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4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence
3/5 - learning that I think I only like memoirs if it’s someone I know (think.. celebrity) however, I do think this is a super interesting (and sad) story. Rating just a little lower than normal for a memoir because I just never found myself reaching for it and it became a chore to finish before the due date
Such a hard hitting story. Yeonmi Park describes her young life under the brutal regime of the Kim dynasty, the starvation, isolation and fear. To then escape at 13 into China, also further horrific experiences, and I didn’t know about this side. I’ve just read other accounts where, if caught, Northern Koreans are sent back to awful lives, but the human trafficking in China, that still occurs is shocking. It’s just heart-breaking but also good to know her smaller family made it into South Korea. A truly inspiring young lady telling her life story.
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
This book was hands down one of the most eye-opening, powerful, and timely books I have read in a long time. Yeonmi Park is an incredible human rights activist, and gives a poignant voice to her people. She is also roughly the same age as me, so while the content wasn’t relatable, her voice was.
This memoir starts in North Korea and details the intricacies of life there, and Yeonmi does a great job of highlighting the ways in which the Kims keep the population in the dark, and under their control. From the outside, it seems impossible that people would live under those circumstances, but by the time you’re done, you understand.
From North Korea, Yeonmi defects and ends up in China, which ends up being a different sort of hell. Yeonmi goes to extraordinary lengths at a very young age to keep her family together. After China, Yeonmi and her mother make it to Mongolia, and finally, to South Korea. This memoir is heart-wrenching. Just because they escaped, doesn’t mean they were safe, and even in South Korea where they’ve settled, Yeonmi and her family are still targeted by North Korea.
This is an incredible story, and I feel everyone would benefit from the read. But if you’re interested, she also has a YouTube channel where she discusses life in North Korea. It’s worth watching as well.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Violence, Death of parent
The world needs to know a story like Yeomni's one. What it means to grow in a dictatorship like Noth Korea, to be trafficked as the only way to escape, be sold as a bride at the age if 13, to cross a desert in Mongolia to finally reach freedom in South Korea. Yeomi explains her journey to discover what democracy means, having rights and freedoms, discovering education and finding her voice as a witness and activist. Shocking the West has very little knowledge or awareness about how serious the situation in North Korea is. Thanks Yeomni for sharing your story
This was a tough story to read but also incredible to hear of how much one human can endure. Yeonmi has lived through a staggering amount of hardship and it is miraculous, on many levels, that she was able to write this book. I have read about North Korea over the years but not from such a young individual's perspective - it astonished me to think that she is part of my generation but lived the way she did in NK.
The story was traumatic, captivating and hard to put down. Yeonmi covers so much ground in her stories but writes in a direct way - you don't get time to think much about emotions or recovery as you move along with her to whatever is next to keep surviving. I wanted more processing but I think that was part of the story, she didn't have that luxury.
The story was traumatic, captivating and hard to put down. Yeonmi covers so much ground in her stories but writes in a direct way - you don't get time to think much about emotions or recovery as you move along with her to whatever is next to keep surviving. I wanted more processing but I think that was part of the story, she didn't have that luxury.
You cannot imagine the horror that this young woman (she was born in 1993) lived through, and it's hard to believe that in 2016, atrocities like this still occur. I am incredibly thankful to live in the US where I have rights and freedom. You must read this book.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Mega interessant und erschreckend...