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170 reviews for:
While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector's Search for Freedom in America
Yeonmi Park
3.38 AVERAGE
170 reviews for:
While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector's Search for Freedom in America
Yeonmi Park
3.38 AVERAGE
This is a book that I’m extremely torn on, and I could write pages about the good and bad about this book. So, I’ll try to keep it brief, but before I get started, I will say that everyone should read this book. This was my introduction to Yeonmi, and I definitely want to check out her other work. She’s an incredible woman who escaped North Korea, and her story is inspiring, and she also has great values.
I’ve been curious about North Korea and have wanted to hear it straight from someone who lived there. I can’t remember how I came across this book, but it was at the exact right time because I usually don’t read books like this. I was hesitant because I could tell it was going to be an anti-woke book, and those are often all the same.
I’m a leftist, but I’ve written about how I often feel politically homeless because I’m very pro-free speech and disagree with some of the things people would call “woke”. I often find the perspectives of immigrants interesting, especially people like Yeonmi who came from such a terrible place. They have this appreciation for America that many of us will never fully understand.
Throughout this book, you’ll hear bits and pieces of Yeonmi’s story along with the “woke issues” in the United States. From her time at Columbia to becoming an activist and speaker invited to speak in front of and mingle with the liberal elites.
I won’t get too far into it, but my criticisms of the book are narrowed down to the fact that she does what many anti-woke books do and picks out the worst of the worst and then either intentionally or unintentionally misconstrue what many progressives actually want.
The most difficult part of this book for me was how Yeonmi discusses meeting all these liberal elites who heard her story, say they want to or will help the women of North Korea and then don’t because they make money from China. Then, she goes on to praise capitalism and compares what “woke leftists want” to North Korean or Soviet socialism. She doesn’t seem to be able to connect the dots that those liberal elites she dislikes who haven’t helped her are the result of capitalism and selfishness. Meanwhile, many of us progressives want a democratic socialism like we see in the Nordic countries that keep being rated highest for happiest countries, and these are countries that have capitalism, but they also have things like free healthcare.
Anywho, this is way longer than I wanted it to be. This is a phenomenal book, and I’ll read more from her. I just think she got drunk off the Jordan Peterson anti-woke kool-aid, but she still has a good head on her shoulders. I agree with most of what she says in this book about being strong and not getting offended so easily, but I don’t think she realizes how much leftists like myself and her have in common when it comes to a lot of these topics. We’re not fans of Hillary Clinton and the liberal elites either.
I’ve been curious about North Korea and have wanted to hear it straight from someone who lived there. I can’t remember how I came across this book, but it was at the exact right time because I usually don’t read books like this. I was hesitant because I could tell it was going to be an anti-woke book, and those are often all the same.
I’m a leftist, but I’ve written about how I often feel politically homeless because I’m very pro-free speech and disagree with some of the things people would call “woke”. I often find the perspectives of immigrants interesting, especially people like Yeonmi who came from such a terrible place. They have this appreciation for America that many of us will never fully understand.
Throughout this book, you’ll hear bits and pieces of Yeonmi’s story along with the “woke issues” in the United States. From her time at Columbia to becoming an activist and speaker invited to speak in front of and mingle with the liberal elites.
I won’t get too far into it, but my criticisms of the book are narrowed down to the fact that she does what many anti-woke books do and picks out the worst of the worst and then either intentionally or unintentionally misconstrue what many progressives actually want.
The most difficult part of this book for me was how Yeonmi discusses meeting all these liberal elites who heard her story, say they want to or will help the women of North Korea and then don’t because they make money from China. Then, she goes on to praise capitalism and compares what “woke leftists want” to North Korean or Soviet socialism. She doesn’t seem to be able to connect the dots that those liberal elites she dislikes who haven’t helped her are the result of capitalism and selfishness. Meanwhile, many of us progressives want a democratic socialism like we see in the Nordic countries that keep being rated highest for happiest countries, and these are countries that have capitalism, but they also have things like free healthcare.
Anywho, this is way longer than I wanted it to be. This is a phenomenal book, and I’ll read more from her. I just think she got drunk off the Jordan Peterson anti-woke kool-aid, but she still has a good head on her shoulders. I agree with most of what she says in this book about being strong and not getting offended so easily, but I don’t think she realizes how much leftists like myself and her have in common when it comes to a lot of these topics. We’re not fans of Hillary Clinton and the liberal elites either.
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Act Now!
Outstanding book on the plight of communism.
A really important and timely book on China and also North Korea.
Park is a really outspoken and impressive writer.
Really impressed with this whole book.
Definitely check it out.
I also really liked her first book [b:In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom|37928456|In Order to Live A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom|Yeonmi Park|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1516877761l/37928456._SX50_.jpg|44749881]
WARNING - There's some questionable unions in this book - for example, a pretty big recommendation of Joe Rogan (something I can't really condone). Other than that, the book was pretty solid.
4.7/5
Outstanding book on the plight of communism.
A really important and timely book on China and also North Korea.
Park is a really outspoken and impressive writer.
Really impressed with this whole book.
Definitely check it out.
I also really liked her first book [b:In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom|37928456|In Order to Live A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom|Yeonmi Park|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1516877761l/37928456._SX50_.jpg|44749881]
WARNING - There's some questionable unions in this book - for example, a pretty big recommendation of Joe Rogan (something I can't really condone). Other than that, the book was pretty solid.
4.7/5
emotional
slow-paced
medium-paced
This was painful. She talks about loving Joe Rogan at the end, and going on the Candace Owens show. She’s missed learning some of the nuance of American history. She equates acknowledging and wanting to adress the US history of oppression and ongoing systemic racism to choosing to be a victim. The interesting part was her observations on North Korea and China and what is going on there. She’s clearly greatly traumatized.
reflective
medium-paced
I would like to say first that Park's growth with her third language is noticeable in this book. The sentences flowed much more clearly than in her memoir, and I'm envious of her ability to master another language. The way this was written was highly digestible, and the formatting made it easy both to keep turning pages when I had the time and to squeeze bits and pieces in when I had more going on.
That having been said, while I felt uncomfortable rating the first-hand account of a North Korean refugee who escaped a dictator and sex trafficking, I don't have any problem docking points from this book. Rather than give an account of what is happening in North Korea and China, a significant portion of this book is focused on persuading people of Park's views on things about the US that she feels people fail to appreciate and the risk she believes them to be under. I come into this book with the bias of agreeing with the majority of her ideas, and I found her arguments lacking.
I think that, given her experiences in life, Park does have some inherent authority when discussing, for lack of a better term, first world issues. I understand that many people struggle to imagine themselves fortunate when they see others who are even more fortunate, even when they know that people less fortunate than themselves exist. To that end, I think she does a good job of putting into perspective many of the things she appreciates about her new home. Her appeals for people to find meaning and recognize the value of what they have come just enough to feel well-timed without hitting too frequently. Her message on that front is a simple enough one that, had she tried to make it a larger focus of the book, I feel a smaller page count would have been needed.
Where the book fell apart for me was when Park tried to discuss specific major events (COVID or George Floyd) or otherwise call out specific ideological components of the crowd she was criticizing. And I should mention for anyone reading this review that she was very much not criticizing BLM, although she did have opinions about how the news media handled the riots. In these instances, it came across as though her grasp on the events wasn't very in depth, and a lot of her assertions with regard to ideological issues lacked evidence or citation. As an opinion piece I suppose that's acceptable. The book is much more easily digestible than something that goes into the weeds on these subjects. But since part of the book's intent seems to be persuading others to view these issues as Park does, I think its persuasive ability is lacking. It may have some ability to jump-start the curiosity of those on the fence and just beginning to dip their toes into the subject. I can think of a time in my own life where this book would have felt like proof I'm not alone for questioning what I've been told to unquestioningly accept, and for all I know that was the target audience. But if given to someone someone who's entrenched on one side of these issues it will be dismissed as baseless attacks, while to the other side it's empty validation. Someone who already agrees is going to nod their head when the hear to comparison of middle class kids scorning blue collar workers to North Korean party officials, but those middle class kids are only going to roll their eyes because the book doesn't properly break down why this scorn is misguided.
Not helping this is that I caught at least one detail that struck me was flat out poorly researched. The outrage over George Floyd was that he was unarmed and not posing a credible threat when he died in police restraint, not that he was 'innocent'. There was very little dispute or doubt about him having been the one to commit the crime that he was pulled over for. It was that the crime wasn't one that anyone would argue warranted death. Describing the outrage as being due to "an innocent man" getting shot rather than saying "an unarmed man" or otherwise conveying that it was excessive police force might come across as a nitpick, but it made me wonder what other details might be off in her account of things.
Her personal experience, at least, I trust is accurate. To that extent, I do think the book is at least compelling in how it describes the two-faced nature of many of our politicians and corporate leaders, who claim compassion for the plight of victims of China while refusing to risk losing China's favor. Additionally, while I think Park lacks the authority on the subject to assert without evidence that certain ideas are harmful, I do think her firsthand experience living under the thumb of a dictatorship with massive information control and propaganda tools does make her qualified to speak from a place of authority on when she sees similar propaganda or suppression tactics elsewhere. I just wish she could have cited at least one example of the book censorship she asserted is happening.
TL;DR Some parts of this book have a lot of impact and I think Park is the right person to talk about it. Some parts of this book it feels like she's out of her depth in, and I wish she'd done and shown more research on them before making them a noteworthy portion of her writing.
That having been said, while I felt uncomfortable rating the first-hand account of a North Korean refugee who escaped a dictator and sex trafficking, I don't have any problem docking points from this book. Rather than give an account of what is happening in North Korea and China, a significant portion of this book is focused on persuading people of Park's views on things about the US that she feels people fail to appreciate and the risk she believes them to be under. I come into this book with the bias of agreeing with the majority of her ideas, and I found her arguments lacking.
I think that, given her experiences in life, Park does have some inherent authority when discussing, for lack of a better term, first world issues. I understand that many people struggle to imagine themselves fortunate when they see others who are even more fortunate, even when they know that people less fortunate than themselves exist. To that end, I think she does a good job of putting into perspective many of the things she appreciates about her new home. Her appeals for people to find meaning and recognize the value of what they have come just enough to feel well-timed without hitting too frequently. Her message on that front is a simple enough one that, had she tried to make it a larger focus of the book, I feel a smaller page count would have been needed.
Where the book fell apart for me was when Park tried to discuss specific major events (COVID or George Floyd) or otherwise call out specific ideological components of the crowd she was criticizing. And I should mention for anyone reading this review that she was very much not criticizing BLM, although she did have opinions about how the news media handled the riots. In these instances, it came across as though her grasp on the events wasn't very in depth, and a lot of her assertions with regard to ideological issues lacked evidence or citation. As an opinion piece I suppose that's acceptable. The book is much more easily digestible than something that goes into the weeds on these subjects. But since part of the book's intent seems to be persuading others to view these issues as Park does, I think its persuasive ability is lacking. It may have some ability to jump-start the curiosity of those on the fence and just beginning to dip their toes into the subject. I can think of a time in my own life where this book would have felt like proof I'm not alone for questioning what I've been told to unquestioningly accept, and for all I know that was the target audience. But if given to someone someone who's entrenched on one side of these issues it will be dismissed as baseless attacks, while to the other side it's empty validation. Someone who already agrees is going to nod their head when the hear to comparison of middle class kids scorning blue collar workers to North Korean party officials, but those middle class kids are only going to roll their eyes because the book doesn't properly break down why this scorn is misguided.
Not helping this is that I caught at least one detail that struck me was flat out poorly researched. The outrage over George Floyd was that he was unarmed and not posing a credible threat when he died in police restraint, not that he was 'innocent'. There was very little dispute or doubt about him having been the one to commit the crime that he was pulled over for. It was that the crime wasn't one that anyone would argue warranted death. Describing the outrage as being due to "an innocent man" getting shot rather than saying "an unarmed man" or otherwise conveying that it was excessive police force might come across as a nitpick, but it made me wonder what other details might be off in her account of things.
Her personal experience, at least, I trust is accurate. To that extent, I do think the book is at least compelling in how it describes the two-faced nature of many of our politicians and corporate leaders, who claim compassion for the plight of victims of China while refusing to risk losing China's favor. Additionally, while I think Park lacks the authority on the subject to assert without evidence that certain ideas are harmful, I do think her firsthand experience living under the thumb of a dictatorship with massive information control and propaganda tools does make her qualified to speak from a place of authority on when she sees similar propaganda or suppression tactics elsewhere. I just wish she could have cited at least one example of the book censorship she asserted is happening.
TL;DR Some parts of this book have a lot of impact and I think Park is the right person to talk about it. Some parts of this book it feels like she's out of her depth in, and I wish she'd done and shown more research on them before making them a noteworthy portion of her writing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Abortion
Moderate: Infertility
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation
I value and appreciate Ms. Park vulnerably sharing her childhood and teen experiences in North Korea and China. Of course I also respect that America is a land with many freedoms and much to be thankful for. However. That is where my positive regard for this book ends. Otherwise, it reads like a blatant advertisement for and endorsement of Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, and Joe Rogan. The logic seems to vacillate between “America is a land of freedom and opportunity” and “America is on the verge of being as bad as the communist North Korean regime because of the woke liberals”. Main takeaway seems to be that “woke-ism is bad, liberal snowflakes are bad, toughen up, institutional racism isn’t real”.
2 may 2023 : still a 5 stars upon re-read.
This time around I focussed more on the part where yeomni talks about the dangers of socialism and the left wing, that uses incredibly similar mechanisms used in the « socialist paradise » that North Korea is.
It is also a path China is involved with in ways I did not even imagine.
This book helped me put words on my political stance and strengthen my views about capitalism and the dangerous way our generations (that have not fought for freedom like our ancestors) try to tear apart our current political realities and freedoms by (among many other things) taking part in cancel culture and the woke movement, that tarnishes so much of what generations before us have tried to achieve when it comes to freedom of speech and so much more.
One thing that shocked me is how people easily say that Yeomni doesn’t know what she is talking about, that she has been « brainwashed ».
This woman knows what socialism (taken to extremes) does.
She experienced first hand the « socialist paradise » that North Korea is where everyone is equal, meaning that nobody owns anything, nobody can go up the social ladder, and everybody suffers.
If there are warnings we should take seriously , they certainly are from North Korean defectors.
She is so brave to talk about all of this and to call everyone out on their BS. This book is incredibly important .
18 April 2023 : This is one of the most important books I have ever read , one that everyone should read.
It will offend - because it deconstruct many things we learn to be “true” about our current system, one that is in danger of, if continuing on this path, could very well lead to totalitarisme.
I have said this many times about the pandemic, that the fear tactics gouvernements used to induce fear through propaganda was similar to the mechanism used in extreme regimes.
Saying that some people were a “danger to the population”, among other things. How the mass population was so easily manipulated and terrified, how people opposing the gouvernements were muted on social media and refused entry to places - posing a serious issue to human rights and freedom of speech - the very principles we all take for granted.
Yeomni talks about many more subjects, like the danger of the woke mouvement, cancel culture etc… and the rise of people wanting to put socialists into power, which could result in devastating outcomes like in China and North Korea, that happen to very much work together.
I am so thankful for her to be so bluntly open about these truth, even with such a huge platform and all the risks she takes on doing so.
This woman is incredibly strong and courageous. I follow her YouTube channel since 2020, and encourage you to do the same (the name is “voice of North Korea”).
If you can stomach to be called out on things and feel uncomfortable, this is one of the most important book you’ll ever read. The only thing I can say about it is THANK YOU, Yeonmi .
This time around I focussed more on the part where yeomni talks about the dangers of socialism and the left wing, that uses incredibly similar mechanisms used in the « socialist paradise » that North Korea is.
It is also a path China is involved with in ways I did not even imagine.
This book helped me put words on my political stance and strengthen my views about capitalism and the dangerous way our generations (that have not fought for freedom like our ancestors) try to tear apart our current political realities and freedoms by (among many other things) taking part in cancel culture and the woke movement, that tarnishes so much of what generations before us have tried to achieve when it comes to freedom of speech and so much more.
One thing that shocked me is how people easily say that Yeomni doesn’t know what she is talking about, that she has been « brainwashed ».
This woman knows what socialism (taken to extremes) does.
She experienced first hand the « socialist paradise » that North Korea is where everyone is equal, meaning that nobody owns anything, nobody can go up the social ladder, and everybody suffers.
If there are warnings we should take seriously , they certainly are from North Korean defectors.
She is so brave to talk about all of this and to call everyone out on their BS. This book is incredibly important .
18 April 2023 : This is one of the most important books I have ever read , one that everyone should read.
It will offend - because it deconstruct many things we learn to be “true” about our current system, one that is in danger of, if continuing on this path, could very well lead to totalitarisme.
I have said this many times about the pandemic, that the fear tactics gouvernements used to induce fear through propaganda was similar to the mechanism used in extreme regimes.
Saying that some people were a “danger to the population”, among other things. How the mass population was so easily manipulated and terrified, how people opposing the gouvernements were muted on social media and refused entry to places - posing a serious issue to human rights and freedom of speech - the very principles we all take for granted.
Yeomni talks about many more subjects, like the danger of the woke mouvement, cancel culture etc… and the rise of people wanting to put socialists into power, which could result in devastating outcomes like in China and North Korea, that happen to very much work together.
I am so thankful for her to be so bluntly open about these truth, even with such a huge platform and all the risks she takes on doing so.
This woman is incredibly strong and courageous. I follow her YouTube channel since 2020, and encourage you to do the same (the name is “voice of North Korea”).
If you can stomach to be called out on things and feel uncomfortable, this is one of the most important book you’ll ever read. The only thing I can say about it is THANK YOU, Yeonmi .
dark
emotional
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Another brilliant book by Yeonmi Park. It is interesting to see her views on her adopted country and the issues that we face in the West compared to the horrors that the North Koreans face everyday