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lezreadalot 's review for:
A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea
by Masaji Ishikawa
I was born not just once but five times. And five times I learned the same lesson. Sometimes in life, you have to grab your so-called destiny by the throat and wring its neck.
A really tough and enlightening read. The volume of work written and disseminated by people from North Korea isn't that high, so every piece of work like this is really important. This sheds light on what it's like to live among the poorer classes in North Korea (and in Ishikawa's less common situation, to be a Japanese returnee in North Korea), and talks about living conditions, working conditions, social intricacies, the famine, thoughts and views on the leader and the party and the government in general. It follows his life, from when he moves to North Korea as a child, and follows him though growing up, marriages, deaths, family upheavals, the births of his children, the different jobs he had, and social changes. The writing is pretty simple, and sometimes powerful, and while I can't be the best judge, I think the translators did a good job.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Brian Nishi, and really enjoyed it.
Very interesting, and very tragic at times. I'm glad I read it.
A really tough and enlightening read. The volume of work written and disseminated by people from North Korea isn't that high, so every piece of work like this is really important. This sheds light on what it's like to live among the poorer classes in North Korea (and in Ishikawa's less common situation, to be a Japanese returnee in North Korea), and talks about living conditions, working conditions, social intricacies, the famine, thoughts and views on the leader and the party and the government in general. It follows his life, from when he moves to North Korea as a child, and follows him though growing up, marriages, deaths, family upheavals, the births of his children, the different jobs he had, and social changes. The writing is pretty simple, and sometimes powerful, and while I can't be the best judge, I think the translators did a good job.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Brian Nishi, and really enjoyed it.
Very interesting, and very tragic at times. I'm glad I read it.