A review by nick_latanick
Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il by Michael Malice

3.0

I wanted to like this book more. It's a fascinating window into the psychology of north korea, the philosophy of juche, and the men who created both. However, as a reader I felt constantly thrown off-balance by the 100% unreliability of the narrative. It may very well be the author's intention to give the reader the same eerie sense of unreality that the north korean people live under everyday, and if this is the case I applaud Malice for the execution. Yet, I would have enjoyed the experience more if I had a firmer understanding of the actual events depicted, so I could tell what was more or less true, what was exaggerated or propagandized, and what was made up out of whole cloth. Unfortunately such factual grounding was not on offer in this volume. I may reread it at some point after doing more research on north korean history and culture, and maybe I will regard it in higher esteem than 3 stars then.