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4.48 AVERAGE
4.48 AVERAGE
I learned more from this book that all the history classes I was forced to attend at secondary school. I mean did you know that not too long ago, North Korea's economy used to be stronger than South Korea's?! The mind boggles. I didn't even know things like the fact that it was occupied by Japan in the early 21st Century.
Anyway, I think everyone should be made to read this book to make you appreciate living in the western world. It was fascinating in a horrific way and even though I know that it is, part of you struggles to believe that an entire country could be that brainwashed and devoted to dictators when the whole country is starving, when parents are glad that their child has died simply because it is one less mouth to feed. For every defector there is who managed to get out of the country, there are thousands more who are still there starving and believing the propaganda.
Lastly, I think the book was well written in an engaging style, making you care about the people whose stories she tells and educating you in an interesting manner.
Anyway, I think everyone should be made to read this book to make you appreciate living in the western world. It was fascinating in a horrific way and even though I know that it is, part of you struggles to believe that an entire country could be that brainwashed and devoted to dictators when the whole country is starving, when parents are glad that their child has died simply because it is one less mouth to feed. For every defector there is who managed to get out of the country, there are thousands more who are still there starving and believing the propaganda.
Lastly, I think the book was well written in an engaging style, making you care about the people whose stories she tells and educating you in an interesting manner.
This was a fantastic book, weaving together the lives of North Korean defectors in an attempt to give an as close as possible view of North Korea in the last 30+ years. Demick interviewed her subjects for years so none of the storytelling seems forced or embellished, just raw, real and often shocking. I thought I knew a decent amount about the North Korea situation, but this book showed me that I have much, much more to learn about this enigmatic nation. Great read for anyone who has an interest in Asian history/current events or anyone who appreciates biographies and memoirs.
An exploration of life in North Korea between the 1980s and roughly 2010, through a group biography of six people from the city of Chongjin who survived the famine and managed to escape to South Korea. It's an engrossing read which shows just how much an already hardscrabble life became ever more brutal as the North Korean economy spiralled ever further downwards in the '90s. There are moments of great brutality and also humanity here, as people sometimes help one another and something hurt one another.
The closed nature of North Korean society means that Barbara Demick has limited capacity to verify the accounts of her subjects, and of course it's questionable how much these interviewees—who are atypical in many ways as people with the drive and connections to get themselves over the border; far fewer people are able to defect each year from the North than were for example from East to West Germany—are representative of more general Northern Korean attitudes towards the Kim regime. I'd be fascinated to read an updated edition of this book with a follow up look at the six subjects and what life is like under Kim Jong Un.
The closed nature of North Korean society means that Barbara Demick has limited capacity to verify the accounts of her subjects, and of course it's questionable how much these interviewees—who are atypical in many ways as people with the drive and connections to get themselves over the border; far fewer people are able to defect each year from the North than were for example from East to West Germany—are representative of more general Northern Korean attitudes towards the Kim regime. I'd be fascinated to read an updated edition of this book with a follow up look at the six subjects and what life is like under Kim Jong Un.
This book was impressive simply for the clear picture it offered on North Korea in the 1980's to early 2000's. I knew the basics about North Korea and have gone on a few internet dives about the country before but Demick is able to offer so much more detail thanks to the accounts of her interviewees. The level of detail while still maintaining clarity and readability is a huge asset for a book that is extremely heavy and could have easily offered readers an out by getting too mired in elaborate language or background.
For those of us on the outside, North Korea can feel like a mystery. You know things aren't okay, you've heard some stuff in the news about it or maybe you saw a documentary once about it. But this book takes you deep into the lives of several different North Koreans. While, of course, each of their lives is unique and, especially based on class, full of different kinds of challenges and trauma - across the board the common denominator is that a totalitarian government did not care about them. It didn't care that they were fed, that they were warm, that they had electricity. The cult of the Dear Leader was such that the average North Korean was taught since birth that THIS life, their sparse North Korean life, was exactly what it was supposed to be and that it was all thanks to Kim Jong-il. So complete was their seclusion from the rest of the world that there was no way to learn anything different.
Told from the reporter's perspective, this is a raw and heartbreaking look at several individuals over years of time. We watch the crumbling of infrastructure, the startling death of Kim Jong-il, the beginning of the famine and the true depth of the famine crisis. I was impressed by the ingenuity of these individuals and was super intrigued by what it was that finally made each of them in their own way, open their eyes to the reality of life in the only country they'd ever known.
The jumping around between people was hard for me, sometimes it felt disjointed - but I do think that this way of narrating fleshed out the human experience since depending on who your parents were or where your relatives lived, your North Korean life looked quite different. While a hard story to listen to sometimes, this is an important record.
Told from the reporter's perspective, this is a raw and heartbreaking look at several individuals over years of time. We watch the crumbling of infrastructure, the startling death of Kim Jong-il, the beginning of the famine and the true depth of the famine crisis. I was impressed by the ingenuity of these individuals and was super intrigued by what it was that finally made each of them in their own way, open their eyes to the reality of life in the only country they'd ever known.
The jumping around between people was hard for me, sometimes it felt disjointed - but I do think that this way of narrating fleshed out the human experience since depending on who your parents were or where your relatives lived, your North Korean life looked quite different. While a hard story to listen to sometimes, this is an important record.
Wow! Well-written and compelling look at life in North Korea.
A true story of survival in the face of oppression and brutality. Showcases the ingenuity and spirit of the North Korean people as they survive their oppressors.
Read this if you want to be furious at the Kim regime
Read this if you want to be furious at the Kim regime
What a heart wrenching book. In so many ways I was reminded of the brain washing and justifications that goes on in cults. It was so sad yet understandable when some of the refugees mentioned their desire to go back to the North Korea they knew and loved.
Very enlightening and educational look at life in a totally different culture and lifestyle that remains elusive and nearly impossible to glimpse.
Very enlightening and educational look at life in a totally different culture and lifestyle that remains elusive and nearly impossible to glimpse.
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced