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4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
Paperback |
I had no idea the depths of struggle the average North Korean faced. I knew they couldn’t talk freely and had no access to the outside world or modern technology, but I had no idea that many didn’t even have access to food.
This book moved me.
The people that got out left so many more behind.
The truth of North Korea is haunting.
I have seen others compare the story of North Korea to a non-fiction version of ‘1984’. It’s so much worse.
Barbara Demick does a fantastic job of bringing the defectors’ stories to life without being theatrical. I connected with and was heartbroken by each person’s story in different ways. Some of the little details of their lives will stick with me.
(“Let’s go to a fancy restaurant and order some wine”
I had no idea the depths of struggle the average North Korean faced. I knew they couldn’t talk freely and had no access to the outside world or modern technology, but I had no idea that many didn’t even have access to food.
This book moved me.
The people that got out left so many more behind.
The truth of North Korea is haunting.
I have seen others compare the story of North Korea to a non-fiction version of ‘1984’. It’s so much worse.
Barbara Demick does a fantastic job of bringing the defectors’ stories to life without being theatrical. I connected with and was heartbroken by each person’s story in different ways. Some of the little details of their lives will stick with me.
(“Let’s go to a fancy restaurant and order some wine”
I am most motivated to learn about history when it comes in the form of a memoir. As with "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" by Katherine Boo, I finished the book feeling richer for having read these stories but also feeling worse for humanity. I will not easily forget the scene with the dog dish; if you read the accounts, you'll know what I mean. This book is like a vise -- just as you become desensitized to the horrific standard of living suffered by the North Koreans featured in the memoir, their lives get worse and then worse...
Oh man, and I thought what happened in China was bad. A journalist wrote this book after years of interviews with North Koreans who defected to South Korea. Under the leadership of Kim Il-sung and now-president Kim Jong-il, they grew up in the last remaining 100% pure Communist country and were taught that they were better off than anyone else and had "nothing to envy." This, while they were starving from famine and their government was either refusing outside humanitarian aid or accepting it and then siphoning it over to the military. It's an eye-opening and heartbreaking read that sucked me right in.
4/22 I'm struck on page 6 by the author's implication that North Koreans are suffering the indignity of not being able to watch television. I expect to learn a lot from this book and certainly have little direct experience (just 4 or 5 months of living in the hills of Riverside Co. with my grandfather) of living without electricity, . . . but I can't get behind the idea that there is some inherent dignity in viewing television.
4/26 So far, this book is BORING! I'll read a little more and see if I can get into it, but I've already abandoned it twice in favor of other books and I'm on page 50, so it's not looking good.
4/30 I stuck with it and ultimately enjoyed it. A few aspects of Demick's writing bothered me. For example, her implication that seaweed is slimy and gross, and her ignorance re: how little to no chemical fertilizer in North Korea is a good thing for the health of the land there. However, all that pales in the face of the reality of life for North Koreans. I really had no knowledge as to the conditions of life there and now it is quite obvious to me that the population there is starving and suffering under a tyrant. Some of these were very sad tales. I can't imagine having to leave my children behind to save my own life. Heartbreaking.
4/26 So far, this book is BORING! I'll read a little more and see if I can get into it, but I've already abandoned it twice in favor of other books and I'm on page 50, so it's not looking good.
4/30 I stuck with it and ultimately enjoyed it. A few aspects of Demick's writing bothered me. For example, her implication that seaweed is slimy and gross, and her ignorance re: how little to no chemical fertilizer in North Korea is a good thing for the health of the land there. However, all that pales in the face of the reality of life for North Koreans. I really had no knowledge as to the conditions of life there and now it is quite obvious to me that the population there is starving and suffering under a tyrant. Some of these were very sad tales. I can't imagine having to leave my children behind to save my own life. Heartbreaking.
adventurous
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
Give me all the books about North Korea, it's such a fascinating topic. This followed several defectors as they recount their lives in NK.
Fascinating, heartbreaking. It was SO interesting but also incredibly sad. It’s the description of life in a place that closely resembles Orwell’s 1984. Also interesting account of life after defecting and the price defectors pay.