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Reviews tagging 'Death'
While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector's Search for Freedom in America by Yeonmi Park
2 reviews
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
I personally enjoyed it start to finish, but there were many sad parts when Yeonmi recounted everything she went through to find freedom and discover what freedom meant for her. This book ideally would be for every American to read and educate themselves on the horrors of North Korea and communist/socialist policies in general. However, I know not everyone will be able to read it due to their existing biases. She discusses how the rhetoric of the left is closely resembling the authoritarian regimes of North Korea, the Soviet Union, and Communist China. It seems like a stretch on paper, but everyday Americans (including me) can see and it hear it firsthand if we choose to look beyond what we are fed in the news.
Yeonmi Park has been through horrifying things no girl or young woman should have to go through. Her story is inspiring, and I feel called to action to participate in my community while fully embracing the little pleasures and luxuries I get to experience. In a world where all my basic needs are met, this book made me pause and think about how privileged I am. With this privilege, I want to do everything I can to make the world a better place.
Personal Anecdotes:
Ultimately, I live in a world where I am protected from tyranny, despite what the media and liberal echo chamber says. I’ve lived in poverty before but have never STARVED. My parents lived under martial law in a dictatorship, so they know what a fascist government is like. I feel like people who rate the book low fail to reflect on how they themselves are part of the group who get influenced and indoctrinated by what they are told without challenging their existing beliefs. I read a lot of books with opposing viewpoints, so I understand how frustrating it is to be misunderstood or misrepresented by the other side. I don’t believe Yeonmi Park misrepresented anything, though.
As an Asian-American immigrant woman, I can see how many Americans live within a bubble of the same circulating ideas without any external/international perspectives. I agree with Yeonmi Park about almost every opinion she stated in this book. She has lived in America long enough and educated herself on things that American-born citizens are not aware of to form a solid fact-based opinion on today’s political climate.
I used to consider myself liberal until I saw how harmful the Democratic Party and leftist beliefs were— examples including their hypocrisy and chaotic policies during the COVID lockdown, the social media witch hunts during the BLM movement, and the fear mongering before, during, and now after the 2024 election. Then, I became independent, which is considered too far right for the average Democrat voter. As a result, I have to keep my political opinions to myself to avoid people conflating my desire to uphold freedom with being a bigot. If you call me a bigot on the basis of my political beliefs, it actually makes you the bigot, by definition.
I say all of this because Yeonmi Park discusses a lot of important things that the opposing side will simply refuse to see.
I write this review after the 2024 election that Trump and the Republican Party overall won. Clearly, everyday Americans are able to see through the lies of the media conglomerates and are fed up with a vocal minority of extremists imposing their will on the portion of the overall population who consider themselves left-leaning. I don’t actually demonize the left and believe that they genuinely want peace and good things for the world. It’s just hard to see the Democrats constantly eating their own and destroying their own party while their voters are a captive audience. Every American, including women (me), folks in the LGBTQ+ community (me), minorities (me), etc. will continue to enjoy the same rights they do today under Trump’s presidency. We the People also have to power to reject tyrannical laws. It’s why we have the Bill of Rights. Trump cannot become a dictator because nobody wants that, not even Trump himself.
It will be a tough read for people who disagree, as my review might also be irritating to read, but difficult and opposing viewpoints are valuable things to consider and digest. Healthy dialogue is how we grow and find understanding collectively.
This was the first five star review I’ve put out on this platform because it’s something that finally aligns with my political beliefs. I was originally going to rate it at 4.75 because of how the introduction and epilogue feel like it could alienate people who lean more left, but then the people who lean left would rate it low anyway!
Yeonmi Park has been through horrifying things no girl or young woman should have to go through. Her story is inspiring, and I feel called to action to participate in my community while fully embracing the little pleasures and luxuries I get to experience. In a world where all my basic needs are met, this book made me pause and think about how privileged I am. With this privilege, I want to do everything I can to make the world a better place.
Personal Anecdotes:
Ultimately, I live in a world where I am protected from tyranny, despite what the media and liberal echo chamber says. I’ve lived in poverty before but have never STARVED. My parents lived under martial law in a dictatorship, so they know what a fascist government is like. I feel like people who rate the book low fail to reflect on how they themselves are part of the group who get influenced and indoctrinated by what they are told without challenging their existing beliefs. I read a lot of books with opposing viewpoints, so I understand how frustrating it is to be misunderstood or misrepresented by the other side. I don’t believe Yeonmi Park misrepresented anything, though.
As an Asian-American immigrant woman, I can see how many Americans live within a bubble of the same circulating ideas without any external/international perspectives. I agree with Yeonmi Park about almost every opinion she stated in this book. She has lived in America long enough and educated herself on things that American-born citizens are not aware of to form a solid fact-based opinion on today’s political climate.
I used to consider myself liberal until I saw how harmful the Democratic Party and leftist beliefs were— examples including their hypocrisy and chaotic policies during the COVID lockdown, the social media witch hunts during the BLM movement, and the fear mongering before, during, and now after the 2024 election. Then, I became independent, which is considered too far right for the average Democrat voter. As a result, I have to keep my political opinions to myself to avoid people conflating my desire to uphold freedom with being a bigot. If you call me a bigot on the basis of my political beliefs, it actually makes you the bigot, by definition.
I say all of this because Yeonmi Park discusses a lot of important things that the opposing side will simply refuse to see.
I write this review after the 2024 election that Trump and the Republican Party overall won. Clearly, everyday Americans are able to see through the lies of the media conglomerates and are fed up with a vocal minority of extremists imposing their will on the portion of the overall population who consider themselves left-leaning. I don’t actually demonize the left and believe that they genuinely want peace and good things for the world. It’s just hard to see the Democrats constantly eating their own and destroying their own party while their voters are a captive audience. Every American, including women (me), folks in the LGBTQ+ community (me), minorities (me), etc. will continue to enjoy the same rights they do today under Trump’s presidency. We the People also have to power to reject tyrannical laws. It’s why we have the Bill of Rights. Trump cannot become a dictator because nobody wants that, not even Trump himself.
It will be a tough read for people who disagree, as my review might also be irritating to read, but difficult and opposing viewpoints are valuable things to consider and digest. Healthy dialogue is how we grow and find understanding collectively.
This was the first five star review I’ve put out on this platform because it’s something that finally aligns with my political beliefs. I was originally going to rate it at 4.75 because of how the introduction and epilogue feel like it could alienate people who lean more left, but then the people who lean left would rate it low anyway!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Trafficking, Abortion, Death of parent
Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence
Minor: Police brutality, Pandemic/Epidemic
Hearing the ways that people are tortured in North Korea and learning about how women today are suffering (being raped, abused, degraded) in other parts of the world saddened me.
reflective
medium-paced
I would like to say first that Park's growth with her third language is noticeable in this book. The sentences flowed much more clearly than in her memoir, and I'm envious of her ability to master another language. The way this was written was highly digestible, and the formatting made it easy both to keep turning pages when I had the time and to squeeze bits and pieces in when I had more going on.
That having been said, while I felt uncomfortable rating the first-hand account of a North Korean refugee who escaped a dictator and sex trafficking, I don't have any problem docking points from this book. Rather than give an account of what is happening in North Korea and China, a significant portion of this book is focused on persuading people of Park's views on things about the US that she feels people fail to appreciate and the risk she believes them to be under. I come into this book with the bias of agreeing with the majority of her ideas, and I found her arguments lacking.
I think that, given her experiences in life, Park does have some inherent authority when discussing, for lack of a better term, first world issues. I understand that many people struggle to imagine themselves fortunate when they see others who are even more fortunate, even when they know that people less fortunate than themselves exist. To that end, I think she does a good job of putting into perspective many of the things she appreciates about her new home. Her appeals for people to find meaning and recognize the value of what they have come just enough to feel well-timed without hitting too frequently. Her message on that front is a simple enough one that, had she tried to make it a larger focus of the book, I feel a smaller page count would have been needed.
Where the book fell apart for me was when Park tried to discuss specific major events (COVID or George Floyd) or otherwise call out specific ideological components of the crowd she was criticizing. And I should mention for anyone reading this review that she was very much not criticizing BLM, although she did have opinions about how the news media handled the riots. In these instances, it came across as though her grasp on the events wasn't very in depth, and a lot of her assertions with regard to ideological issues lacked evidence or citation. As an opinion piece I suppose that's acceptable. The book is much more easily digestible than something that goes into the weeds on these subjects. But since part of the book's intent seems to be persuading others to view these issues as Park does, I think its persuasive ability is lacking. It may have some ability to jump-start the curiosity of those on the fence and just beginning to dip their toes into the subject. I can think of a time in my own life where this book would have felt like proof I'm not alone for questioning what I've been told to unquestioningly accept, and for all I know that was the target audience. But if given to someone someone who's entrenched on one side of these issues it will be dismissed as baseless attacks, while to the other side it's empty validation. Someone who already agrees is going to nod their head when the hear to comparison of middle class kids scorning blue collar workers to North Korean party officials, but those middle class kids are only going to roll their eyes because the book doesn't properly break down why this scorn is misguided.
Not helping this is that I caught at least one detail that struck me was flat out poorly researched. The outrage over George Floyd was that he was unarmed and not posing a credible threat when he died in police restraint, not that he was 'innocent'. There was very little dispute or doubt about him having been the one to commit the crime that he was pulled over for. It was that the crime wasn't one that anyone would argue warranted death. Describing the outrage as being due to "an innocent man" getting shot rather than saying "an unarmed man" or otherwise conveying that it was excessive police force might come across as a nitpick, but it made me wonder what other details might be off in her account of things.
Her personal experience, at least, I trust is accurate. To that extent, I do think the book is at least compelling in how it describes the two-faced nature of many of our politicians and corporate leaders, who claim compassion for the plight of victims of China while refusing to risk losing China's favor. Additionally, while I think Park lacks the authority on the subject to assert without evidence that certain ideas are harmful, I do think her firsthand experience living under the thumb of a dictatorship with massive information control and propaganda tools does make her qualified to speak from a place of authority on when she sees similar propaganda or suppression tactics elsewhere. I just wish she could have cited at least one example of the book censorship she asserted is happening.
TL;DR Some parts of this book have a lot of impact and I think Park is the right person to talk about it. Some parts of this book it feels like she's out of her depth in, and I wish she'd done and shown more research on them before making them a noteworthy portion of her writing.
That having been said, while I felt uncomfortable rating the first-hand account of a North Korean refugee who escaped a dictator and sex trafficking, I don't have any problem docking points from this book. Rather than give an account of what is happening in North Korea and China, a significant portion of this book is focused on persuading people of Park's views on things about the US that she feels people fail to appreciate and the risk she believes them to be under. I come into this book with the bias of agreeing with the majority of her ideas, and I found her arguments lacking.
I think that, given her experiences in life, Park does have some inherent authority when discussing, for lack of a better term, first world issues. I understand that many people struggle to imagine themselves fortunate when they see others who are even more fortunate, even when they know that people less fortunate than themselves exist. To that end, I think she does a good job of putting into perspective many of the things she appreciates about her new home. Her appeals for people to find meaning and recognize the value of what they have come just enough to feel well-timed without hitting too frequently. Her message on that front is a simple enough one that, had she tried to make it a larger focus of the book, I feel a smaller page count would have been needed.
Where the book fell apart for me was when Park tried to discuss specific major events (COVID or George Floyd) or otherwise call out specific ideological components of the crowd she was criticizing. And I should mention for anyone reading this review that she was very much not criticizing BLM, although she did have opinions about how the news media handled the riots. In these instances, it came across as though her grasp on the events wasn't very in depth, and a lot of her assertions with regard to ideological issues lacked evidence or citation. As an opinion piece I suppose that's acceptable. The book is much more easily digestible than something that goes into the weeds on these subjects. But since part of the book's intent seems to be persuading others to view these issues as Park does, I think its persuasive ability is lacking. It may have some ability to jump-start the curiosity of those on the fence and just beginning to dip their toes into the subject. I can think of a time in my own life where this book would have felt like proof I'm not alone for questioning what I've been told to unquestioningly accept, and for all I know that was the target audience. But if given to someone someone who's entrenched on one side of these issues it will be dismissed as baseless attacks, while to the other side it's empty validation. Someone who already agrees is going to nod their head when the hear to comparison of middle class kids scorning blue collar workers to North Korean party officials, but those middle class kids are only going to roll their eyes because the book doesn't properly break down why this scorn is misguided.
Not helping this is that I caught at least one detail that struck me was flat out poorly researched. The outrage over George Floyd was that he was unarmed and not posing a credible threat when he died in police restraint, not that he was 'innocent'. There was very little dispute or doubt about him having been the one to commit the crime that he was pulled over for. It was that the crime wasn't one that anyone would argue warranted death. Describing the outrage as being due to "an innocent man" getting shot rather than saying "an unarmed man" or otherwise conveying that it was excessive police force might come across as a nitpick, but it made me wonder what other details might be off in her account of things.
Her personal experience, at least, I trust is accurate. To that extent, I do think the book is at least compelling in how it describes the two-faced nature of many of our politicians and corporate leaders, who claim compassion for the plight of victims of China while refusing to risk losing China's favor. Additionally, while I think Park lacks the authority on the subject to assert without evidence that certain ideas are harmful, I do think her firsthand experience living under the thumb of a dictatorship with massive information control and propaganda tools does make her qualified to speak from a place of authority on when she sees similar propaganda or suppression tactics elsewhere. I just wish she could have cited at least one example of the book censorship she asserted is happening.
TL;DR Some parts of this book have a lot of impact and I think Park is the right person to talk about it. Some parts of this book it feels like she's out of her depth in, and I wish she'd done and shown more research on them before making them a noteworthy portion of her writing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Abortion
Moderate: Infertility
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation