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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
Wow
I was basically glued to my phone while reading this. Such an amazing, and sad, story and so beautifully written.
I was basically glued to my phone while reading this. Such an amazing, and sad, story and so beautifully written.
Words cannot adequately express how depressing this book was, but I am glad to have read it. Even though Ishikawa's words are still fresh in my mind, I still find it impossible to do more than imagine the hardship and the pain he endured during his time in North Korea. I want to say knowing his trials will help make me a better person, more appreciative of all I have, but honestly it's so difficult for me to put my middle class American mind *there*. I need some time for all of this to sink in.
Maybe memoirs just aren't for me.
I picked this up because North Korea fascinated me, much like it does so many Americans. But honestly it took me ages and ages to work up the momentum to finish this book. Maybe it's the memoir style that just doesn't resonate for me.
I picked this up because North Korea fascinated me, much like it does so many Americans. But honestly it took me ages and ages to work up the momentum to finish this book. Maybe it's the memoir style that just doesn't resonate for me.
No happy endings here. I like reading memoirs of people who have escaped from North Korea. This memoir is especially heartbreaking in that the author lived in poverty in Japan with his Korea father, Japanese mother and three sisters. His father thought that relocating to North Korea would be a place for good jobs and status for him and good educations for his children. Of course, believing these things was a mistake. Poverty in Japan had nothing in common with North Korean poverty. When the author moved with his family, he was 13 years old. He escaped at the age of 49 and began his life anew in Japan, a country he remembered in his youth but found to be very different 36 years later. The decline of his mother living in North Korea was hard to read…a lot of the book was hard to read. The brainwashing, poverty, death, starvation, ignorance, blind loyalty to the Dear Leader should scare a person to death. Actually, millions of North Koreans are dead due to the government…including members of the author’s family.
I suppose I have a certain skepticism about this book, largely because the author appears unworried about repercussions from having published it.
I do hope that my skepticism isn't borne of disbelief in just how inhumane conditions in N. Korea are/were. This story is a genuine horror and points to just how awful living conditions are there. We often forget in this country that we enjoy freedoms others in the world don't have, and that as bad as poverty is here, there are places that suffer far greater depredations, and places that still suffer the after effects of a war that took place almost 70 years ago.
I am left wondering if/how things finally worked out for him, and I do admire his ability to survive 36 years under these conditions and to finally make his escape.
I do hope that my skepticism isn't borne of disbelief in just how inhumane conditions in N. Korea are/were. This story is a genuine horror and points to just how awful living conditions are there. We often forget in this country that we enjoy freedoms others in the world don't have, and that as bad as poverty is here, there are places that suffer far greater depredations, and places that still suffer the after effects of a war that took place almost 70 years ago.
I am left wondering if/how things finally worked out for him, and I do admire his ability to survive 36 years under these conditions and to finally make his escape.
Another sad tale from an oppressive regime. Several years ago I read a story from a man who had escaped a North Korean concentration camp. That was a truly horrifying story. This one was just as tragic although the author never directly found himself in the crosshairs of the state. As a “returnee” or a North Korean who moved from Japan he was on the very bottom of the social ladder. His story is surely that of millions of North Koreans and is a crime that I can only pray will find justice someday.
A River in Darkness is a heart-breaking story. Ishikawa went form a childhood in Japan where he didn’t fit in because he was half-Korean to North Korea where he was one of the lowest of the low. He tells his story frankly, without sentimentality, but it’s full of misery, hunger, desperation. He tells of living conditions that I can’t even imagine. I knew North Korea is not a good country, but we don’t get to see this side of it often. We don’t see how the people live, and die. We know that life in the totalitarian regime is tough, but Ishikawa let’s us see the brainwashing, the untenable choices that have to be made. The corruption and domination affect every aspect of life.
A River in Darkness was way out of my comfort zone, but I am definitely glad I picked it up. I got sucked into Ishikawa’s story. I wish it had a happy ending, though. He does escape back to Japan, as the title suggests, but he isn’t able to save his family. And the life he finds in Japan isn’t easy, but at least he’s not starving. It’s a sad book, all around, but Ishikawa keeps trying, keeps going.
A River in Darkness was way out of my comfort zone, but I am definitely glad I picked it up. I got sucked into Ishikawa’s story. I wish it had a happy ending, though. He does escape back to Japan, as the title suggests, but he isn’t able to save his family. And the life he finds in Japan isn’t easy, but at least he’s not starving. It’s a sad book, all around, but Ishikawa keeps trying, keeps going.
This book is harrowing. I felt like I needed to keep detaching myself from it and to say to myself “don’t worry, it’s just a book. It’s not real.” But it is real.
The struggles faced in A River in Darkness are pitiful. Struggles that I’ve never even thought about, never worried about - happening in my lifetime.
This book should be read everywhere, taught in schools.
The struggles faced in A River in Darkness are pitiful. Struggles that I’ve never even thought about, never worried about - happening in my lifetime.
This book should be read everywhere, taught in schools.
Not an easy read, River in Darkness is a memoir that will tear your heart right out. We all believe that whatever difficulties or hardships life throws at us must have some purpose behind them—that there's always light at the end of the tunnel, and it will all be worth it. But life isn’t fair, is it? Sometimes there really is no happy ending, showing that, for some, the struggle only ends in sorrow and loss.
Masaji Ishikawa’s journey from Japan to North Korea, and his family’s subsequent struggles under a cruel and oppressive regime, reveal the intense hardship he endured daily. His eventual escape is a testament to his unwavering determination, showing that even in the darkest circumstances, some find the strength to seek freedom. Ishikawa’s story serves as a powerful reminder that resilience doesn’t always mean winning but sometimes simply surviving and fighting through relentless hardship.
Masaji Ishikawa’s journey from Japan to North Korea, and his family’s subsequent struggles under a cruel and oppressive regime, reveal the intense hardship he endured daily. His eventual escape is a testament to his unwavering determination, showing that even in the darkest circumstances, some find the strength to seek freedom. Ishikawa’s story serves as a powerful reminder that resilience doesn’t always mean winning but sometimes simply surviving and fighting through relentless hardship.
3.5 Stars - very interesting - I wish there was more after the escape! The writing felt a little generic but probably because of the translation. I learned a lot from this one.