A review by hleah350
A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa

5.0

Wow. The life of Masaji Ishikawa is awful. I could not believe the bleak, terrible conditions this poor family had to live in. Throughout the book I was continuously reminded of Night by Eli W. about his experience during the Holocaust. There were many similarities between these two men’s stories, their survival, and their bleak outlooks on life. I cannot blame them for the horrid conditions they went through. In A River Through Darkness, I was shocked by the author’s dad. I was pleasantly surprised by how his character took a turn and it was something in a book that i’ve never seen done before (which made it even more impactful that this is a real-life event). Overall, this book was haunting, bleak, and grim. I learned so much from it and heavily admire Ishikawa and his haunting story.