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lovestodancw_81 's review for:
A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea
by Masaji Ishikawa
"It suggested we could reorganize the world, hew out a career for ourselves, and be the masters of our destiny. This was laughable, of course, but that’s always the way with totalitarian regimes. Language gets turned on its head. Serfdom is freedom. Repression is liberation. A police state is a democratic republic. And we were “the masters of our destiny.” And if we begged to differ, we were dead."
This memoir was a look at North Koreans through the eyes of a half Korean/Half Japanese man. He spent his childhood living in Japan, where Korean like his father were second class citizens. After being promised paradise by moving his family to North Korea, Ishikawa's South Korean father agreed to move to a land he'd never known, let alone even visited. The family quickly discovered he had been duped and fed a handful of lies. But getting out alive was not possible for most family members.
[b:A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea|34663135|A River in Darkness One Man's Escape from North Korea|Masaji Ishikawa|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1501540597s/34663135.jpg|55829735] is a memoir full of despair, bitterness, and unending pain. I felt deeply depressed after finishing it.
A River in Darkness was a detailed first person account of what it was like to live in this secretive nation. I think I just wanted a broader overview of the history of Korea and the factors that created it to be what it is today. I also wanted a resolution, which life doesn't always hand us. This is no fault of the author, who is not a trained writer. I just felt unresolved and left wanting to know more about Korea, both North and South.
This memoir was a look at North Koreans through the eyes of a half Korean/Half Japanese man. He spent his childhood living in Japan, where Korean like his father were second class citizens. After being promised paradise by moving his family to North Korea, Ishikawa's South Korean father agreed to move to a land he'd never known, let alone even visited. The family quickly discovered he had been duped and fed a handful of lies. But getting out alive was not possible for most family members.
[b:A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea|34663135|A River in Darkness One Man's Escape from North Korea|Masaji Ishikawa|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1501540597s/34663135.jpg|55829735] is a memoir full of despair, bitterness, and unending pain. I felt deeply depressed after finishing it.
A River in Darkness was a detailed first person account of what it was like to live in this secretive nation. I think I just wanted a broader overview of the history of Korea and the factors that created it to be what it is today. I also wanted a resolution, which life doesn't always hand us. This is no fault of the author, who is not a trained writer. I just felt unresolved and left wanting to know more about Korea, both North and South.