Reviews

More like three and 3/4 stars. While it was certainly a good introduction to the regime, illuminaing the day to day moments, I felt it was a bit light on hard facts; the political history in the runup to the North Korea of today. Focuses mostly on the famine of the 1990s and the struggle of the six defectors to survive. Very interesting as a psychological study- the rationalization of extreme circumstances- and very accessible.

autumndream's review against another edition

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5.0

Memorable quote:

"Enduring hunger became part of one's patriotic duty." -Barbara Demick

salgalruns's review against another edition

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4.0

An amazing account of life in North Korea as told through the stories of 6 "typical" North Koreans. Growing up in the United States, in a country founded on democracy, this seems so entirely unreal. Yet, it is. It saddens me that while we have survived with excess in so many ways, that people in the world managed to barely survive through the famine years of the 1990s by means I would have never imagined.

Barbara Demick did an amazing job of portraying lives from different backgrounds, different levels of education, and different families. An addictive read for sure.

mokey81's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative sad medium-paced

4.0

1cornsread's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

I loved the interviews and different experiences of north koreans in different classes. I was shocked by the severity of life, which I never really thought about before.

hirvimaki's review against another edition

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3.0

Informative and, in many ways, interesting, though a bit dry and repetitive. I found myself often nodding and thinking, "Yes, this was written by a journalist." The narrative, at times intriguing, was stretched out over-long and made bland by a stilted and choppy style. That, unfortunately, took away from my enjoyment of peering into such an isolated and backwards country. I appreciated the interweaving of various viewpoints - life in small villages and life in the capitol city of Pyongyang - to give a perspective of how life was different depending on political and social standing. Ms. Demick's perceptions and insights, through these interviews with North Koreans, are insightful and at times shocking in that they demonstrates how many of these refugees of such an abusive, totalitarian, and uncaring state find it difficult to move beyond the propaganda and brainwashing. Again, enlightening and poignantly sad, its main deficiency is that it is too long for the level of editorial polish, becoming repetitive.

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