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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
dark
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
This book is an arresting and immersive look at the unrest and unstable circumstances in North Korea after the withdrawal of Soviet backing. Saturating the entirety of this memoir is the tangible, unsettling reality created in a world in which interpersonal trust is hard to come by and maintain, and individuality is discouraged. Chol-Hwan Kang makes an interesting case for the appeal of Christianity to North Korean refugees in the afterward, noting the gap left behind having been raised within the Kim dynasty's cult of personality, which requires a religious devotion from citizens. Related to that, he notes that he and other refugees craved the offer of unconditional love. The horrors experienced by the prisoners in the camps of North Korea are atrocities, hypocritical, as the author points out, to the party's rhetoric. The offer of a loving doctrine that appears to be embodied wholeheartedly by it's followers must have seemed intoxicating.
This book is a time capsule of North Korea in the 1990s and early 2000s. Looking back from the 2020s, the permeability of the border between North Korea and China, even though it was for a select few, is astounding.
This book is a time capsule of North Korea in the 1990s and early 2000s. Looking back from the 2020s, the permeability of the border between North Korea and China, even though it was for a select few, is astounding.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
medium-paced
What a powerful story. I have read a couple of North Korean defector stories, all of them moving in their own right as they recount the absolute horrors and breaching of human rights that they faced. I am so saddened by the lives that have to endure the cruelty of an unsympathetic, repressive and corrupt government, who has gotten away with their terrible deeds for decades. The author is especially brave for writing this memoir, despite knowing what punishment would meet his family back in the North. I wish the truth did not cost so dearly. 5 out of 5 stars. I wish his whole family had made it out of there.
I have read quite a few books by North Korean defectors now, this is I think the fifth in recent years. Most I've read so far have been about girls and their escapes, so this one was different from the others. It was also much shorter. It's insightful and thought-provoking and also details the great horrors these people endured. I chose not to rate this one due to the subject matter.
I have always been curious about North Korea but never read a defector’s memoir. This account was very difficult to read - simultaneously fascinating and deeply depressing. It still shocks me how terrible humans can be to one another, and this amplifies many of the things we see in the media (war, violence, crime, terrorism) to another level of prolonged and consistent disregard for life.
If you want to start to understand what the people of North Korea have been through in the last several decades, this book will educate you. I am on the look out for more up-to-date accounts to understand what, if anything, has changed over the last 20 years.
I am trying to read 52 books in 2023. Read more of my reviews at prospection.substack.com
If you want to start to understand what the people of North Korea have been through in the last several decades, this book will educate you. I am on the look out for more up-to-date accounts to understand what, if anything, has changed over the last 20 years.
I am trying to read 52 books in 2023. Read more of my reviews at prospection.substack.com
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
This is the horrific story of a North Korean boy and his family. He tells about how his family came to be, how they wound up in North Korea, and how they wound up in on of the "secret" concentration camps. At the time this story came out, it was shocking. The more stories like this that get out, the worse life appears to be. I cannot imagine having to live in a leaky hut with no way to warm myself, no clothes, no shower. I cannot imagine having to eat rats and suck down salamanders. It's awful to think they can treat children this way, especially, but whole families?? This was a heartbreaking story to read, and even more so knowing that there are thousands more just like it or worse that have not been told to the world. Absolutely horrendous behavior.
This is so far the only book I have read about North Korea. My first shock came in realizing that these events took place in the mid-1980s, not that long ago. According to this book the situation in North Korea has gotten much worse since and who knows what's really going on right now?
As mentioned, I didn't know much while starting to read this book. Since it's a biography, however, that wasn't really a problem. The author tells enough about his family and their life to get an idea about the situation. The book is really a narrative of growing up in a prison camp, with limited food resources and constant presence of death and violence. This the author delivers in a heartbreaking and straightforward manner. I also enjoyed (if one can use that word) his descriptions of the thoughts and feelings he went through when leaving North Korea without saying goodbye to his family, not knowing if he would ever find out what happened to them.
The realities of this world are sometimes horrifying and somehow people still live on. I can't stop being amazed by this.
As mentioned, I didn't know much while starting to read this book. Since it's a biography, however, that wasn't really a problem. The author tells enough about his family and their life to get an idea about the situation. The book is really a narrative of growing up in a prison camp, with limited food resources and constant presence of death and violence. This the author delivers in a heartbreaking and straightforward manner. I also enjoyed (if one can use that word) his descriptions of the thoughts and feelings he went through when leaving North Korea without saying goodbye to his family, not knowing if he would ever find out what happened to them.
The realities of this world are sometimes horrifying and somehow people still live on. I can't stop being amazed by this.
From the Preface: "I now realize that the Lord wanted me to use President Bush to let the blind world see what is happening to His people in the North."
I don't know if it gets better but the entire opening was nothing more than badly written western propaganda with a decent sprinkling of Christianity.
Nope. Just nope.
I don't know if it gets better but the entire opening was nothing more than badly written western propaganda with a decent sprinkling of Christianity.
Nope. Just nope.