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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
This book is great, but be prepared to be depressed by how bad life in North Korea is.
This book really reads like dystopian fiction. It was a fascinating and heartbreaking read. I want to learn more about Japanese and Korean history as a result. I hope the author someday finds peace.
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
I was told to read this book by a friend. After reading a range of books covering people’s experiences in North Korea (from Bandi’s ‘The Accusation’ to Monica Macaia’s ‘Black Girl from Pyongyang’), I was hopeful that this one would include a diverse narrative.
Of course, this isn’t to negate the horrors that Masaji Ishikawa encountered, but I was hopeful it would be less depressing 🥲
Am I being optimistic in hoping that Ishikawa has been given more opportunities to live a positive life?
3 out of 5 stars, thank you ✨ Content warnings included below!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Classism
I wept as each devastation hit his life. Which was like every other page. But i couldn’t put it down. And when it was all finished, i sat in silence and cried a little more. When will the horrors in North Korea end? How many more people must suffer as Masaji did? I hope to meet Masaji one day and hug him. I’m grateful we know his story, but so mournful that it’s happened.
This was a gripping, terrifying look at the history of North Korea from someone who experienced it first hand. Very hard to even read at some parts, but it's definitely something I think everyone should read and be aware of.
I just truly wish the author’s life gets better this decade despite the hell that he went through. Brave, concise and gripping. I also just realized how many things I have taken for granted in my everyday life after reading his harrowing life experiences. Stories like this deserve to be told in the mainstream. It’s unbelievable to find that this still exists in the modern times we live in.
Details of the lies embedded in the history of North Korea piqued my interests, and the personal history at hand is very bleak and upsetting at times. The tone felt a little jagged between a professional narrative and conversational.
I was born not just once but five times. And five times I learned the same lesson. Sometimes in life, you have to grab your so-called destiny by the throat and wring its neck.
A really tough and enlightening read. The volume of work written and disseminated by people from North Korea isn't that high, so every piece of work like this is really important. This sheds light on what it's like to live among the poorer classes in North Korea (and in Ishikawa's less common situation, to be a Japanese returnee in North Korea), and talks about living conditions, working conditions, social intricacies, the famine, thoughts and views on the leader and the party and the government in general. It follows his life, from when he moves to North Korea as a child, and follows him though growing up, marriages, deaths, family upheavals, the births of his children, the different jobs he had, and social changes. The writing is pretty simple, and sometimes powerful, and while I can't be the best judge, I think the translators did a good job.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Brian Nishi, and really enjoyed it.
Very interesting, and very tragic at times. I'm glad I read it.
A really tough and enlightening read. The volume of work written and disseminated by people from North Korea isn't that high, so every piece of work like this is really important. This sheds light on what it's like to live among the poorer classes in North Korea (and in Ishikawa's less common situation, to be a Japanese returnee in North Korea), and talks about living conditions, working conditions, social intricacies, the famine, thoughts and views on the leader and the party and the government in general. It follows his life, from when he moves to North Korea as a child, and follows him though growing up, marriages, deaths, family upheavals, the births of his children, the different jobs he had, and social changes. The writing is pretty simple, and sometimes powerful, and while I can't be the best judge, I think the translators did a good job.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Brian Nishi, and really enjoyed it.
Very interesting, and very tragic at times. I'm glad I read it.