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169 reviews for:
While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector's Search for Freedom in America
Yeonmi Park
3.38 AVERAGE
169 reviews for:
While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector's Search for Freedom in America
Yeonmi Park
3.38 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Let me start by saying that I consider myself a Liberal Centrist with some Left leaning opinions. This was probably why I wasn't as offended by Ms. Park's views as some of the other reviewers. There was a lot that Ms. Park shared in this book that I agreed with and there were some things that I didn't. However, I do think this is a book worth reading.
Too often we (Americans) live in a vacuum of our own making. This is why I love hearing about our country from a non-historically-American perspective. Immigrants haven't "drunk the Kool-Aid" and can give a better, more unbiased, and critical view of America's politics. Arguably, they are closer to understanding the true meaning of an American Dream than people born in the USA. They have a more visceral appreciation of our freedoms and a stronger drive to protect them. So if we want to understand anything from a higher, world-view perspective, and work to make a better country, we need to be able to hear dissenting views with an open mind.
The only other thing I want to share, because I'd really like you to read it for yourself, is to remember that this is a memoir. It's her thoughts, feelings, opinions on where the US is headed politically. They are grown from her very real experiences growing up in North Korea. It would be a disservice to her and ourselves to not at least consider them. Yes, it's a more conservative view, and she mentions people at the end who many would consider inflammatory commentators, but that doesn't make it a "bad" book.
Too often we (Americans) live in a vacuum of our own making. This is why I love hearing about our country from a non-historically-American perspective. Immigrants haven't "drunk the Kool-Aid" and can give a better, more unbiased, and critical view of America's politics. Arguably, they are closer to understanding the true meaning of an American Dream than people born in the USA. They have a more visceral appreciation of our freedoms and a stronger drive to protect them. So if we want to understand anything from a higher, world-view perspective, and work to make a better country, we need to be able to hear dissenting views with an open mind.
The only other thing I want to share, because I'd really like you to read it for yourself, is to remember that this is a memoir. It's her thoughts, feelings, opinions on where the US is headed politically. They are grown from her very real experiences growing up in North Korea. It would be a disservice to her and ourselves to not at least consider them. Yes, it's a more conservative view, and she mentions people at the end who many would consider inflammatory commentators, but that doesn't make it a "bad" book.
One star and a DNF just from the forward alone. Golly. I mean convince me to read the actual book if you feel like it but I literally couldn’t get through the forward at all if that is an indication of what is coming.
I just got to the experience at Columbia University. I'm not reading anymore.
we really unhinged our jaw at the end to suck these conservative's dicks huh?
i normally do not like to rate nonfiction (especially lowly) but this was just a conservative spiel thinly wrapped in trauma. their has to be a ghost writer behind this or something
i normally do not like to rate nonfiction (especially lowly) but this was just a conservative spiel thinly wrapped in trauma. their has to be a ghost writer behind this or something
I am honestly not sure how to rate this book. On one hand, I feel for her and what she went through, obviously. But when you get to the end and she talks about her political views and her opinions and her stance on America, that’s where she lost me. It this book was very much a love letter to America. It felt like she was saying that she thinks that America is somehow on its way to becoming like North Korea. I did not like the way that she felt about oppression that still very much lives in America today. I understand where she’s coming from where she was incredibly oppressed but her extreme oppression does not mean that oppression here does not exist. I didn’t like how she made it seem like racism isn’t a problem when it very much is. I just I think that I have to sit with this book a little longer before I can really really give it a review.
Update: looked up to author and realized she’s a conservative republican. 🤢 things make so much more sense now. I’m still not going to rate it because I think rating nonfiction lowly simply because of a difference in opinion if the book it technically well written isn’t fair.
Update: looked up to author and realized she’s a conservative republican. 🤢 things make so much more sense now. I’m still not going to rate it because I think rating nonfiction lowly simply because of a difference in opinion if the book it technically well written isn’t fair.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, Physical abuse, Violence
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Abortion, Death of parent
challenging
reflective
tense
fast-paced
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.