A review by maxgardner
The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

5.0

An excellent story of Hyeonseo Lee's accidental defection from North Korea and her journey afterward into the unknown. I loved the writing style—direct and to-the-point while still giving us a strong sense of Lee's personality and inner dialogue—and the pacing, which leaves you consistently hooked wondering what will happen next. Though there is, understandably, a lot of sadness to Lee's story, there's also joy and redemption and beauty, especially in seeing Lee discover the world, the concept of human rights and freedom, and come into her own as a free woman and human rights activist.