citizens, echoing the premonitions of Orwell's 1984. Nevertheless, the narrative's central protagonist, Jun Do, is an inspiring character whose story reveals the persistence of will and love in the face of oppression and the traumatic, and the novel's themes on the function and power of storytelling are fantastic and revelatory in the ways they are mined and structured.

buckyshuman's review

DID NOT FINISH: 0%
I actually think I read this years ago.  There are too many good books to reread something that is just fine. 

apesaz's review

4.5
dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes