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mentekid 's review for:
In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom
by Yeonmi Park, Maryanne Vollers
Unless you have been trafficked, beaten, raped, and forced to escape your captors on foot through a freezing desert, I don't think you have the right to give this book anything but 5 stars.
As a reader, you can find many flaws in the book. The writing is sometimes sloppy. The narrative is choppy and unfocused at times. The narrator mixes personal anecdotes and historical details in a way that makes it hard to separate the opinion from the fact.
But none of that matters. The story itself is all that remains after you have turned the last page. And that story is harrowing. Yeonmi Park has done an excellent job conveying the root causes of the human trafficking problem in North Korea, its extent, and its horrors.
There is a lot to unpack in the book's 200 or so pages, and the author touches upon so many topics, providing insight into not just the reality of North Korean citizens, but their mentality, their naivety about the world, and their inability to think critically after being brainwashed for the duration of their lives.
Through suffering, death, rape, psychological and physical abuse, the book ends on a hopeful note. A young girl manages to get out, learns about the world, harnesses education and liberates not only her body but also her mind. Most importantly, her experience doesn't leave her bitter and hollow - she looks back and does her best to help others and to liberate her compatriots from the dehumanizing regime, becoming a voice for all those oppressed by the Kims.
As a reader, you can find many flaws in the book. The writing is sometimes sloppy. The narrative is choppy and unfocused at times. The narrator mixes personal anecdotes and historical details in a way that makes it hard to separate the opinion from the fact.
But none of that matters. The story itself is all that remains after you have turned the last page. And that story is harrowing. Yeonmi Park has done an excellent job conveying the root causes of the human trafficking problem in North Korea, its extent, and its horrors.
There is a lot to unpack in the book's 200 or so pages, and the author touches upon so many topics, providing insight into not just the reality of North Korean citizens, but their mentality, their naivety about the world, and their inability to think critically after being brainwashed for the duration of their lives.
Through suffering, death, rape, psychological and physical abuse, the book ends on a hopeful note. A young girl manages to get out, learns about the world, harnesses education and liberates not only her body but also her mind. Most importantly, her experience doesn't leave her bitter and hollow - she looks back and does her best to help others and to liberate her compatriots from the dehumanizing regime, becoming a voice for all those oppressed by the Kims.