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fionak's review
informative
slow-paced
3.0
I wanted to like this more than I did. Sungju's life story is fascinating but the writing doesn't fit properly; there are numerous word choices that are not in keeping with a Korean ESL narrator and the tone was uneven. There are definitely better written and more engaging books about North Korea than this one.
el_entrenador_loco's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
4.0
trizie81's review
5.0
It a story about life in Northkorea like you never read about or see on TV. It is a sad but also inspirational story that give hope that someday there will be a reunification of the south and north. It shows you that even today life is hard in a lot of places in the world and I kept thinking what I did during those years and how ignorant I sometimes lived not knowing how good my life is...
emilyv17's review
5.0
The only words I can use to describe this book are eye opening and heart wrenching.
Not only was the narration amazing at putting you into the story; it made you feel the emotions felt by Sungju Lee. His cling to hope and morals while living on the streets as a gang was inspiring to show someone devoid of faith but still somehow having it. I think a lot of that dealt with Young-bum and how he, as Lee stated, was their heart. It broke my heart watching the story unfold with constant misfortune and tragedy in tow, but that is how it was in North Korea.
I strongly believe i wouldn’t have connected emotionally to the ongoings in North Korea if not for reading this novel. Seeing what someone went through first hand and fully understanding the depth of the trauma demanded my attention.
It also brought upon self reflection (which I think is a very impactful and important thing for a book to do). I looked at myself and my situation understanding how privileged my little things were. A day before I read this book I was in the kitchen whining about how we didn’t have any food and I was starving. After reading the section where Lee drinks water and eats salt and hearing him describe the gut wrenching-hunger he went through I realized how much I took for granted. I realized I took my constant access to any literature of my liking for granted, or my access to social media and news, or my family safely living around me without the looming threat of famine and death.
This book was not only one to teach and inform but to re-evaluate oneself and take great understanding form this book. It is definitely one that will stick with me for a while and come into my head at random times or when the topic is mentioned. It is definitely one I will be back to read again.
Not only was the narration amazing at putting you into the story; it made you feel the emotions felt by Sungju Lee. His cling to hope and morals while living on the streets as a gang was inspiring to show someone devoid of faith but still somehow having it. I think a lot of that dealt with Young-bum and how he, as Lee stated, was their heart. It broke my heart watching the story unfold with constant misfortune and tragedy in tow, but that is how it was in North Korea.
I strongly believe i wouldn’t have connected emotionally to the ongoings in North Korea if not for reading this novel. Seeing what someone went through first hand and fully understanding the depth of the trauma demanded my attention.
It also brought upon self reflection (which I think is a very impactful and important thing for a book to do). I looked at myself and my situation understanding how privileged my little things were. A day before I read this book I was in the kitchen whining about how we didn’t have any food and I was starving. After reading the section where Lee drinks water and eats salt and hearing him describe the gut wrenching-hunger he went through I realized how much I took for granted. I realized I took my constant access to any literature of my liking for granted, or my access to social media and news, or my family safely living around me without the looming threat of famine and death.
This book was not only one to teach and inform but to re-evaluate oneself and take great understanding form this book. It is definitely one that will stick with me for a while and come into my head at random times or when the topic is mentioned. It is definitely one I will be back to read again.
izzys_internet_bookshelf's review
1.0
1/5
Personally the book just wasn’t for me but I did enjoy some parts of the book.
Personally the book just wasn’t for me but I did enjoy some parts of the book.
emybooksandcoffee's review
5.0
The biggest challenge in reading, I think, is to be able to truly leave your prejudices, preconceptions and personal opinions behind when you open a book written by someone who's experience in life is vastly different to yours. To really see the world from the perspective of someone else because after all, a book is another person's train of thought and experiences in the form of art. This was the first book about North Korea I read. I was transported into a world worse than dystopian. Sungju and his brothers really pulled my heartstrings. I was able to be for a short while in their shoes. And although most of the people in the West will probably never live through similar horrors, books like this is another reminder (and reason) that the best thing books do is help us develop empathy. Sungju Lee, and every person living in this horrible country, is a true hero. May there come a day when all North Koreans will be free.