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sindibookworm's review against another edition
5.0
Before starting Masaji Ishikawa’s memoir, I thought I understood how brutal North Korea’s totalitarian rule was…and is. Now, I realize it is worse than I could have imagined.
This was such a sad read. Sheds light on what the author’s family has endured which is only a fraction of untold stories of North Korean natives and returnees. Felt like I was mourning the author’s loss in every chapter I read.
This was such a sad read. Sheds light on what the author’s family has endured which is only a fraction of untold stories of North Korean natives and returnees. Felt like I was mourning the author’s loss in every chapter I read.
dilchh's review against another edition
5.0
Masaji Ishikawa is half Japanese and half Korean. When his father was pushed by his Korean friends to return to North Korea with the promise of job and free education, he brought his family to leave everything they have ever known to move to a foreign land. Thus, begin Ishikawa's grueling 36 years life in North Korea. •
This was a very upfront and cut to the chase story of how Ishikawa struggling life in Japan and then in North Korea. He left North Korea knowing if he stayed he would never survive. He crossed the Yalu river and make his way to Japan by the help of people who rescued him. •
The harrowing thing about this memoir is not only about horrible life he lead was in North Korea, but about how the story ends with how much he wanted to bring his family back in North Korea to Japan and was, probably, never manage to do so. There is little to go on about how Ishikawa lived his life now in Japan. The book ends so abruptly and it made me feel the bottomless pit of sadness that Ishikawa must have felt being alone in Japan. There is a sense of regret that I got from reading the last chapter of the book, how he felt that maybe it would've been better to stay in North Korea, because at least he would be with his family; rather than being alone in Japan. That, to me, is such a blow to my heart. It's something that is rarely covered from other books about escaping North Korea. •
This was a very upfront and cut to the chase story of how Ishikawa struggling life in Japan and then in North Korea. He left North Korea knowing if he stayed he would never survive. He crossed the Yalu river and make his way to Japan by the help of people who rescued him. •
The harrowing thing about this memoir is not only about horrible life he lead was in North Korea, but about how the story ends with how much he wanted to bring his family back in North Korea to Japan and was, probably, never manage to do so. There is little to go on about how Ishikawa lived his life now in Japan. The book ends so abruptly and it made me feel the bottomless pit of sadness that Ishikawa must have felt being alone in Japan. There is a sense of regret that I got from reading the last chapter of the book, how he felt that maybe it would've been better to stay in North Korea, because at least he would be with his family; rather than being alone in Japan. That, to me, is such a blow to my heart. It's something that is rarely covered from other books about escaping North Korea. •
dembury's review
4.0
Very insightful and informative, and it made me appreciate all I have even more.
aftaerglows's review against another edition
4.0
“The party started churning out more slogans, more propaganda. I couldn’t help but wonder where they even got all the paper for the posters—and whether I could eat it”.
...Holy shit
...Holy shit
she_reads_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Classism, Pregnancy, Grief, Deportation, Terminal illness, Child death, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child abuse, Gore, and Death
This book shows the extremity of poverty and death due to poverty.