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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
This memoir is incredibly dark, with no real relief in the picture. Ishikawa details his devastating experience living under North Korean authorial rule, which is as horrible as you’d think, but I didn’t expect his return to Japan to be so bleak. Upon escape, Ishikawa is faced with geo-political obstacles which prevent him from establishing Japanese citizenship and obtaining the permission or funding to rescue his wife and children from North Korea, which was his sole motivation.
It’s absolutely insane to read about the ongoing atrocities of an authoritarian state and the failures of the bureaucratic systems that permit these things to continue in real-time. (Real life spoilers) I tried to find more information about Ishikawa online, but it’s very limited — it sounds like his wife died in North Korea from starvation, and he’s still unable to reunite with his children.
Although I read it several years ago, this memoir reminds me of Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning,” albeit somehow more depressing. Still, I think this is a critical piece of literature for understanding the human condition, and I wish all the best for Ishikawa and his descendants. May they know peace.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
find this review on my blog https://victoriasshelves.wixsite.com/blog/post/a-river-in-darkness-by-masaji-ishikawa-book-review
While I have an unhealthy obsession with South Korea's culture and especially music and drama scene, I also have a special interest in North Korea, to be more precise, an interest in defectors life stories.
I have seen a lot of interviews from N. Korea defectors on YouTube and elsewhere, I have read the book Nothing to Envy which is a collection of real life stories of defectors but i have never come across something as strong and powerful as the A River in Darkness.
Ishikawa starts off the story with a little bit of background about his parents and specifically his Korean father. His mother was Japanese, they lived in a post war Japan where being a Korean was an abomination. They were the lowest of the laws. His father was not exactly a good man. He was abusive towards Ishikawas mother and a drunkard.
Then the Korean Allegiance came along and made promises of the great Paradise that awaits them in North Korea. Free university education, the land of prosperity and all of those promises.
I felt the anger and despair of Ishikawa as he was loaded on a ship to a country where he couldn't even understand the language. The anguish, fear, terror, hunger, desperation, heartbreak and eventually the need to escape in order to survive. This is not a retelling, it is a detailed autobiography of every day life in hell. He survived situations that none of us would be capable of handling. He saw family and friends being executed, die from malnutrition or suddenly disappear. It is astonishing how he escaped, how lucky he was but also how he was treated in the end by the same country that rescued him.
This is a story that makes you angry, asking how can people let this happen until now? Everyone knows what's going on in North Korea, why doesnt anyone put an end? This story evokes so many emotions, all of them negative. I dont remember reading anything that made me smile but I remember tearing up a lot. It is a quick read (150 pages) and I believe that it worths every minute of your time. .
While I have an unhealthy obsession with South Korea's culture and especially music and drama scene, I also have a special interest in North Korea, to be more precise, an interest in defectors life stories.
I have seen a lot of interviews from N. Korea defectors on YouTube and elsewhere, I have read the book Nothing to Envy which is a collection of real life stories of defectors but i have never come across something as strong and powerful as the A River in Darkness.
Ishikawa starts off the story with a little bit of background about his parents and specifically his Korean father. His mother was Japanese, they lived in a post war Japan where being a Korean was an abomination. They were the lowest of the laws. His father was not exactly a good man. He was abusive towards Ishikawas mother and a drunkard.
Then the Korean Allegiance came along and made promises of the great Paradise that awaits them in North Korea. Free university education, the land of prosperity and all of those promises.
I felt the anger and despair of Ishikawa as he was loaded on a ship to a country where he couldn't even understand the language. The anguish, fear, terror, hunger, desperation, heartbreak and eventually the need to escape in order to survive. This is not a retelling, it is a detailed autobiography of every day life in hell. He survived situations that none of us would be capable of handling. He saw family and friends being executed, die from malnutrition or suddenly disappear. It is astonishing how he escaped, how lucky he was but also how he was treated in the end by the same country that rescued him.
This is a story that makes you angry, asking how can people let this happen until now? Everyone knows what's going on in North Korea, why doesnt anyone put an end? This story evokes so many emotions, all of them negative. I dont remember reading anything that made me smile but I remember tearing up a lot. It is a quick read (150 pages) and I believe that it worths every minute of your time. .
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
And I came to recognize that, no matter how difficult the reality, you mustn’t let yourself be beaten. You must have a strong will. You have to summon what you know is right from your innermost depths and follow it.
Gut-wrenching, captivating, horrifying. For sure a difficult read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Police brutality
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism, Cannibalism
Heartbreaking story
Many times I had to remind myself that this book is non-fiction. It’s so hard to believe that this is the reality for many still living in North Korea.
My heart breaks for this man. Sometimes to survive you have to leave the ones you love behind.
Many times I had to remind myself that this book is non-fiction. It’s so hard to believe that this is the reality for many still living in North Korea.
My heart breaks for this man. Sometimes to survive you have to leave the ones you love behind.
I've been fascinated by North Korea for years, reading everything from Nothing to Envy to Pachinko, so I picked this up expecting a thrilling escape narrative - the title certainly suggests that - but what I got was something quite different. This is primarily a memoir about surviving thirty-six years of brutal existence in North Korea, with the actual escape taking up only a small portion at the end.
Ishikawa's story is undeniably important and harrowing. Born in Japan to a Korean father and Japanese mother, he never felt he belonged anywhere. When his family was lured to North Korea in 1960 by promises of prosperity and equality, they instead found themselves at the bottom of the social hierarchy as "returnees." What followed were decades of starvation, forced labor, constant surveillance, and watching loved ones die from malnutrition and despair.
The writing is straightforward and unflinching - Ishikawa doesn't dress up his experiences or try to create literary moments. He simply tells you what happened, and the cumulative effect is devastating. The details about daily life under the regime are genuinely shocking, and his account of the famine years in the 1990s is particularly difficult to read.
But I kept waiting for the escape story that never really came. When it finally arrives, it's almost anticlimactic - a few pages describing his dangerous river crossing into China. The aftermath is equally brief, focusing more on his ongoing struggles to rescue his family (which he was never able to do) than on the mechanics of how he actually got out.
The book also lacks context that would help readers understand the broader political situation. Ishikawa writes from his lived experience, which is valuable but limited. He mentions the complicity of various governments and organizations but doesn't elaborate much.
This is an important testimony that needed to be told, and anyone interested in understanding what life is actually like for ordinary people in North Korea should read it. Just don't expect the escape thriller the title implies - this is a survival memoir first and foremost.
Ishikawa's story is undeniably important and harrowing. Born in Japan to a Korean father and Japanese mother, he never felt he belonged anywhere. When his family was lured to North Korea in 1960 by promises of prosperity and equality, they instead found themselves at the bottom of the social hierarchy as "returnees." What followed were decades of starvation, forced labor, constant surveillance, and watching loved ones die from malnutrition and despair.
The writing is straightforward and unflinching - Ishikawa doesn't dress up his experiences or try to create literary moments. He simply tells you what happened, and the cumulative effect is devastating. The details about daily life under the regime are genuinely shocking, and his account of the famine years in the 1990s is particularly difficult to read.
But I kept waiting for the escape story that never really came. When it finally arrives, it's almost anticlimactic - a few pages describing his dangerous river crossing into China. The aftermath is equally brief, focusing more on his ongoing struggles to rescue his family (which he was never able to do) than on the mechanics of how he actually got out.
The book also lacks context that would help readers understand the broader political situation. Ishikawa writes from his lived experience, which is valuable but limited. He mentions the complicity of various governments and organizations but doesn't elaborate much.
This is an important testimony that needed to be told, and anyone interested in understanding what life is actually like for ordinary people in North Korea should read it. Just don't expect the escape thriller the title implies - this is a survival memoir first and foremost.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
I had a hard time with the writing style at first but eventually I got caught up in the story and wasn't bothered by the writing as much. This was a shocking and sad story but an interesting read.