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4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
This was a terrific book that stays with you after you finish it. It is the true story of three families who lived the "dream" in North Korea. It made me appreciate living here and the freedom we have.
Absolutely fascinating! I couldn't put this book down. My wife recommend this book a while back and I wish I had read it then.
The stories are powerful, lovely, and heartbreaking. I don't know if I will ever forget some of the more haunting aspects to these stories. This is truly a page turner and I highly suggest it if you want an inside look at the crazy regime that is North Korea.
The stories are powerful, lovely, and heartbreaking. I don't know if I will ever forget some of the more haunting aspects to these stories. This is truly a page turner and I highly suggest it if you want an inside look at the crazy regime that is North Korea.
A moving account of life in North Korea. Demick recounts the oral histories of a handful of defectors to South Korea who all hail from the same region. While sad, this book was not as depressing as I thought it would be (perhaps in part because I knew that the main subjects would all survive and escape). I would recommend it to anyone.
EYE OPENING. I loved this book. Please read if you have ever been interested or wondered what the everyday life and people are like in North Korea.
What a fascinating and gut wrenching read. Well written, researched, and presented. This book at times read like a novel, and others a crash course of forbidden history.
Occasionally it almost felt like anti-communist propaganda, particularly when dealing with the extremes of the famine and suffering brought on by the regime or the emergence of a free market (albeit illegal and more of a black market) within such an anti capitalist setting. But these were not fictitious details to drive home a point, but the reality attested to by many who escaped.
This is a somber but informative read that pulled at my heart reminding me of the various sufferings going on around the world. I highly recommend taking the time to wrestle with and digest this work.
Occasionally it almost felt like anti-communist propaganda, particularly when dealing with the extremes of the famine and suffering brought on by the regime or the emergence of a free market (albeit illegal and more of a black market) within such an anti capitalist setting. But these were not fictitious details to drive home a point, but the reality attested to by many who escaped.
This is a somber but informative read that pulled at my heart reminding me of the various sufferings going on around the world. I highly recommend taking the time to wrestle with and digest this work.
This was such an eye-opening book. Barbara could not have done a better job telling the defector stories. It’s so hard to know what actually happens in the hermit state, but hearing first hand accounts captivated my attention the whole book. I cannot imagine living in an area of the world where you have to head to the mountains just to find a shred of grass to eat. Where there is a lack of electricity and people who have ladders will climb up the power lines just to cut off copper wire to sell. Where there is a fear that your friend, neighbor, or even spouse could be a party spy. Where you are taught that the Japanese and United States (especially Christian Missionaries) are evil. Even more so interesting is the fact this book was published in 2010 and the state of the country has not changed. But most of all, my heart hurts for the North Koreans stuck in the country.
This book is a powerful recreation from defectors' interviews of life in North Korea, especially during and after the economic collapse of the early 1990's. I've so rarely seen glimpses into life in North Korea; almost the only images I have are political posters and a few heartbreaking news stories during the height of the famine several years ago. This book is heartrending. What a waste of an intelligent people and their stark but lovely land. Demick has done a remarkable job weaving these stories together into a whole, and then letting the work stand for itself. WHY are all these millions of people living, physically stunted from chronic malnutrition, and in the dark, practically in the dark ages, when not so long ago they were an industrial nation? I hope the testimony of each and every hungry child has been saved in heaven for evidence against the architects of this disaster.
Could not put this one down. It's so hard to imagine what it would be like to live in North Korea. It was amazing (and horrifying) to hear these firsthand accounts from defectors. Lately I've been very into the genre of investigative journalism, and I definitely would be interested in reading more books like this one that are written by journalists about different areas of the world.
I wish this book was a work of fiction. It's not. I wish I could volunteer to take out the regime in one fell swoop and free the people of North Korea. It's not that easy. I wish, I wish, and so do the people of North Korea.
Read it. Weep. Wish for change.
Read it. Weep. Wish for change.
dark
informative
reflective
sad