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4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
This book was truly amazing. It was written very well and chronicled the lives of several North Korean defectors. More than anything, the author did not taint the stories with her own opinions but rather stuck to the story the way the people told them. It is an eye opening book, one that I HIGHLY recommend for anyone interested in learning more about the big world we live in. Keep an open mind and be inspired.
Here is an outstanding piece of Journalism, extensively researched and thoughtfully laid out to illustrate a corrupt regime in a human capacity. That Demick can recreate the day to day routine in North Korea behind the veneer constructed for tourists and foreign journalists is a true show of her interviewing and writing talent. I was gripped to this book as one might be to [i] 1984[/i], and perhaps I was expecting a conclusion of some sort for the country as well as the defectors, but we know it doesn't quite work like that.
An interesting, and saddening, point is made towards the end about modern communication, that could situate this piece of non-fiction in an alternative polemic. Jun-sang and Mi-ran's relationship is unable to function once they have defected, not least because the immediacy of communication reveals unflattering realities to each of them. It is moments like this that this book surprises you.
An interesting, and saddening, point is made towards the end about modern communication, that could situate this piece of non-fiction in an alternative polemic. Jun-sang and Mi-ran's relationship is unable to function once they have defected, not least because the immediacy of communication reveals unflattering realities to each of them. It is moments like this that this book surprises you.
Ever since I finished this book I can't stop thinking about it. I started reading it just before Kim Jong-il's death, and reading it during the country's period of mourning made it all the more poignant. I'd heard some things about North Korea in passing, but the details in this book absolutely stunned me. An entire generation physically stunted, and millions dead, due to malnutrition because Kim Jong-il wouldn't let aid workers pass out rations outside the government-approved capital. Prison camps. Children picking kernels of corn from animal feces and washing it in the river so that they could have something, anything, to eat. Deprivation in the form of speech, dress, faith, food, money - every basic human right we can think of as citizens of a first-world country. The end of the book details the escapes to China, Mongolia and South Korea of a handful of people. Once in South Korea (always through illegal means), North Korean citizens are granted political asylum and are given $20,000 to start their life over, along with a two-month intensive course on how to live in the "real" world. How to use an ATM; what the Internet is; what the real history of the rest of the world is - these are just scratching the surface of the things they all needed to be taught. The people of North Korea have lived hard lives, and this book was equal parts horrifying and fascinating. It opened my eyes to a country filled with so many good people yet so many problems. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject.
This was incredible. It's over 10 years old now but absolutely still relevant. I only wish we had an update as to the people we met here.
Interesting and horrifying look at North Korea through the stories of several defectors, men and women.
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
When I saw the North Korean athletes during the Olympics, I wondered what they thought of London and what their lives were like back home. That country is such a mystery to me. This book tells the stories of various people who lived through the Korean War, the "glory days" of Communism under Kim Il-Sung (when North Korea was far more prosperous than South), and the devastating famine of the 1990s. It is almost unbelievable and brought me to tears several times. Highly recommend.
I’m voting for Pres. Obama in November.
What does that have to do with a book review?
Not much really…other than after reading Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick, I’m grateful that I can vote. For anybody. Period.
Author Demick’s narrative follows the lives of six North Koreans over the span of approximately 15 years – we learn of their education, families, their lives under a totalitarian government, and ultimately, the famine, that claimed nearly 3 million lives.
This was a bleak book, but profoundly necessary to read. There is nothing redeeming about living in North Korea. It sucks. But I was amazed that in spite of the deprivation, families were still families who raised children and still wanted the best for them.
Also – the women. I am in awe of North Korean women. In the depths of the famine (which encompassed the years of 1994-1998) they were responsible for not only working (nearly 89% of all women “worked”) but they were they were also responsible for obtaining fuel, food and water (which was nonexistent).
Finally – as we learn the fate of these six individuals (all who defected out of North Korea, which is why we know their story), it’s painful to read how difficult it was to adjust to a free society.
This was great book to read during an election year – because regardless of what side you align yourself with – we are so enormously blessed to live in this country.
I think I’ll go buy some bread now.
What does that have to do with a book review?
Not much really…other than after reading Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick, I’m grateful that I can vote. For anybody. Period.
Author Demick’s narrative follows the lives of six North Koreans over the span of approximately 15 years – we learn of their education, families, their lives under a totalitarian government, and ultimately, the famine, that claimed nearly 3 million lives.
This was a bleak book, but profoundly necessary to read. There is nothing redeeming about living in North Korea. It sucks. But I was amazed that in spite of the deprivation, families were still families who raised children and still wanted the best for them.
Also – the women. I am in awe of North Korean women. In the depths of the famine (which encompassed the years of 1994-1998) they were responsible for not only working (nearly 89% of all women “worked”) but they were they were also responsible for obtaining fuel, food and water (which was nonexistent).
Finally – as we learn the fate of these six individuals (all who defected out of North Korea, which is why we know their story), it’s painful to read how difficult it was to adjust to a free society.
This was great book to read during an election year – because regardless of what side you align yourself with – we are so enormously blessed to live in this country.
I think I’ll go buy some bread now.
informative
sad
fast-paced