The Orphan Master's Son

Jan 04, 2012 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is going to get a tidal wave of hype. And I need you to believe it. It is really, really that good. I'm a hundred pages shy of completion and sitting in a lobby in Hong Kong without time or steady internet, but I have been wanting to start shouting and sharing about this since I began, so for the moment, just this drive-by rave will have to suffice.

[Added later -- 1/4/12]
I've fiddled with drafts of a review, or the idea of drafting a review, about a hundred times since I finished this...more This book is going to get a tidal wave of hype. And I need you to believe it. It is really, really that good. I'm a hundred pages shy of completion and sitting in a lobby in Hong Kong without time or steady internet, but I have been wanting to start shouting and sharing about this since I began, so for the moment, just this drive-by rave will have to suffice.

[Added later -- 1/4/12]
I've fiddled with drafts of a review, or the idea of drafting a review, about a hundred times since I finished this up almost two months ago. There've been about 3, 4 times when I sat down to find some passages to quote--some perfect case study to illustrate Johnson's achievements here--and I end up rereading 20 pages, or a long chapter, instead of writing a damn thing.

North Korea is a big dark void on the map -- we know things are horrific, but the immensity and nature of the horror is somewhat hidden behind a wall of ridiculous, cartoon-sized Propaganda. What we've seen is only what Kim Jong Il saw, or imagined. It's enormously tempting to fully engage the silliness, to do a Chaplin and dethrone authority with a calculated deconstruction of the asinine hubris of that authoritarian. And as he first imagined this story, Johnson notes, he was focused on the sublime absurdity inherent in a North Korean short story contest under these conditions.

Yet one horrific side-effect of the authoritarian state is not just the consequent silliness--every story tap-dancing Kim onto center-stage--but the corollary brutality of erasure: no other Self acts in any narrative; the peninsula's one bright light shines, and the rest is darkness. One portion of Johnson's novel (intertwined through various chapters) is narrated in first-person plural by the speakers on every street, in every building, in every home, constantly superseding the local and the private with the aggrandizing nonsense of the Public narrative with that one Protagonist. Part of the point of the novel, Johnson makes explicit in an afterword, is to try and imagine the still-vibrant and vital narratives of self when every narrative is about, by, and for the Dear Leader.

Johnson tackles the problem in the story of Jun Do, told in two sections, situating this initially-blank protagonist in two grand narrative traditions: the picaresque and the romance. Jun Do is not an orphan himself but has been raised in an orphanage, and like the other lost souls in that home his name has been plucked from the roll of historical martyrs (the author slyly, aurally evoking a blank slate for the English-speaking readers, too), his every act and aspect of self tied to the needs of the state (the orphans valuable as cheap, disposable labor). And then he goes out into the world, and has adventures--as a kidnapper, a spy on a fishing trawler, a recruit for a top-secret mission in Texas. Section Two returns to home from the Road, envisions a star-crossed Romance that alludes to spy thrillers and heartbreaking tragedy and Korean opera.

Just attending to the storytelling acrobatics here makes your head swim -- because, damn, Johnson pulls off every new "and then" with deceptive ease. You're pulled along in a story full of twists, turns, heartbreak but also uproarious good fun. It's as entertaining and compelling a page-turner as I've read in some time.

But this glorious narrative play never loses sight of, even as it resists being subsumed into, the One Story demanded by power in the country. Johnson's done his homework--notes in the afterword his own trip to North Korea--and the book fills in the black void, illuminates the trials of the mandatory turning off of lights every night, the backbreaking penury and destructive hunger of daily life, the fierce paranoia which infects every human interaction.

So it is an impossible beast: as grand and exhilarating as it is horrifying and heart-rending. As keenly attuned to metafictional play as to conventional plotplotplot pleasures, scornfully derisive of the the Dear Leader's ridiculousness while keeping focused on the terror attendant with a Cartoon Dictator.

And I cared so deeply for and with Jun Do that I found myself in knots hoping for a happy ending. And for the people he runs into: the kidnapped, the translator, the trawler Captain, the fellow prisoner, the torturer, the Starlet. It is a world rich with story and heroism of every stripe.

I fucking loved this book. To return to a point I made in my initial drive-by, when you read or hear the huzzahs and hyperbole about it, don't dismiss it as propaganda. (less)

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Jul 09, 2012 Joshua Nomen-Mutatio rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Joshua Nomen-Mutatio by: Mike Reynolds

Shelves: dystopic, fiction

CITIZENS, gather 'round the individualistic screens of your capitalistically-exploited folding-computers and other pocket-sized computational devices! The Dear Reviewer has much omniscient wisdom and many synoptic truths to impart! Set aside your Facebook and Twitter feeds and summon every last ounce of patriotic love for and devotion to the Democratic People’s Republic of Goodreads in order to focus your cluttered Western minds and screen-worn eyes for several uninterrupted minutes on this upda...more

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May 06, 2013 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars

Literature is a fiction that tells a greater truth – so somebody wise once said. But the truth is a tricky business. This epic story set in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (that’s the bad one) offers frequent reminders of that fact. First, there’s the question of where the genuinely dire straits of North Koreans end and the semi-satirical abstractions begin. Did Johnson exaggerate the atrocities? Did his fiction indeed tell a greater truth? Then there’s a related question about Jun Do,...more Literature is a fiction that tells a greater truth – so somebody wise once said. But the truth is a tricky business. This epic story set in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (that’s the bad one) offers frequent reminders of that fact. First, there’s the question of where the genuinely dire straits of North Koreans end and the semi-satirical abstractions begin. Did Johnson exaggerate the atrocities? Did his fiction indeed tell a greater truth? Then there’s a related question about Jun Do, the book’s central figure. At some point he becomes the subject of the ultimate in unreliable narrators: the DPRK propaganda machine. Fortunately for the reader, the parts handled by the omniscient narrator dominated, and they made for quite a story!

In various post-publication interviews Johnson said he conducted extensive research for the book (it took him 7 years) including talks with refugees and a visit to Pyongyang. He mentioned that, if anything, he had to tone down some of the brutality that he’d heard about from former prisoners. Jun Do, as the North Korean everyman, was unrealistically amalgamated, but this was an effective device. Making him a composite with a wide variety of experiences was a convenient way to drive the plot. The action begins at an orphanage where his father was the orphan master, but one who showed no favoritism to his son. Jun Do’s first official duty was as a soldier specializing in tunnel combat (taekwondo in the dark), then he was recruited to help kidnap Japanese civilians. After language school to learn English, he worked as a spy doing radio surveillance on a fishing boat. He gained national “hero” status sacrificing himself for the sake of a lie that kept the fishermen out of prison. This renown got him placed as one of the delegates for a state visit to Texas where cultures inevitably clashed, often humorously. (For instance, dogs in this strange land were somehow deemed to be venerable creatures.) Then, as the dark side of governmental caprice would have it, he ended up in prison doing hard labor. This was no picnic, unless you consider the protein-rich moths the cagiest survivors gathered when the lights went out to be nice alfresco fare.

I don’t feel like I’m giving anything away outlining Jun Do’s experiences above. They were the basis for the first half of the book where he proxied for a molded North Korean identity. The second half of the book was structured quite differently. Jun Do assumed another role altogether as he replaced a high-ranking army official. To avoid spoilers, I’ll be vague. I will, however, mention that his assumed role included the name, the station, and the wife of the ex-commander, but not his demeanor. The second half also introduced two new narrators. One was an interrogator who was attempting to piece together the commander’s story. The other was the aforementioned propaganda machine, broadcasting throughout the land over loudspeakers. Officials told a very different story, as you might imagine. In their version of things -- a step well beyond the truthiness of Stephen Colbert -- Americans used their lights at night (which were virtuously precluded for the North Korean citizenry) to practice indolence and homosexuality, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il shot 11 holes in one in a single round (I remember when this story really was reported, which must have stretched credulity even there), and the spin put on our commander’s story would put any self-respecting gyroscope to shame.

The book has been described variously as a thriller, a love story, a dystopian political satire and (by Johnson himself) a trauma narrative. It featured elements of each. Johnson not only conjoined these disparate styles, he told the bigger story with nuance and flair. Had he confused the old rule and made it “tell, don’t show,” his efforts would have fallen flat. Instead, the privation and torture are palpably clear, and the easy-to-draw inference resonates all the more. Johnson was clever in the way he humanized Jun Do at the same time that he obscured his identity. Making him a de facto orphan must have been a way to show the subjugation of family in favor of state. Even his name, which an American confused with John Doe, signifies the unidentified man. The reader knows different, though. We see the real man. We see how individual honesty can trump totalitarian lies for the sake of true love.

I don’t view this as a perfect book. Certain aspects of the plot seemed implausible that didn’t need to be to tell the same story. Plus, even though I just praised Johnson for showing and not telling, there were times when I felt like Jun Do was a little too remote –- like a few more glimpses into his interior life would have helped me connect. Even so, this is damn near 5-star territory. Though the greater truths about North Korea –- its people and its rule –- may be approximate, they’re a whole lot more than I’d ever known before.
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Jun 20, 2012 RandomAnthony rated it 5 of 5 stars

If Mike Reynolds hadn't raved about this book I probably wouldn't have read it. Here's his review:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I'm glad I read The Orphan Master's Son, however, so thanks, Mike.

Why wouldn't I have read this novel without Mike's recommendation? Well, I'm leery of any book about another culture that hints of an uplifting, inspirational tale about overcoming obstacles or whatever. I hate that shit. It's not that I hate feeling uplifted but those stories, in my eyes, tend...more If Mike Reynolds hadn't raved about this book I probably wouldn't have read it. Here's his review:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I'm glad I read The Orphan Master's Son, however, so thanks, Mike.

Why wouldn't I have read this novel without Mike's recommendation? Well, I'm leery of any book about another culture that hints of an uplifting, inspirational tale about overcoming obstacles or whatever. I hate that shit. It's not that I hate feeling uplifted but those stories, in my eyes, tend to minimize third world horrors and leave American whitey feeling good while sending the subtle message that poor people without food and medicine would be fine if they flew kites or won game shows or discovered love is the answer. In movies, by the way, this is called the Slumdog Millionaire effect.

But The Orphan Master's Son emerges from a different species. Adam Johnson did crazy research and maintains an epic, jaw-dropping sense of small details. And while a reader could finish the novel and say, “Man, North Korea is a fucked up place”, this book is about more than North Korea's toxicity. It works as a suspense thriller where you want to skip to the end because you have to know what happens. The narrative blends time and characters across the landscape; you have to read closely to catch the nuances. And the themes of sacrifice and identity emerge in fascinating ways. Life is brief and barbaric for many in Johnson's North Korea; the effect is both numbing and overwhelming. And while Jun Do, the main character, has his noble elements, he's much more complex than any lead in a movie that's going to win a feel-good Oscar.

Were I betting man (and seriously, I'm not, I hate casinos) I would put big money on The Orphan Master's Son taking home a briefcase full of literary awards. Can you bet on literary awards, by the way? Can you call a phone number and somewhere in a smoky bar a bookie picks up, and you say, “I want David Foster Wallace at 4 to 1 on the Nobel”? I have no idea. This novel subverted what I expected from narrative and character in the best way possible. How often do you get to say that? Check it out before all those annoying award stickers land on the front covers of new editions.(less)

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Mar 08, 2012 Sarah Pi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction_non_genre

This is a hideously beautiful, harrowing work of imagination. It's hard to tell which atrocities come from the mind of the writer and which are real. It illuminates a North Korea that seems all too real, while telling the story of a man whose feats of survival would turn him into a folk hero in any other context. This is an excellent book but not easy or light reading.
ETA: I keep thinking about the fact that Jun Do chooses his own identity from the beginning. Is he ever told he's the orphan mas...more

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Feb 15, 2012 Kemper rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, modern-lit, over-there, politics, spy-vs-spy

If I wasn’t glad that Kim Jong Il is dead before reading this book, I certainly am now.

Pak Jun Do never knew his mother and is raised in the orphanage his father runs. Because of this, he is constantly mistaken for an orphan for the rest of his life. Eventually Jun Do winds up as one of the tunnel fighters who work in secret passages under the DMZ into South Korea, but he’s recruited to be part of a team that goes out in boats and snatches random citizens from Japanese or South Korean beaches. F...more If I wasn’t glad that Kim Jong Il is dead before reading this book, I certainly am now.

Pak Jun Do never knew his mother and is raised in the orphanage his father runs. Because of this, he is constantly mistaken for an orphan for the rest of his life. Eventually Jun Do winds up as one of the tunnel fighters who work in secret passages under the DMZ into South Korea, but he’s recruited to be part of a team that goes out in boats and snatches random citizens from Japanese or South Korean beaches. From there he goes to being a radio operator on fishing boat where an elaborate lie the crew is forced to cook up to save their skins turns him into an unlikely national hero and gets put on a delegation going to Texas to visit an American senator. Eventually Jun Do’s fortunes take an odd turn that will eventually bring him face to face with the greatest actress in the world (According to North Korean propaganda.) Sun-moon, and The Dear Leader Kim Jong Il.

Propaganda plays a big part in this story. That fits since this is a country where the leader supposedly shot the lowest round of golf in history the first time he played and where the citizens are expected to proclaim North Korea is the greatest nation on earth even as they’re starving to death or being sent to prison mines. One of the pieces I liked most was how much of the second half is told to us via third person narration and then we get the North Korean loud speaker version of what occurred.

I also liked the character of Jun Do quite a bit. From the beginning, he’s a guy who finds himself constantly trying to survive by doing terrible things while saying that he has no choice, but he still finds himself sucked into more and more trouble.

Unfortunately, I didn’t buy the developments with the actress Sun-moon or the wilder plot twists late in the book. Another character, an interrogation expert, gets involved, but his first person narration didn’t do much for me. I would have preferred more stuff with Kim Jong Il because those scenes were alternately hilarious and terrifying.

There was a lot to like here, but in the end I felt it was too drawn out, and the author got too cute for his own good in places. And one part really bugged me. (view spoiler)

It’s one of those books that will make almost anyone appreciate what they have, though. Like now I’m grateful that I live far from any beaches or national borders so that I don’t have to worry about being snatched by one of those secret Canadian kidnapping teams.
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Apr 26, 2012 Shawn rated it 1 of 5 stars

"The Orphan Master's Son Has No Clothes" -- I'd love to take credit for coming up with that beautifully stated, extremely accurate summing up of this awful, awful book, but I can't. I suppose, if nothing else, I can boast having married the man who did.
I wasn't 30 pages into this farce (and I'm not speaking of the story stylings) when it became quite clear that all the praise being heaped upon this pile of literary poo (I am forever mindful that kids may be reading these reviews) was the work o...more "The Orphan Master's Son Has No Clothes" -- I'd love to take credit for coming up with that beautifully stated, extremely accurate summing up of this awful, awful book, but I can't. I suppose, if nothing else, I can boast having married the man who did.
I wasn't 30 pages into this farce (and I'm not speaking of the story stylings) when it became quite clear that all the praise being heaped upon this pile of literary poo (I am forever mindful that kids may be reading these reviews) was the work of a Marketing Machine. All it takes is a few "rave reviews" from "objective", "critically acclaimed critics", and everyone is spewing the talking points that will make this waste of paper "one of the best books of 2012". And we know it's true because David Mitchell (Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell's son) called it an "addictive novel", and "an impressive book".
There is no way he read the same book I just finished. Nearly 450 pages of incomprehensible, convoluted, drivel.
Several of these "glowing" reviews talk about the book being good because "I knew so little about North Korea". Good for you for admitting that! An admission the author should likewise have made. There is no more insight into North Korea after you read this garbage than there is before you start. It's not even good fiction. Convoluted is not the same as clever. I could call this meandering, blathering gibberish "impressive", but I wouldn't be using that adjective to connote any positive admiration.
I understand what the publishers did -- you option on a book that is heavy only in the weight of its pages, and you've got to try to sell it as spectacular because you can't very well admit to having knowingly bought something this horrific... I get it. I'm not mad. But, let's be serious. This was a really, really bad book.
I can honestly say that I won't soon forget having wasted two weeks trying to gag my way through this unnecessarily pointless novel. And, now I suppose I can be quoted as having called "The Orphan Master's Son" 'unforgettable'...?(less)

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May 31, 2013 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars

If books can be passports to other places, then "The Orphan Master's Son" gains you entree to the forbidden land of North Korea.

Of course, you have to be open to that sort of thing, and should in this case.

The author, Adam Johnson, as per his own account, bathed in North Korean culture, history and politics until they were expunged from his being in the form of characters. He traveled to the strange land of Kim Il Sung, smelled it, saw it, breathed it, and lived to come back and put it all dow...more

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Apr 16, 2013 switterbug (Betsey) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Adam Johnson writes with authority about the essentially unknown North Korean culture and civilization. Kim Jong Il's force-fed propaganda controls the people so consummately that their identities are squeezed from their minds and replaced with a state-sponsored life and perspective. The life of a North Korean is not the pursuit of happiness or self-actualization. It is solely to survive, like an insect or a rodent. To live, you must become a shell, an unquestionably loyal nationalist.

What Johns...more Adam Johnson writes with authority about the essentially unknown North Korean culture and civilization. Kim Jong Il's force-fed propaganda controls the people so consummately that their identities are squeezed from their minds and replaced with a state-sponsored life and perspective. The life of a North Korean is not the pursuit of happiness or self-actualization. It is solely to survive, like an insect or a rodent. To live, you must become a shell, an unquestionably loyal nationalist.

What Johnson realizes so well in his debut novel are the conflicts, confrontations, and abysses between the self that has been annihilated and the social structure that replaces the self. Every word you utter is weighed, and could be twisted as subversive. You are subjected to daily propaganda reports through loudspeakers connected to your house. People are traumatized from the cradle to the grave, and your individual thoughts are a threat to your security and safety. You are raised to be a complete subject of the state, and to wear the skin of trauma that is inflicted daily.

Jun Do is a survivor of famine and abandonment. His father ran an orphanage, and Jun Do was expected to impersonate an orphan from an early age. His strength, talents, and stamina lead him along an epic path. From his high seas and espionage adventures on a fishing vessel, where he develops his first chosen father-son emotional relationship, to the deprivations and torture of the prison mines, to the corrupt corridors of power, where his skill of impersonation becomes his sword and precarious shield, Jun Do's life literally morphs into a fabled one. He learns to act alone, and yet to connect with the hearts of others.

"Today, tomorrow...A day is nothing. A day is just a match you strike after the ten thousand matches before it have gone out," says the tragic, beautifully wounded actress, Sun Moon, who has made persona an art, and who once captured the hearts of all the citizens, including her husband, Commander Ga. Jun Do's transformations, internal and external, bring him squarely into the receptacles of Commander Ga, Sun Moon, and the "Dear Leader" himself.

This postmodern novel is told via stunning juxtapositions, between the controllers and subjects of a treacherous society and the inner will of the individual. The historical context is authentic, complex, layered, and detailed. Chapters alternate between Jun Do and a nameless interrogator, which progress to an operatic denouement. This isn't the kind of novel that grabs you immediately; there are many ambiguities and inchoate events that build gradually, stone by stone, erecting an explosive story that tunnels through the doom of a raw reality, to a bloodletting dystopian myth, and into the chambers of a sequestered heart.(less)

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Jun 01, 2013 Miles rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'll preface this review by saying that, in many ways, this is an excellent novel. It's intelligent, rich in symbolism and metaphor, and takes place in one of the most interesting contemporary settings an author could choose. It has many moments of terrific insight regarding one of the strangest and most tragic places on Earth. I can see why it's getting so much attention.

All of that aside, this book did not work for me. It doesn't read like a book that was so good that they had to award it the...more I'll preface this review by saying that, in many ways, this is an excellent novel. It's intelligent, rich in symbolism and metaphor, and takes place in one of the most interesting contemporary settings an author could choose. It has many moments of terrific insight regarding one of the strangest and most tragic places on Earth. I can see why it's getting so much attention.

All of that aside, this book did not work for me. It doesn't read like a book that was so good that they had to award it the Pulitzer––it reads like one written with the Pulitzer already in mind. The result, in my opinion, is a cluttered, overblown narrative that eventually eclipses the fascinating and tragic nature of life in contemporary North Korea. This book is genuinely tragic at times, but Johnson never skips an opportunity to remind the reader of that. He is constantly pointing out the sadness of things instead of allowing events to speak for themselves. On top of that, I didn't find the prose very inviting. Oftentimes I had to reread simple sentences because they didn't make sense to me the first time. I expect this to happen every so often, but it happened so regularly with this book that I began thinking it wasn't just me. In my case, the text simply wouldn't flow.

I understand the idea of having a relatively anonymous protagonist, especially in an environment where the individual is denigrated in favor of the singular narrative of the state. Still, his lack of identity had me reaching for reasons to care about Jun Do, and I found myself caring even less when he morphed into Commander Ga. His relationship with Sun Moon was peppered with moments of sexy intrigue, but their dialogue was often stilted and lifeless. The relationship never came together for me; it felt photo-shopped into the narrative, especially after Johnson drew the clunky Casablanca connection. I'm willing to accept that perhaps some of this was intentional, but in that case I just don't think Johnson made very good choices about how to propel the story forward.

In the end, my biggest complaint was that Johnson appeared to be so concerned with insisting on the profundity of his story that he lost sight of the story itself. The last half of the book, while containing flashes of metaphorical and thematic success, ultimately comes off as contrived. The big climax is more concerned with making a heroic statement about resistance in North Korea than with finding a conclusion for the characters that fits with the internal logic of their fucked-up culture. Ga's courageous defiance of Kim Jong Il feels unrealistic and silly. I'll concede that Commander Ga's final moments "on autopilot" are poignant and perfectly executed, but then why not end the book that way? The events at the airport seem too melodramatic, but they provide the kind of "climax" we all expect. This reveals Johnson as exactly what he is: an American ivy league writing professor who decided to insert his own story into a foreign culture. I've no doubt the author did his homework and possesses an impressive knowledge of the subject matter, but I was too busy trying to get past all the literary contrivances to notice. The whole experience left me feeling that a much shorter book with far less literary flair would have packed a greater emotional punch.

I still want to learn more about North Korea, so I'm going to try Demick's "Nothing to Envy." Maybe it will be closer to what I'm looking for.(less)

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Feb 26, 2013 Trish rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: asia, fiction, quirky, unutterably-painful

This very long, very dark, and highly imaginative work by Adam Johnson forces upon the reader a series of distasteful sensations, only a few of which are horror, fury, hatred, injustice, and revenge. But by the end, one also experiences hope, compassion, sincerity, integrity, and love. Thoughts surface, submerge, roil in the mind during the days spent reading this huge novel, leaving one as drained and unsettled after a session with it as if one had “eaten bitterness.” Welcome to North Korea. If...more This very long, very dark, and highly imaginative work by Adam Johnson forces upon the reader a series of distasteful sensations, only a few of which are horror, fury, hatred, injustice, and revenge. But by the end, one also experiences hope, compassion, sincerity, integrity, and love. Thoughts surface, submerge, roil in the mind during the days spent reading this huge novel, leaving one as drained and unsettled after a session with it as if one had “eaten bitterness.” Welcome to North Korea. If you’ve ever wondered, this is one man’s take.

Much has been written of Johnson’s seven years constructing this story. He had done research, and in several interviews pointed to memoirs of escapees, like The Aquariums of Pyongyang, and one recently published by Penguin, called Escape from Camp 14. Johnson undoubtedly used news reports to reimagine the visits of western envoys as part of his story, but the blackness central to the society was difficult for me to believe. However, in one interview published in the Paris Review, Johnson denies he showed us the real blackness: “…I had to leave much of the darkness out of my book. The real darkness of the gulag there was so bleak that I had to cut it out. You couldn’t read it.” It is just as well, then, for this book was quite black enough to leave one feeling untethered.

The novel is broken into two parts. The first half tells of a young man growing up and finding his way in a society that seems confusing and dangerous: innocuous behaviors have consequences that are out of proportion to their intent. It is difficult to read this half of the novel. I am not enamored of character-as-victim when the consequences are so dire.

Relief comes immediately in the second half of the book, when we perceive a shift in the balance of power, from state authority to the citizenry. The young man of Part I, Jun Do (perhaps “John Doe”), decides he will write his own obituary and becomes an actor rather than merely acted upon. We are told of this change in the power ratio in an ingenious series of flashbacks as he is being interrogated over a period of time. The interrogator is the voice in this section of the novel, and we see the power of Jun Do’s non-confession on his listeners.

I think, perhaps, only an American could have written this book. A novel of the same subject written by a European may be more philosophical, literary, and well…sad. This is literature, but it is brash, brazen, curious, and a little like America’s pop culture: the hero molds his own story and puts it right out there for everyone’s delectation. He doesn’t lie, but he spins the truth, and keeps on spinning to the end. The story is also a remake of that American classic film, Casablanca, in which the hero with a great love for a dame, allows her to escape to freedom while he deals with the demons that would hold her captive.

I am not going to deny the first part of this book was difficult and agonizing for me to read, but I urge readers not to forsake the book before you reach the middle if you are at all interested in the subject. In Part Two we finally see a man rather than a victim and the character of the book changes completely after this break. It is fiction in the form of a prison diary. If you’ve ever read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956, or Elie Wiesel’s Night, you will remember how riveting books of desperation and depravation can be.

And yes, I did order Escape from Camp 14 to read after this. I want to see how much parallels what Johnson created, and because one’s palate for ordinary fiction is rather spoiled after such a book as this. Sometimes great literature demands more of us. While I am not ready to place this in the “greats” file yet, it is big, brave, unblinking. Johnson has a unique voice that cannot be mistaken for another. He brings to us news of the condition of people in North Korea, an issue we need to examine.
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Mar 12, 2012 Janet rated it 5 of 5 stars

Just starting this--so far it's absolutely ripping. Saw Johnson on a panel, talking about 9/11, Ten Years After, with Steve Erickson and Dana Goodyear and LA Times book critic David Ulin--and he held his own with that stellar company, and then some. Funny, when I saw him before the panel, I didn't know who he was, thought he was somebody's friend, maybe a bouncer at some kind of rough nightspot or someone who worked with prison youth-- until he sat down at the table, and started talking. Jaw-dro...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Chrissie rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, hf, korea, not-finished, disliked, returned

I have listened to half of this audiobook, and now I refuse to waste m my time anymore!

Do you enjoy political satire? Then this book will be right up your alley. But I don’t.

Do you enjoy a puzzle? Would it be intriguing to you to figure out what is fantasy and what is real? Again, if you answer in the affirmative, you will most probably enjoy this book. Me, I like to have a firm handle on the events. I want to understand what is definitely happening. You see in North Korea what Kim Jong Il sai...more

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Apr 15, 2013 Jana rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: audible

UPDATE: 4/15/13
The Orphan Master's Son just won the Pulitzer*. Congratulations Adam Johnson! I have not stopped thinking about it in the year + since I read it. I believe it is one of those books that I can say has changed my thinking. As a bonus, I am so happy to have had the pleasure of meeting the author last October. More than meeting him: sitting at table for the better part of an hour discussing his book, teaching, kids, and life in general. The Orphan Master's Son deserved this award.
*It...more

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Dec 07, 2012 ☽ Moon ☯ 佛月球 Будда Луны rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"CITIZENS, gather around your loudspeakers, for we bring important updates! Listen and learn from the best North Korean Story in the history of our great nation. Be inspired while your in the midst of exceeding your quotas on our factory floors, the most advanced in the world, while your in the middle of our fertile fields that fill your hands with mud, providing our people with the most nutritious food nowhere to be found elsewhere in the world. All the North Koreans in their administrative of

...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Diane Yannick rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was obsessed with getting to the end of this book quickly. It wasn't because I loved reading it but because I was so sick of feeling like I was entrapped in a demented world. This story imposed scenes onto my brain that reappeared in dreams. Only great books have this power.

The author opened my eyes to North Korean culture through a fictional narrative based on factual research. Throughout the story a loudspeaker was used to disseminate propaganda throughout Korean homes. Kim Jong-il, the rec...more I was obsessed with getting to the end of this book quickly. It wasn't because I loved reading it but because I was so sick of feeling like I was entrapped in a demented world. This story imposed scenes onto my brain that reappeared in dreams. Only great books have this power.

The author opened my eyes to North Korean culture through a fictional narrative based on factual research. Throughout the story a loudspeaker was used to disseminate propaganda throughout Korean homes. Kim Jong-il, the recent bully leader, had no qualms about torturing his citizenry at his iron whim. While his people starved, he pumped money into nuclear programs. He taught selected people to be unemotional assassins. He had lobotomies performed using nails that punctured the eyeball to access the brain.

This quote kind of summed it up for me:
"Stories are factual. If a farmer is declared a music virtuoso by the state, everyone had better start calling him maestro. And secretly, he'd be wise to start practicing the piano. For us, the story is more important than the person. If a man and his story are in conflict, it is the man who must change."

There were times when the story was full of ironic humor, especially some of the North Korean reactions to American culture during a trip to Texas. There were times when I was rooting for love to survive in the midst of insanity. There were times when I was totally lost with the narration changes. (In all honesty, many times.)There was rampant symbolism that whizzed right over my head. BUT, Adam Johnson can write. He creates a world and then sucks you into it. He turned phrases that made me look away from the page in awe. I did think that the story meandered a little too much at times. I think it could have been condensed without losing its punch.

One of my pet peeves is reviewers who don't like books because they're depressing. They don't recommend books that make readers uncomfortable. For me, some of the best books make you the most uncomfortable. This is not a traditional book but rather a gritty tale that you will either love or hate.(less)

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Jul 07, 2012 Rhys Thomas rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you’ve ever wondered what life might be like in North Korea then here’s the novel you need to read. The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson tells the story of how a lowly orphan rose through the ranks to become a close associate of the Dear Leader himself. In the first section of the book we meet the protagonist Jun Do as he endures “pain training” to become a kidnapper for the DPRK. His crew take to the sea and sail to Japan to steal citizens at the Dear Leader’s whim. After their boat is bo...more

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Apr 10, 2012 Laura Stone Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio-book

Powerful, hypnotic, horrific and even romantic, this story of the mysterious Pak Jun Do is an amazing imagining of North Korea’s insular society. Johnson spent years researching this mysterious nation and even visited the country in 2007, so we can assume that this portrayal of an outrageously duplicitous nation must have some frightening basis in truth. In fact, the author felt one of his greatest challenges was to bring a measure of believability to a portrayal of a nation that is absurdly unb...more

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Apr 18, 2012 Stuart rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: more-stuff-like-this-please

OK, two things. Yes, I got a free signed copy of this thing from Adam Johnson's editor via Goodreads (Thank you!). Yes, Adam Johnson teaches a mile from my home and is, besides being a first-rate author, a good egg. But neither of those facts bias me about this book, honest. This is one crazy, ambitious, well-written novel. It's one of the best books I've read in the last few years.

The Orphan Master's Son is about the dystopian world of North Korea today. One might think you'd have to know a bit...more

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Mar 25, 2012 Otis Chandler rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: asia, korea, fiction, literary-fiction

This book takes us into the crazy world of North Korea. Imagine a world where the government controls all information and creates a ton of propaganda. There are loudspeakers in every home that tell this propaganda every morning and every evening. Everyone believes their leader is a saint, that the rest of world (especially Americans) are out to get them and could sneak attack at any moment, that South Korea and America are more poor than they are and thus the Dear Leader is sending them food for...more This book takes us into the crazy world of North Korea. Imagine a world where the government controls all information and creates a ton of propaganda. There are loudspeakers in every home that tell this propaganda every morning and every evening. Everyone believes their leader is a saint, that the rest of world (especially Americans) are out to get them and could sneak attack at any moment, that South Korea and America are more poor than they are and thus the Dear Leader is sending them food for aid, and on and on.

The books tells the story of Jun Do, who grows up in an orphanage as the son of the Oprhan Master, and while he claims he's technically not an orphan, it's clear that in effect he is. Orphans are portrayed as lost souls, the bottom of the ladder in society, and always on the search for a father-figure. The first half of the book tells a fairly normal story of Jun Do doing work for his country.

Jun Do had training to withstand pain, ostensibly in case the South Koreans or Japanese captured him. I found the tidbits mentioned around this very interesting - though not sure how accurate they are. One was to establish a place in your mind with lots of light, and don't leave it, no matter how much pain. The other, which I think sounds useful in general, is more for prisoners or any cooped up, and is summed up in this quote:

  “Use your imagination only on the future, never on the present or the past.”

The second half of the book was completely different from the rest of the story, and it was so out of left field and odd that I didn't enjoy it as much. (view spoiler)

Another criticism is that a lot of the dialogue read like it was people in America chatting. A Korean friend also noticed this - it didn't feel very Korean in many places - and thus didn't feel very authentic.

But what I loved most about the book was just the glimpse into North Korea. It's amazing how complete a people can be controlled if you can control their information inputs. I loved the part when they visit America and the Americans keep whispering "You know you lost the war, right?" - because they knew the North Korean government tells it's citizens they won.

I wonder if the internet has changed things? There are a few members of Goodreads who put North Korea as their country - but we have zero traffic from that country, so perhaps they are all expats/escapees.

I'll leave you with my favorite line from the book:

"'The next day, she was silent. For breakfast, she murdered an onion and served it raw."(less)

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Apr 26, 2013 Chuck rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, awards-pulitzer-prize, literary-fiction

4.75

Update* After thinking about this book for a couple of days I've decided to up my rating from 4.25 to 4.75.

3 likes · like · see review

Aug 10, 2012 Lou rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, historical-fiction

There are some brutal and harrowing truths in here on how people rule with a dark heart, error, violence and corruption. When mixing truth with fiction I feel in my reading experience I want the story to flow and hook the reader make the characters show and make you feel the environment. The horrors have been already created there in history, when a writer takes from others horrors, when I read I want the author to do much more than just retell facts but immerse and make me feel the darkness.
The...more

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Jun 07, 2013 Kevin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: lit

"In the tunnel, he ran his eyes across all the DVDs, looking for one that might address his situation, but it didn't seem Americans made such movies. He studied the pictures on their covers and read their descriptions, but where was the film that had no beginning, an unrelenting middle, and ended over and over?"

(Clearly, he'd never seen 'Clue.')

But seriously: http://therumpus.net/2013/06/horn-rev...

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 13, 2012 Megan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: evil-govt, planes-trains-automobiles, more-of-a-slut-than-a-buff, own, first-reads

*First reads giveaway: This is a GREAT novel that is split into two parts - kind of a before and after for the character of Jun Doh/Commander Ga. You definitely get the sense that you're going on a lengthy journey with this character. The payoff is worth it.

for a more thorough review

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Jun 16, 2013 Bart Thanhauser rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not many books, much less novels, take place in North Korea. And that’s for good reason; it’s a country that few outside of it know much about. To some writers, this perhaps presents an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to illuminate a nation always in the news yet little known, and—special for novelists—it’s an opportunity to imagine and fictionally explore a shrouded, Orwellian state.

At his best, Adam Johnson uses these opportunities to exciting ends. The book’s protagonist, Jun Do, lives man...more Not many books, much less novels, take place in North Korea. And that’s for good reason; it’s a country that few outside of it know much about. To some writers, this perhaps presents an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to illuminate a nation always in the news yet little known, and—special for novelists—it’s an opportunity to imagine and fictionally explore a shrouded, Orwellian state.

At his best, Adam Johnson uses these opportunities to exciting ends. The book’s protagonist, Jun Do, lives many strangely fascinating, divergent lives. He is a tunnel fighter, who burrows under the DMZ; he is a special agent who kidnaps Japanese citizens off of beaches; he is a radio spy who hides on fishing boats; he is a propaganda piece in a faux-goodwill mission to Texas; he is a starved uranium miner; and lastly, he is the all-powerful number 2 man in North Korea: Tae Kwan Do champion, Commander Ga. At times, The Orphan Master’s Son reads as an improvisation. As though, Johnson sat down and wrote a new story each day, exploring different tangents and their consequences for his narrator. The promotions for the book describe it as a spy novel, a love story, and a coming-of-age war drama, and that’s roughly true. The diversity of lives Jun Do lives is fun and is the strength of the book. What’s more the diversity of Jun Do’s experiences—the seemingly multiple lives that he lives—raises larger questions about identity: is the real trauma of a repressive state its ability to steal its citizens identities? In Johnson’s North Korea, the state's scariest weapon is its ability to cleave a person's identity from them.

And yet, for all the opportunities of writing about a shrouded nation, the pitfalls are what, for me, defined The Orphan Master’s Son. In my opinion, Johnson took too many fictional liberties in writing about North Korea. His writing seems overly dark and hyperbolic. In creating such a dark, dark world it is Johnson’s ignorance—not the sad strangeness of the nation he describes—that comes through. The “crows”, blood-harvesting, and uranium mines that Johnson describes don’t read as powerful explorations of a little known nation, but rather, as arrogant hyperbole.

Johnson himself admits in an interview at the end of the book that “how [North Koreans] live is a greater mystery”. And yet he justifies his stories, saying that while portions of the book may not be grounded in fact, “I felt that emotionally it was the truest portion of the book…” To some, this might be satisfying, to me it wasn’t. I couldn’t get past this feeling that it was irresponsible and arrogant to highlight and hyperbolize the gore and fear of a nation he didn’t—for all his research—know much about. It’s unfortunate too because, some of the characters in this book are interesting, and some of the emotions that Johnson captures are authentic. Yet the hyperbole and darkness of his setting and his villains overshadow all of this.

One of my favorite books is J.M. Coetzee’s The Life and Times of Michael K and what makes this book so beautiful as well as politically powerful is that it does not say that it takes place in Apartheid South Africa. Although the references to SA are clear, Coetzee never explicitly names his dystopic world. This frees him. If he were to explicitly say that Michael K is a black man in South Africa, he’d have to defend the world he creates and ensure that it is connected to reality. Not naming South Africa, allows Coetzee to explore and imagine a South Africa that is starker. A failed police state that is even more terrifying than Apartheid’s brutal racism.

To truly demonstrate the opportunities of writing about the terrifying unknown, Adam Johnson would be smart to take this lesson from Coetzee.
(less)

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Feb 16, 2012 Ian rated it 4 of 5 stars

What strikes me as most impressive about The Orphan Master's Son is that Adam Johnson, an American novelist, has (as far as I can tell) successfully depicted the shadowy world of North Korea as though it were his native land. He describes the totalitarian country's orphanages, prisons, fishing boats, etc. as though he himself had been privy to such experiences.

I found Johnson to be particularly careful when dealing with oppressive propaganda which is portrayed mostly in the daily "news" (i.e., w...more What strikes me as most impressive about The Orphan Master's Son is that Adam Johnson, an American novelist, has (as far as I can tell) successfully depicted the shadowy world of North Korea as though it were his native land. He describes the totalitarian country's orphanages, prisons, fishing boats, etc. as though he himself had been privy to such experiences.

I found Johnson to be particularly careful when dealing with oppressive propaganda which is portrayed mostly in the daily "news" (i.e., whatever "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-Il demands his citizens know and believe) broadcasts from the mandatory speakers installed in all citizens' dwellings. His tone is never one of mockery and, if anything, the story progresses with compassion for those living in constant fear of imprisonment (or worse).

The book might be confusing to some readers as it jumps from one narrator to another, one time period to another, and one style to another without warning. In an interview of Adam Johnson by author Richard Price, Price describes the book as a "collision of many genres: bildungsroman, prison narrative, sea story, romantic drama, escape thriller, comic picaresque, Korean heroic opera," and Johnson comments that he sees his book as a "trauma narrative," in which a survivor of traumatic experiences tells stories that are similarly disjointed and that "bend and mix genres as characters attempt to patch their stories back together using the stories they find around them." This is one of the most unusual, riveting, touching and unforgettable books I've read, and I highly recommend it.

One final thought on the book: While at times I found it amusing that the North Korean citizens in the book---or perhaps the citizens of any real-life nation not ruled by democracy---would say that theirs is the "greatest nation in the world," we here in the U.S. certainly suffer from a similar myopia. Our very own citizens and leaders expound the same superlative knowing full well that our country’s education, economy, health care, income equality, etc. are far from the top of the list.(less)

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Jan 30, 2012 Nancy Oakes rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, favorite

It is just possible that I've found the novel that come next December I'll be listing as my favorite book of the year. Go ahead -- scoff or do the eyeroll if you so choose, but this book has just set the bar for my reading year. With this novel, the prose, the characters, the story and the author's imagining of life under totalitarian rule in North Korea all combine to produce the literary equivalent of the perfect storm in my reading universe.

While getting my thoughts together and perusing the...more It is just possible that I've found the novel that come next December I'll be listing as my favorite book of the year. Go ahead -- scoff or do the eyeroll if you so choose, but this book has just set the bar for my reading year. With this novel, the prose, the characters, the story and the author's imagining of life under totalitarian rule in North Korea all combine to produce the literary equivalent of the perfect storm in my reading universe.

While getting my thoughts together and perusing the internet, I discovered an interview where the author notes that

"... in North Korea there is a national script, conveyed through propaganda. There is one notion about who the people are and what the national goals are, and you as a citizen are conscripted to be a part of this national narrative. . . You have to relinquish your own personal desires.”

And the main character in this story, Pak Jun Do, has spent a great deal of his young life following the script. His early life and career are laid out in the first part of this novel, "The Biography of Jun Do," which even by itself would have made an incredible story. His father is in charge of the orphan camp called Long Tomorrows near Chongjin, where Jun Do grows up without a mother. Orphans are very low in the social order, and are hired out to various companies or other work details; when they get older they are sent directly to the military, where they are usually assigned the most dangerous jobs. Jun Do, although not technically an orphan, ends up as a tunnel soldier, then ends up on assignment kidnapping people from Japan. From there, he is assigned to language school, then to a listening post on the fishing boat Junma, where he monitors radio transmissions. After an encounter with an American interceptor at sea and later a defection, he is proclaimed a hero and recruited for a secret mission to Texas. It is there, looking through of all things a telephone directory, that he comes to realize that there's a bigger and better world out there, and that he hates his "small, backward homeland, a land of mysteries and ghosts and mistaken identities." His return to North Korea leads directly to part two of the novel, "The Confessions of Commander Ga," where in a rather abrupt change, we find Jun Do in a prison mine where one of the outputs is the blood of the dead that is shipped to the capital, Pyongyang. From there Jun Do's life takes on a new twist, one I won't reveal here, but it is a story guaranteed to keep you awake and turning pages because you do not want to miss even a second of Jun Do's story.

The strongest parts of the novel are found in how different people retain their dignity and integrity after enduring incredible hardships, and in what really constitutes a hero, a word that is bandied about at the upper echelons in keeping with the national myth. North Korea is a place where above all the myths behind the cult of personality endure, no matter what methods are used to ensure its survival -- "re-education," fear, torture, etc. While the author shows that not everyone buys into it, there is also propaganda everywhere, made very clear by the loudspeakers in everyone's living room, factory floors, offices, etc. Announcements beginning with "Citizens" are a device the author uses often throughout the novel, often related in a tongue-in-cheek manner, used to broadcast not only the latest good deed done by the Dear Leader -- "Kim Jong Il was seen offering on-the-spot guidance to the engineers deeping the Taedong River channel," but also the myth: "While the Dear Leader lectured to the dredge operators, many doves were seen to spontaneously flock above him, hovering to provide our Reverend General some much needed shade on a hot day."

The Orphan Master's Son is a wonderful novel for several reasons, and I've just skimmed the surface of the story here. I had only a small problem in terms of reading, and that was with the juxtaposition from part one to part two, where I read a few pages, scratched my head and had to go back again to make sure what I'd read was correct. Once I figured out what was happening and continued reading, all was explained and back into smooth reading zone I went.

It's very obvious that the author has done his research, even traveling to North Korea. At one point I looked up kidnapping of Japanese citizens by North Koreans and was amazed to discover that this practice has been going on for some time. Furthermore, the propaganda and mythmaking around Kim Jong-il so beautifully incorporated into The Orphan Master's Son is now being ramped up in real life for the new leader Kim Jong-un, as shown in this article.

Very highly recommended, although his book may not be for everyone -- many readers might find the story too dark or bleak to get through, so if you're looking for a lighthearted read, forget it. It is gritty and often difficult to get through, with scenes of torture and prison life, starvation, famine and other hardships endured by regular people in a situation in which they have little or no control. And although this book is very approachable from a reader standpoint, some may be bothered by the change in narrative form from part one to part two, which admittedly is a bit confusing at first. On the other hand, it is a book in which the author's imagination regarding this closed society comes to life and translates into a credible look at a place most people know only through news reports.

I can't say exactly why I loved this book, but it is one that made its way under my skin and one I will not soon forget. Bravo, Adam Johnson! (less)

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Apr 19, 2013 Dan Downing rated it 5 of 5 stars

Co-incidence can be a powerful force. I had pulled 'The Orphan Master's Son' from the shelf and read the first two pages, which I thought to be a masterpiece of propaganda writing. Later in the day, I discovered the book had won the Pulitzer for 2013. Normally, that is enough to put me off a book, but I had just started and had high hopes.
In the first section, I kept hearing a resonance of "Candide", and throughout the book felt I was reading a variation on the Picaresque novel. I still do, but...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio, fiction

I wouldn’t have known about The Orphan Master’s Son if not for my husband’s reverence for book recommendations from Joe Hill (Stephen King’s son), and I certainly wouldn’t have known the novel takes place in modern-day North Korea. I very much enjoyed the beginning of the story about Pak Jun Do (which sounds like “John Doe”), an orphan who slowly reveals himself to be a master of self-deception. He claims his mother was a singer and that his father is the man who runs the orphanage, having taken...more I wouldn’t have known about The Orphan Master’s Son if not for my husband’s reverence for book recommendations from Joe Hill (Stephen King’s son), and I certainly wouldn’t have known the novel takes place in modern-day North Korea. I very much enjoyed the beginning of the story about Pak Jun Do (which sounds like “John Doe”), an orphan who slowly reveals himself to be a master of self-deception. He claims his mother was a singer and that his father is the man who runs the orphanage, having taken the job, Jun Do explains, as the only way to remain with his son after his mother was taken to Pyongyang, the capital to which all beautiful women disappear. Jun Do survives a famine only to be conscripted into the army to fight in dark tunnels, then kidnap Japanese citizens, then somehow be chosen to study English and monitor American radio transmissions from fishing boats.

Jun Do’s struggle to justify his actions and the description of his pain training are especially moving, and the schemes and stories Jun Do, the captain of the fishing boat, and the sailors come up with to avoid punishment for any deviation from their orders, however beyond their control said deviations might be, are striking as they slowly weave tales to reinforce the thick layer of propaganda smothering all aspects of life in North Korea. The daily loudspeaker announcements describing the evils of the Imperialists, the destitution of South Korea, the “American sneak attacks” on North Korea, and the benevolence of “the Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il sound ridiculous, and it’s almost impossible to consider the possibility that a regime like that, however fictionalized and nonsensical it may be in the novel, can exist in the here and now.

The transition between parts one and two is jarring, but there are common threads of determined self-deception that expands to even greater levels of public delusion rooted in believing in a reality that is dictated rather than based on experience or even one’s own senses. I found it difficult to suspend belief regarding Jun Do’s suddenly fluent English skills and was disappointed that the author didn’t manage to elevate the almost tongue-in-cheek loudspeaker announcement sections to anything more than outrageous, if well written, examples of propaganda. I hoped for more gravitas at times, and although the novel was masterfully plotted and written, it could have said more.(less)

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Apr 05, 2012 Ennie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romans

Ik heb het uit. En wie kan mij vertellen wat ik er van vond....ik weet het niet. De moeite waard om te lezen? Ja, ik geloof het wel. Mooi? Nou, het was een erg goed geschreven boek, dat goed in elkaar zat. Een bizar verhaal, dat waarschijnlijk de werkelijkheid dicht benadert. En zelfs de continuë gruwelijkste gruwelijkheden bleven voor mij leesbaar en dat kostte me niet eens veel moeite en het beïnvloedde zelfs mijn stemming niet al te zeer. Daarvoor leek het vaak bijna te surrealistisch. Maar h...more

1 like · like · see review

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