Publisher : Granta Books
>> Absolutely fascinating
This is the best book I ve read so far this year The author tells a completely fascinating story of life in North Korea Most of us hear about the North Korean nuclear threat on the radio all the time but I suspect most people are like me and know very little about the country
The author describes North Korea from the perspective of several North Korean defectors Obviously defectors are going to be biased against the country so I do wonder if the portrait of the country is overly negative as a result However even if it is it s still a fascinating story The story starts after the Korean war and continues until the present day
Reading about the lives of these ordinary people will definitely change the way I think about North Korea when I hear about it in the news
The book is extremely well written and engrossing It s not a dry history book at all
>> The best way to learn about North Korea
I took one day out of my paternity leave for pleasure reading I selected a new Kindle book I bought after hearing the author interviewed on NPR Nothing to Envy Ordinary Lives in North Korea It was utterly fascinating I devoured it
Demick weaves a gripping narrative which puts the reader in contact with daily life north of the DMZ And the story is more than just exciting and interesting the relationship between Mi ran and Jun Sang not their real names has to be one of the most romantic stories I ve ever read
Demick focuses on people from the area around the North Korean city of Chong Jin She can tell such intimate stories about citizens of a closed country under an oppressive regime because she spoke to them personally They all defected or in one case were tricked into defecting and only then defected to South Korea where Demick the L A Times Korea correspondent was able to interview them
Not all of the defectors were born dissidents Several were classic true believers in the regime who only reluctantly gave up their religious faith in the Fatherly Leader Once inside South Korea most of them expressed some desire sometimes to go back northward
Reading this work gave me a deep sense of righteous anger at Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il I had already viewed the latter as a ridiculous man he wears silly jumpsuits and is always followed by fawning military officials in massive caps Now I view him as culpable for the deaths of millions Ideas have consequences and when your economic policies kill your own citizens you need to take responsibility and change the policies Instead the North Korean propaganda machine went into overdrive Let s all eat two meals a day
Kim Jong Il appears to believe his own propaganda If everyone around you agrees with everything you say and proclaims you an expert on everything from industrial glass production to the best bovine fertility practices perhaps it s inevitable that your pedestal s height starts to put you out of touch with the people on the ground
As I read I was filled with a desire to do something for these people and then I started to realize what that might mean South Koreans certainly have realized it according to the book Rehabilitating an entire half nation and bringing them up to the high tech standards of the other half would be costly and difficult Add to this the fact that a lifetime of conditioning has influenced the thinking of everyone Even defectors have a hard time making it in the South They have to go through a special government deprogramming
But nonetheless I have prayed that the true King of this world would depose the leader He for His own purposes set up decades ago Psalm 75 7 Romans 13 1 Kim Jong Il deserves to answer for his crimes primarily that of defacing the image of God by putting such little stock in the lives of God s image bearers
Buy this book for an education on the politics and history of North Korea and read and enjoy this book for the many personal stories that you can follow from their beginnings under oppression to their breakthrough to political at least freedom
>> Fascinating Reading
A fascinating well written and moving account of life in North Korea While I expected it would be a good book based on the reviews author and subject matter it exceeded my expectations I highly recommend it to anyone regardless of whether you have a strong interest in Korean history or culture I did not before reading this book I hope this book continues to receive the publicity accolades and readers it well deserves
