arianichole216 's review for:

The Sorcerer of Pyongyang: A Novel by Marcel Theroux

1.0

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I picked up this book at the same time I picked up The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui and I think the stark differences of storytelling really says it all. There's a compassion that Bui has for the people she's talking about, her parents, that is just not present in this book. I was expecting to read a novel about Cho Jun-Su, like he was actually the main character, but this book did not deliver on that. The Sorcerer of Pyongyang relied too heavily on source materials, and not enough on storytelling. It didn't feel like a love story, it didn't feel much like a story at all. I'd argue this is more of a nonfiction book, than a fiction book. When people say write what you know, I think it's important to stick to that, not as a rule, but because when Theroux was writing this story, there were so many moments where I felt like he was not writing a real character, with real thoughts, but a caricature with Theroux's opinions. "An entire lifetime of political indoctrination seemed to be culminating in this moment" (66). Like, seriously? That's what you think Cho Jun-Su is thinking at this moment when he's awestruck by Kim Jong-Il? I just don't believe it. The whole story feels like a cheap retelling of someone else's life, because it is. And I think that the title of this novel is so great, and the actual work of this piece is not. My one star is for the beautiful cover.