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4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
Very difficult to read at points; as bad as you think things are going to get for Yeonmi and her family, they usually get worse. Harrowing and courageous.
Wow! I am stunned. I want to say so many things about this book and yet I can't find the right words. Every page in this book is shocking, heart-wrenching and painful, but running through it is an incredibly inspirational story of human resilience and hope. It's the first time ever that I read a non-fiction book that I couldn't put down.
This was my first book the harrowing accounts that happen in North Korea. I learned a lot about the oppressive regime through this book and cannot believe a place like this truly exists in this century. When you are reading this book it almost feels like you are right there in North Korea, following along Yeonmi's tragic journey. She is a wonderful story teller and her strength and resilience are heroic. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the dire life of North Koreans.
Yeonmi Park's autobiography 'In Order to Live' (co-written with Maryanne Vollers) describes Park's childhood in North Korea, and her escape from there to China, and from there to South Korea. It is a very interesting story, and it is a familiar one, told in other memoirs and books.
She is a beautiful young woman today of 23, who at age 13 in 2007 sneaked over the frozen Yalu River with her mother, which is the border between North Korea and China. In China, she was sold to men by those working in the sex trafficking industry. Two years later, as also described in her book, she eventually made her way into Manchuria on foot, where she met up with a Christian sect which specialized in moving refugees who escaped North Korea into South Korea. (Given the extreme dangers of staying alive since she was a baby, and the poverty, lack of nutrition, abuse, and continuing exploitation from traffickers and TV producers and religious organizations and officials and police she has experienced at the hands of fellow human beings in five countries and still counting, I find it more than sickening that religious folk try to force her to believe god loves her and protects her, and forcibly try to convert her. Talk about psychological brainwashing....As usual, the self-delusions of religious people absolutely, totally floor me.)
The Christian organization helped her fill out the paperwork to become a South Korean citizen in both Manchuria and later in South Korea. Thousands of North Koreans had preceded Park using this route, so there was an established set of protocols that officials in South Korea were accustomed to set in motion. South Korean officials are particularly concerned North Korean spies might slip through, so interviews and checking the backgrounds of the refugees take weeks of the process.
Eventually, Park was settled in South Korea, and she has since carved out a new life for herself, as has her mother and sister. She is frequently on television and she has become one of the spokespersons for those who want to dethrone the bizarre dictators of North Korea. However, there are controversies surrounding the truth of her story of escape, for which many seem to be severely condemning and disowning her.
First, an article by those who have sympathy and belief, and a video of Park:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3255914/Woman-relives-nearly-raped-trafficker-smuggled-North-Korea-aged-13-saved-mother-offered-instead.html
https://youtu.be/ufhKWfPSQOw
Now, an article describing Park as a terrible liar:
http://thediplomat.com/2014/12/the-strange-tale-of-yeonmi-park/
There are no questions regarding her birth, or most of the outline of her life or her escape from North Korea, but some do not believe she was one of the North Koreans who suffered starvation during and after the Great Famine. Instead, they think she was of the elite class and lived comfortably before her escape. In her book, Park describes her grandparents and parents as being comfortable in early years, but after her father was imprisoned for criminality (black-market smuggling), she says she and her family were eating grass and insects. She has also been severely chastised for possibly lying about whether her father crossed the Yalu River with her mother and herself, or came to China later. She describes being a Chinese citizen's slave wife at age 13, and a soap-operatic life of escape, capture, escape and other dramatic incidents, and still later being employed for video sex at a sex website, and other, unhappily, normal stories for those who have been sold and trafficked over and over, with the exception Park claims she was not raped a lot because she fought off her attackers. Again, detractors are reaming her out and burning her effigy as a liar because she probably lied about how often she was raped.
Really! Really? We are going to make a HUGE issue over these kind of details, especially when Park was provably age 13 to 16 while undergoing the life of an illegal immigrant in China, separated from and sometimes with her mother, who was also a slave sold by traffickers? THIS is what we are going to hang Park for?
O _ o
Acting as Devil's Advocate, I would like to mention a few other things to consider. There are a number of such inconsistent details of her life and escape as mentioned above from what she and her mother have said in the hundreds of times she has been interviewed for TV, magazines and newspapers, all of the discrepancies being minor. Nowhere, not once, though, has anyone mentioned she speaks at least three languages, but only one extremely well. Her accent while speaking English is very heavy, in my opinion. How many interviews has she given in a language that was not Korean and as a desperate teenager? How many TV studios in how many countries has she been interviewed? How many of us at age 13, can accurately study and describe another country and its customs, politics and calendar events from the point of view as a trafficked child, much less of our own home country, in our travels? What details did she promise to others involved to obfuscate or lie about to hide their involvement, or forget given the traumas she underwent, and which details did she initially lie about because she was ashamed, such as being a sex worker from the ages of 13 to 15?
There is no doubt she was a North Korean child of 8 years old when her mother and father began to struggle in making money for the family to live, and that the imprisonment of her father validates that her parents were living the life of illegal smugglers, with all of its ups and downs and threats of disaster if discovered by North Korean officials. Her story fits the timeline of North Korea's known history of mismanagement of their economy, and the horrific effects on the lower and middle classes. Her description of life in North Korea is corroborated by other refugees. Given the irrefutable facts she was a child in North Korea, and a young teenager as a refugee in China, and she unquestionably missed a lot of school, and also had a severely restricted idealogical education in North Korea when she DID go to school, I do not understand why her detractors have decided to make a mountain out of some these particular molehills regarding her early life story. That makes ME suspicious. Why all of the accusations against her with the implications she is a scheming hustler? So, she is bad, but Trump is to be admired for his celebrity and business hustling?
If you are curious or know very little about what happened in history regarding North Korea, I have included links to read:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_famine
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_North_Korea
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath_of_the_Korean_War
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_defectors
She is a beautiful young woman today of 23, who at age 13 in 2007 sneaked over the frozen Yalu River with her mother, which is the border between North Korea and China. In China, she was sold to men by those working in the sex trafficking industry. Two years later, as also described in her book, she eventually made her way into Manchuria on foot, where she met up with a Christian sect which specialized in moving refugees who escaped North Korea into South Korea. (Given the extreme dangers of staying alive since she was a baby, and the poverty, lack of nutrition, abuse, and continuing exploitation from traffickers and TV producers and religious organizations and officials and police she has experienced at the hands of fellow human beings in five countries and still counting, I find it more than sickening that religious folk try to force her to believe god loves her and protects her, and forcibly try to convert her. Talk about psychological brainwashing....As usual, the self-delusions of religious people absolutely, totally floor me.)
The Christian organization helped her fill out the paperwork to become a South Korean citizen in both Manchuria and later in South Korea. Thousands of North Koreans had preceded Park using this route, so there was an established set of protocols that officials in South Korea were accustomed to set in motion. South Korean officials are particularly concerned North Korean spies might slip through, so interviews and checking the backgrounds of the refugees take weeks of the process.
Eventually, Park was settled in South Korea, and she has since carved out a new life for herself, as has her mother and sister. She is frequently on television and she has become one of the spokespersons for those who want to dethrone the bizarre dictators of North Korea. However, there are controversies surrounding the truth of her story of escape, for which many seem to be severely condemning and disowning her.
First, an article by those who have sympathy and belief, and a video of Park:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3255914/Woman-relives-nearly-raped-trafficker-smuggled-North-Korea-aged-13-saved-mother-offered-instead.html
https://youtu.be/ufhKWfPSQOw
Now, an article describing Park as a terrible liar:
http://thediplomat.com/2014/12/the-strange-tale-of-yeonmi-park/
There are no questions regarding her birth, or most of the outline of her life or her escape from North Korea, but some do not believe she was one of the North Koreans who suffered starvation during and after the Great Famine. Instead, they think she was of the elite class and lived comfortably before her escape. In her book, Park describes her grandparents and parents as being comfortable in early years, but after her father was imprisoned for criminality (black-market smuggling), she says she and her family were eating grass and insects. She has also been severely chastised for possibly lying about whether her father crossed the Yalu River with her mother and herself, or came to China later. She describes being a Chinese citizen's slave wife at age 13, and a soap-operatic life of escape, capture, escape and other dramatic incidents, and still later being employed for video sex at a sex website, and other, unhappily, normal stories for those who have been sold and trafficked over and over, with the exception Park claims she was not raped a lot because she fought off her attackers. Again, detractors are reaming her out and burning her effigy as a liar because she probably lied about how often she was raped.
Really! Really? We are going to make a HUGE issue over these kind of details, especially when Park was provably age 13 to 16 while undergoing the life of an illegal immigrant in China, separated from and sometimes with her mother, who was also a slave sold by traffickers? THIS is what we are going to hang Park for?
O _ o
Acting as Devil's Advocate, I would like to mention a few other things to consider. There are a number of such inconsistent details of her life and escape as mentioned above from what she and her mother have said in the hundreds of times she has been interviewed for TV, magazines and newspapers, all of the discrepancies being minor. Nowhere, not once, though, has anyone mentioned she speaks at least three languages, but only one extremely well. Her accent while speaking English is very heavy, in my opinion. How many interviews has she given in a language that was not Korean and as a desperate teenager? How many TV studios in how many countries has she been interviewed? How many of us at age 13, can accurately study and describe another country and its customs, politics and calendar events from the point of view as a trafficked child, much less of our own home country, in our travels? What details did she promise to others involved to obfuscate or lie about to hide their involvement, or forget given the traumas she underwent, and which details did she initially lie about because she was ashamed, such as being a sex worker from the ages of 13 to 15?
There is no doubt she was a North Korean child of 8 years old when her mother and father began to struggle in making money for the family to live, and that the imprisonment of her father validates that her parents were living the life of illegal smugglers, with all of its ups and downs and threats of disaster if discovered by North Korean officials. Her story fits the timeline of North Korea's known history of mismanagement of their economy, and the horrific effects on the lower and middle classes. Her description of life in North Korea is corroborated by other refugees. Given the irrefutable facts she was a child in North Korea, and a young teenager as a refugee in China, and she unquestionably missed a lot of school, and also had a severely restricted idealogical education in North Korea when she DID go to school, I do not understand why her detractors have decided to make a mountain out of some these particular molehills regarding her early life story. That makes ME suspicious. Why all of the accusations against her with the implications she is a scheming hustler? So, she is bad, but Trump is to be admired for his celebrity and business hustling?
If you are curious or know very little about what happened in history regarding North Korea, I have included links to read:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_famine
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_North_Korea
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath_of_the_Korean_War
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_defectors
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
This was a really heavy and heartbreaking story. I can’t give this a rating. I always knew it was rough in North Korea but the things this woman had to go through by the time she was 15 is unimaginable. She is incredibly courageous and brave for getting through what she did and everything she’s accomplished since.
emotional
informative
reflective
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
In Order to Live: 10/10
By: Yeonmi Park
In Order to Live is a no-nonsense, no-fluff, hardcore, real, straightforward look at Yeonmi Park’s experience as a child growing up in post-peak North Korea, escaping the country via sexual slavery, and being ostracized and faced with a mountain of challenges once finally reaching South Korea.
This book is fantastic. As a rule, I don’t feel comfortable rating people’s lived experiences as less than five stars, but rest assured that this is a five-star book all on its own. I wonder if the straightforward nature of this book comes from being written by a second (or actually, third) language speaker or if it is intentionally styled in that fashion. Regardless, the effect is that there is little to no fluff, few postulations made on the nature of life, and not many metaphors. It's all left up for the reader to determine, and because of that, when you realize that the book isn’t guiding your emotions at all and yet still impacting and changing you, you realize just how powerful Park’s story really is.
Out of principle, I have always been in favor of treating sex workers as human beings and always been in favor of ‘cleaning’ the sex industry and eliminating human trafficking… but that’s what it’s always been, just a principle. Reading this book, about this thirteen year girl and the men that attempted to rape her every. step. of. the. way. And then seeing the pictures of her and her family in real life? My heart wept, and I hope that yours does too while reading this book. This book will encourage you to take the policy and turn it into action, and if you’re not in a position to donate or volunteer, simply reading this book and educating yourself and spending your attention in this area of life is helpful.
And outside of activism, if you’re looking for inspiration in betterment of yourself, this book is for you too. In Order to Live is inspiring in terms of the raw human spirit Park demonstrates as she describes her teenage years and early adulthood. She caught herself up to the modern world by reading one hundred books a year. There were other things as well, talking, being rejected, studying, living in a library, all of that, but it started with reading one hundred books. Who among us can’t read just one more book a year and better ourselves? Two more? A hundred? You look at the story of this young woman who faced the odds in every aspect and to some degree, you think “How come I’m not doing that?” In Hamilton’s song Hurricane the fictionalized Alexander Hamilton declares that he “wrote his way out of Hell.” In contrast, Park is an example of someone reading her way out of Hell, and she’s real. I had to stop myself after the first fifty pages or so and remind myself that this wasn't Orwellian fiction, it’s all about real people in the real world in real oppressive circumstances, really reading their way out of Hell.
I’m sorry if this review has turned into a soap box for me to preach off of, but that’s the effect it had on me. This book has made me want to get up and do something. If your heart is pulled towards human trafficking, government oppression, learning about life in impoverished Asia, or anything I’ve mentioned in this review, I implore you to read this memoir.
By: Yeonmi Park
In Order to Live is a no-nonsense, no-fluff, hardcore, real, straightforward look at Yeonmi Park’s experience as a child growing up in post-peak North Korea, escaping the country via sexual slavery, and being ostracized and faced with a mountain of challenges once finally reaching South Korea.
This book is fantastic. As a rule, I don’t feel comfortable rating people’s lived experiences as less than five stars, but rest assured that this is a five-star book all on its own. I wonder if the straightforward nature of this book comes from being written by a second (or actually, third) language speaker or if it is intentionally styled in that fashion. Regardless, the effect is that there is little to no fluff, few postulations made on the nature of life, and not many metaphors. It's all left up for the reader to determine, and because of that, when you realize that the book isn’t guiding your emotions at all and yet still impacting and changing you, you realize just how powerful Park’s story really is.
Out of principle, I have always been in favor of treating sex workers as human beings and always been in favor of ‘cleaning’ the sex industry and eliminating human trafficking… but that’s what it’s always been, just a principle. Reading this book, about this thirteen year girl and the men that attempted to rape her every. step. of. the. way. And then seeing the pictures of her and her family in real life? My heart wept, and I hope that yours does too while reading this book. This book will encourage you to take the policy and turn it into action, and if you’re not in a position to donate or volunteer, simply reading this book and educating yourself and spending your attention in this area of life is helpful.
And outside of activism, if you’re looking for inspiration in betterment of yourself, this book is for you too. In Order to Live is inspiring in terms of the raw human spirit Park demonstrates as she describes her teenage years and early adulthood. She caught herself up to the modern world by reading one hundred books a year. There were other things as well, talking, being rejected, studying, living in a library, all of that, but it started with reading one hundred books. Who among us can’t read just one more book a year and better ourselves? Two more? A hundred? You look at the story of this young woman who faced the odds in every aspect and to some degree, you think “How come I’m not doing that?” In Hamilton’s song Hurricane the fictionalized Alexander Hamilton declares that he “wrote his way out of Hell.” In contrast, Park is an example of someone reading her way out of Hell, and she’s real. I had to stop myself after the first fifty pages or so and remind myself that this wasn't Orwellian fiction, it’s all about real people in the real world in real oppressive circumstances, really reading their way out of Hell.
I’m sorry if this review has turned into a soap box for me to preach off of, but that’s the effect it had on me. This book has made me want to get up and do something. If your heart is pulled towards human trafficking, government oppression, learning about life in impoverished Asia, or anything I’ve mentioned in this review, I implore you to read this memoir.