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4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
sad
fast-paced
Barbara Demick’s writing style is fantastic.
An interesting look at the lives of ordinary people in North Korea. The author recounts the stories of six individuals who all grew up in northern North Korea and have since defected to South Korea. We all know what we see of North Korea in the news, but this book offers a glance into what's not allowed to be displayed: the famine, the prison camps, the thousands of malnourished children, and the reality of what it's like living there. This book made me appreciate the freedom of choice and freedom to information that we have in the US and in other countries. Things might not be perfect here, but at least we're aware of the world around us. In North Korea, they don't know any different and most of them never will. They literally have "nothing to envy" because there is nothing else that they know.
Disturbing nonfiction, based on interviews with defectors from North Korea. I didn't enjoy the narrator, but the information was enlightening.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Demick weaves the narratives of several North Korean detectors into an interesting narrative about life in North Korea. True stories of family, propaganda, and survival. I couldn't put it down. The writing style is easy to read, even if the information isn't.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture, Excrement, Trafficking, Murder
Minor: Drug use, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic
As a piece of journalism, this book is an absolutely incredible achievement, and should be read as an opportunity to look into possibly the most closed and mysterious society on the planet. I do wish Demick had put a little more effort into the writing, or perhaps gotten a better editor, as this material could have made for an amazing, mind-blowing, heart-wrenching book. Instead, the prose is for the most part serviceable, and sometimes outright clumsy. Still, the book is definitely worth a read as it provides an invaluable perspective, and a voice to people from whom we have heard very little over the past several decades.
dark
emotional
informative
tense
fast-paced
A really affecting nonfiction novel that looks at the lives of defectors and what makes them run from their own country. I was captivated from beginning to end and have never looked at North Korea the same way since.
Just an amazing piece of reporting about North Korea.
Wow. Remarkable, disturbing, thought-provoking. Bummed me out, but also left me with an odd sort of respect and admiration for people who manage to survive, sometimes thrive, and sometimes escape in such appalling conditions. Demick really illuminates a society that seems so very foreign (not just in the international meaning, but culturally and philosophically). Glad I persevered, though I had to put it down sometimes when I just couldn't handle what I was reading.
Would like to take a tiny fraction of a star off for some clumsy copy editing oversights, but that feels petty.
Would like to take a tiny fraction of a star off for some clumsy copy editing oversights, but that feels petty.
Barbara Demick does an excellent job of sketching daily life of ordinary North Korean in a city away from the capital. I was hooke din the first chapter with the young lovers who meet secretly at night when there is no electricity. Demick's reports and novel are based on articles, statistic, and, most importantly, the first hand account of North Koreans who left that city.
The story is startling and bleak with wonderful insights on how people survive despite the deprivations of food and information and how they interact with others in this economically isolated country. It is interesting how they have to turn to blakc markets and start small illicit business.
This non-fiction account reads like well informed fiction. Highly recommended.
The story is startling and bleak with wonderful insights on how people survive despite the deprivations of food and information and how they interact with others in this economically isolated country. It is interesting how they have to turn to blakc markets and start small illicit business.
This non-fiction account reads like well informed fiction. Highly recommended.
I will never forget this book.
I was shamefully ignorant about the goings-on in North Korea before I read this book, so I was maybe more shocked and amazed than most people would be -- but regardless, the people profiled here are fascinating and their stories are astounding.
It would be hard to imagine a place less like America than the North Korea depicted in this book, and it has really made me conscious of the privilege we enjoy as Americans (regardless of the flaws in our system, because nothing is perfect).
I don't think that's necessarily the intent of this book, though; it is told in a way that leaves the spotlight entirely on the characters, the setting, and the politics, without any editorializing. It is simply the story of these regular people living under a completely insane regime.
The entire book is thought-provoking and interesting, but here are a few passages that stuck with me. If these seem interesting to you, read the book. (Really, just read the book.)
The most famous stores in the country were Pyongyang's two department stores--Department Store No. 1 and Department Store No. 2, they were called--and their merchandise was about as exciting as their names. p. 61-2
Whether they were studying math, science, reading, music, or art, the children were taught to revere the leadership and hate the enemy. For example, a first-grade math book contained the following questions:
"Eight boys and nine girls are singing anthems in praise of Kim Il-sung. How many children are singing in total?"
"A girl is acting as a messenger to our patriotic troops during the war against the Japanese occupation. She carries messages in a basket containing five apples, but is stopped by a Japanese soldier at a checkpoint. He steals two of her apples. How many are left?"
"Three soldiers from the Korean People's Army killed thirty American soldiers. How many American soldiers were killed by each of them if they all killed an equal number of enemy soldiers?" p. 120
During a lecture at a prison camp for women caught escaping to China:
Then he asked for a show of hands: Who wold promise not to run away again to China? The women squatted in sullen silence. ... Not a single woman raised a hand.
After an uncomfortable silence, the prison director spoke up. "Well, if you go to China again, next time don't get caught." p. 232
About a woman who had managed to leave North Korea and seek haven in South Korea:
She had been shaped by a thorough indoctrination and then suffered the pain of betrayal; she'd spent years in fear of speaking her mind, of harboring illicit thoughts. She had steeled herself to walk by the bodies of the dead without breaking stride. She had learned to eat her lunch, down to the last kernel of corn or grain of rice, without pausing to grieve for the children she taught who would soon die of starvation. She was racked with guilt. Guilt and shame are the common denominators among North Korean defectors; many hate themselves for what they had to do in order to survive. p. 271
"We're supposed to buy North Korean products instead of Chinese, but North Korea doesn't make anything--it all comes from China--so there is nothing to buy."
[...]
"If they don't give us food and clothing and we're not allowed to buy things, how are we supposed to survive?" ... As fat tears rolled down the hollows of her cheekbones, she asked, "Isn't it a waste to be spending money on nuclear weapons when people are starving?" p. 291
And this is from the Notes section; I was fascinated because it seems similar to the 30 Rock storyline about Avery (Jack's wife), which makes me wonder if the 30 Rockers borrowed it...
[Kim Jong-il's] love of cinema was manifested in its most extreme form in 1978, when he arranged the kidnapping of his favorite South Korean actress, Choi Eun-hee, and her ex-husband, Shin Sang-ok. Choi and Shin had been recently divorced before their abduction--they remarried in North Korea at Kim's "suggestion." They made films for North Korean studios until 1986, when they defected to Vienna. p. 299-300
Seriously, read this book.
I was shamefully ignorant about the goings-on in North Korea before I read this book, so I was maybe more shocked and amazed than most people would be -- but regardless, the people profiled here are fascinating and their stories are astounding.
It would be hard to imagine a place less like America than the North Korea depicted in this book, and it has really made me conscious of the privilege we enjoy as Americans (regardless of the flaws in our system, because nothing is perfect).
I don't think that's necessarily the intent of this book, though; it is told in a way that leaves the spotlight entirely on the characters, the setting, and the politics, without any editorializing. It is simply the story of these regular people living under a completely insane regime.
The entire book is thought-provoking and interesting, but here are a few passages that stuck with me. If these seem interesting to you, read the book. (Really, just read the book.)
The most famous stores in the country were Pyongyang's two department stores--Department Store No. 1 and Department Store No. 2, they were called--and their merchandise was about as exciting as their names. p. 61-2
Whether they were studying math, science, reading, music, or art, the children were taught to revere the leadership and hate the enemy. For example, a first-grade math book contained the following questions:
"Eight boys and nine girls are singing anthems in praise of Kim Il-sung. How many children are singing in total?"
"A girl is acting as a messenger to our patriotic troops during the war against the Japanese occupation. She carries messages in a basket containing five apples, but is stopped by a Japanese soldier at a checkpoint. He steals two of her apples. How many are left?"
"Three soldiers from the Korean People's Army killed thirty American soldiers. How many American soldiers were killed by each of them if they all killed an equal number of enemy soldiers?" p. 120
During a lecture at a prison camp for women caught escaping to China:
Then he asked for a show of hands: Who wold promise not to run away again to China? The women squatted in sullen silence. ... Not a single woman raised a hand.
After an uncomfortable silence, the prison director spoke up. "Well, if you go to China again, next time don't get caught." p. 232
About a woman who had managed to leave North Korea and seek haven in South Korea:
She had been shaped by a thorough indoctrination and then suffered the pain of betrayal; she'd spent years in fear of speaking her mind, of harboring illicit thoughts. She had steeled herself to walk by the bodies of the dead without breaking stride. She had learned to eat her lunch, down to the last kernel of corn or grain of rice, without pausing to grieve for the children she taught who would soon die of starvation. She was racked with guilt. Guilt and shame are the common denominators among North Korean defectors; many hate themselves for what they had to do in order to survive. p. 271
"We're supposed to buy North Korean products instead of Chinese, but North Korea doesn't make anything--it all comes from China--so there is nothing to buy."
[...]
"If they don't give us food and clothing and we're not allowed to buy things, how are we supposed to survive?" ... As fat tears rolled down the hollows of her cheekbones, she asked, "Isn't it a waste to be spending money on nuclear weapons when people are starving?" p. 291
And this is from the Notes section; I was fascinated because it seems similar to the 30 Rock storyline about Avery (Jack's wife), which makes me wonder if the 30 Rockers borrowed it...
[Kim Jong-il's] love of cinema was manifested in its most extreme form in 1978, when he arranged the kidnapping of his favorite South Korean actress, Choi Eun-hee, and her ex-husband, Shin Sang-ok. Choi and Shin had been recently divorced before their abduction--they remarried in North Korea at Kim's "suggestion." They made films for North Korean studios until 1986, when they defected to Vienna. p. 299-300
Seriously, read this book.