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A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea

Masaji Ishikawa,

Risa Kobayashi (Translator)

Martin Brown (Translator)

4.26 · Rating details · 25,913 ratings · 2,832 reviews

An Amazon Charts Most Read and Most Sold book.

The harrowing true story of one man’s life in—and subsequent escape from—North Korea, one of the world’s most brutal totalitarian regimes.

Half-Korean, half-Japanese, Masaji Ishikawa has spent his whole life feeling like a man without a country. This feeling only deepened when his family moved from Japan to North Korea when Ishi ...more

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Kindle Edition, 174 pages

Published January 1st 2018 by AmazonCrossing (first published 2000)

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· 25,913 ratings · 2,832 reviews

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Feb 05, 2018 Emily May rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: memoirs-or-bios, nonfiction, 2018

Serfdom is freedom. Repression is liberation. A police state is a democratic republic. And we were “the masters of our own destiny.” And if we begged to differ, we were dead.

This is one powerful little memoir. It's a true story that sounds like dystopian fiction - for most of us, it is difficult to imagine families being lured to a new "paradise", only to be met with famine, concentration camps and violence. It's hard to accept that this is still part of our world.

I, like many, am fascinated and horrified by North Korea. Recent news stories have only fuelled that particular fire of fascination. I've read fiction about the history of Korea in books such as Pachinko, which showed many Koreans migrating to Japan during colonization and being seen as second class citizens. Then, later, when their home country was split in two, many were unable to return. I have also read Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, which documents a variety of different experiences from defectors.

A River in Darkness complements both those books and adds something very unique - a detailed first person account of what it was and is really like to live in this secretive nation.

Ishikawa was born in Japan but his Korean father was seduced by promises of "paradise" and having "everything you need" in North Korea. The Red Cross shipped Japanese families to North Korea; something which the Japanese government and the UN were all too aware of and made no effort to prevent. So Ishikawa's family packed up and got on the boat. They arrived in a wasteland of horrors and were given a shack to live in with no electricity or running water.

For over thirty years, Ishikawa and his family suffered and starved. No one dared to speak out against the system, and it would have done no good if they did. As Japanese nationals, they were labelled as "hostiles", which meant they were given the worst jobs and worst homes. Ishikawa lost loved ones, his freedom, and most of his life to North Korea.

It is a deeply sad memoir and even the ending brings little relief. Ishikawa admits that he can feel nothing but bitterness. It's a dark, haunting, and eye-opening look into one of the greatest atrocities of our time.

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Dec 03, 2017 Lo rated it it was amazing

The short version: This is easily the best firsthand narrative about life in North Korea that I've found, and it's a gripping, well-written story in its own right. If you haven't read anything like this, it will be VERY educational. But be aware that it doesn't have the happy ending the title implies, and prepare yourself accordingly.

The long version: Some years ago, I realized that my view of North Korea was overly cartoonish. I didn't want to think of it as "the most hilarious awful dictators The short version: This is easily the best firsthand narrative about life in North Korea that I've found, and it's a gripping, well-written story in its own right. If you haven't read anything like this, it will be VERY educational. But be aware that it doesn't have the happy ending the title implies, and prepare yourself accordingly.

The long version: Some years ago, I realized that my view of North Korea was overly cartoonish. I didn't want to think of it as "the most hilarious awful dictatorship" anymore, so I started reading about it. There's an awful lot of political and economic posturing and maneuvering to read about, and tons of analysis about the leaders and the military, but what about the actual people who live there? What are their lives like?

Turns out that it's pretty hard to find out. The fact that regular citizens, especially the non-elite, are essentially hostages makes it hard to get information. I found and really enjoyed Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, a collection of stories from former North Koreans living in exile. That's interesting in that the stories come from a variety of people who came from different backgrounds in North Korea, but this book is a much more in-depth picture of a single life, and has better narrative flow. The prose is spare and impressively clear, and the book is quite short.

Ishikawa was born in Japan and moved as part of a mass migration program that essentially tricked huge numbers of Koreans to "return" from Japan to North Korea, facilitated by the Red Cross. Many had never even been to North Korea, and empty promises of opportunity were repeated for years. This program, and the subsequent ill treatment of the Japanese "returnees" by the "native" Koreans was eye-opening to discover. Because of this aspect, the story manages to be even more grim than other stories I've read, which is really saying something. Just the first few pages, while he's still a child in Japan, were enough to fill an entire teary daytime talk show. And while life after escaping is never easy for the fortunate Koreans who make it out alive, the poor guy has a worse outcome than any I've heard before.

The horrors in the lives depicted are many, from the extreme to the mundane - starvation, long propaganda meetings, being denied opportunity due to circumstances of your birth, facing inadequate shelter, and that's all before the 90s famine. But the greatest horror is revealed gradually across many small moments: to survive people must lose their humanity, stop seeing each other as people, no longer caring if their neighbors live or die. Then the government uses the citizens as the most effective tool to oppress themselves by turning them against each other, encouraging and rewarding reporting your own family for defying the regime. The most common lament I've read (across all accounts) about the famine was, "the kind people were the first to die." As much as I found myself deeply appreciating eating dinner after reading this, I was even more moved by the love and support of my friends and family, savoring the marvelous experience of not having to fear for their lives every day.

I would recommend that everyone read this, and probably try to convince them given the opportunity, because there's a lot more to North Korea than nuclear weapons. If more people knew what life there is like, it would undoubtedly help -- it's pretty hard not to care in the face of this insanity. But I wouldn't force this on anyone, because it really is a difficult read twice over. First, while you're reading, the events in the story are brutal. It's hard to watch an incredibly resilient protagonist be defeated again and again. Then after you're done with the book, it's depressing to watch the world let this situation continue because it's too much trouble to address. The political and economic arguments seem even more unsatisfactory. On the other hand, it's not all bad. Nothing has ever made me appreciate my life like reading this. Every time Ishikawa's story pops into my mind, and it's hard to forget, I feel a huge wave of gratitude in addition to the sadness and compassion.

So read it, but please be ready. ...more

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Sep 04, 2018 J.L. Sutton rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Masaji Ishikawa's harrowing memoir, A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea, is astounding! I recently read Suki Kim's Without You: There is No Us: Undercover Among the Sons of North Korea's Elite. I really liked Suki Kim's work and thought there were great insights on the mindset of North Koreans. A River of Darkness has remarkable insights on North Korea as well, but it is completely different. Ishikawa focuses on the mindset of average North Koreans along with the extreme priva ...more

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Jan 02, 2018 Chrissie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audible, bio, korea, 2-itunes-library, 2018-read

I liked A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea a lot. It is a personally told story. The author is speaking from his heart of what he has experienced—first ostracism in Japan due to his dual Japanese and Korean background, then the horror of the thirty-six years of his life spent in North Korea from 1960-1996 under the rule of Kim Il Sung and then Kim Jong Il, why he had to flee, how he did it and finally what happened when he returned to Japan. During his youth in Japan, where h ...more

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Apr 19, 2018 Maxwell rated it really liked it

Shelves: kindle, translated, 2018

A devastating account of one man's life in North Korea. This also has the added element of examining North Korean life from the perspective of someone who is half-Japanese, half-Korean. A good companion piece of Pachinko and In Order to Live.

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Feb 06, 2018 Sara rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-nonfiction, non-fiction, biographies-and-memoirs, china-korea-japan

It's been a while since I read anything in one sitting, but this was utterly heartbreaking and compelling.

Masaji Ishikawa and his family moved to North Korea during the great migration of Japanese/Korean immigrants to the communist state in the 1960s. Promises of a paradise and jobs for all duped many a family at the time, but the reality was far from what was expected.

This is by far one of the best first hand accounts I've read of life in North Korea, and in some respects it completely overwh ...more

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Feb 03, 2019 Jessaka rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, north-korea

This was a disturbing true story about conditions in North Korea, so much so that I find that I don’t wish to go back and listen to parts of it again in order to make a better review.

If only the world was not so full of suffering. If only people were not beaten, killed, starved or worked to death, what a better place this would be. But what happened in North Korea, and could still be happening for all I know happens in many countries, and it makes me wish that the U.N. could step in and correct ...more

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May 06, 2018 Jo rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: inspirational, non-fiction

"Her desperation, her fear, her exhaustion-all of it seeped through her thin clothes and straight into my heart."

This is not the first non fiction book that I have read, regarding real people's lives in North Korea. It probably won't be my last, either. Much of the information in this particular account wasn't new to me, but this did not stop the utter disbelief washing over me, as I was reading.
This very personal memoir is just gut-wrenchingly tragic, and it is told with such honestly, that the ...more

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Jan 04, 2018 She Always Reads rated it really liked it · review of another edition

While the life that Mr. Ishikawa live was horrifying by anyone standards, I found that at time the book was difficult to read. At moments it seemed as though a cohesive thought was not entirely transformed from reality to word. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that this book was written from translation, so I can’t really fault it.

I’m not a history buff, I will never claim to be. I know enough that I was able to graduate from school but never really gave much thought to what was being While the life that Mr. Ishikawa live was horrifying by anyone standards, I found that at time the book was difficult to read. At moments it seemed as though a cohesive thought was not entirely transformed from reality to word. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that this book was written from translation, so I can’t really fault it.

I’m not a history buff, I will never claim to be. I know enough that I was able to graduate from school but never really gave much thought to what was being taught to me. I find the memoirs have become a much more effective way for me to comprehend the history throughout the world as opposed to reading from a textbook that seemed to just ramble facts off. For instance I’m sure I learn of what was happening in Korea prior to reading A River in the Dark. But as I read I became more invested in the journey, more invested in the political aspect, the trying nature of the events that unfolded.

I was left elated and heartbroken as I reached the end of one man’s journey to just return home to a life that was striped from him because he was a child. The worst part is that even though this is part of our global existence not enough is being done to rectify the situation for him and everyone who has and still are suffering. One can only hope that something even if it small can be accomplished with that talks between South and North Korea. Yes, after reading this memoir I found myself wanting to know what was happening. This was the first time in a long time that I voluntarily looked up anything along the political line.

Now with all the positive being said I still had one question left unanswered. Once you draw to the conclusion of the story Masaji Ishikawa openly tells that he is not suppose reveal that the Japanese authority helped in him in anyway. But by writing this novel is that not what he did. Did he not reveal the one part of the agreement that was the most crucial. There are also other questions that sort of had been left open. While some information was given to the whereabouts of his family that was left in Korea, there really wasn’t a complete conclusion.

This was an eye opener for me. I think starting of my year with this has really grounded me. It has really made me realize just how lucky of a person I am in life. I don’t think I could have been as strong as Masaji Ishikawa or his sister or even his children who grew only to know one world. ...more

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Jan 31, 2018 Books on Stereo rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A breathtaking real, unfiltered view of life in North Korea as a Japanese-Korean. Not all tales end happily, but Masaji Ishikawa's story exemplifies the resilience of the human spirit and importance of optimism even in the darkest of times.

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Dec 02, 2017 Marilyn Hitesman rated it it was amazing

The horror of life in North Korea

Beyond comprehension. The atrocities are being silenced but must be made known. No one should endure what these people do.

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Feb 02, 2018 Alaina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: february-challenge-2018, nonfiction, fiction, historical-fiction, kindle-unlimited, favorites

I feel like I've been on a non-fiction kick lately and I've loved every minute of it.

What first got my attention was the cover. I don't really know how else to explain it other than say it intrigued me so much that I didn't even think twice before I clicked it.

Second, the title makes you think it will be a happy-ish book. Or that it will have a happy ending after all of the doom, sadness, and torture thrown upon you. Don't get your hopes up high people because this is one spoiler you will get fr ...more

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Feb 22, 2018 Holly rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, 2018-read

This isn't the first non-fiction book I've read about real people's lives in North Korea (the first was Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea), so some of the information wasn't new to me this time around. However, this still was gut wrenching and captivating and horrifying. I can't imagine how so many people can endure so much needless suffering. I highly recommend reading either book - I think there's not enough people who realize how bad it really is in North Korea and why other coun ...more

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Jan 02, 2018 Chandra Claypool (wherethereadergrows) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: arc

My first love in books is horror followed closely by psychological thrillers. When I read nonfiction/memoirs, I typically stay somewhat within the same genre - true crime, etc. As a half South Korean woman, I also typically avoid reading anything regarding North Korea. I always assumed that these types of books would be the only ones that would get me "triggered"... and by that I mean PISSED OFF! However, when Ashley at Amazon Publishing gave me this book, I couldn't NOT read it.. and I'm SO hap ...more

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Jan 06, 2019 Laura Noggle rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019, biography-autobiography, nonfiction

One Word Review: Harrowing

"So there we were—the beneficiaries of smug humanitarianism—prisoners in paradise on earth."

After reading this book, my first inclination is: What right do I have to judge Masaji Ishikawa's life story? Not much as far as I can see, my opinion is irrelevant.

"I soon learned that thought was not free in North Korea. A free thought could get you killed if it slipped out."

This is a raw, honest story of extreme suffering told in a unique voice—I'm not sure if it was the tran ...more

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Jan 02, 2018 Janelle • She Reads with Cats rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: autobiography-memoir-biography, nonfiction, 2018, 2018-arc, from-publisher

A RIVER OF DARKNESS by Masaji Ishikawa (translated by Risa Kobayashi and Martin Brown) Thank you so much to Amazon Publishing for sending me a free copy - all opinions are my own.

“Someone once said, ‘If a crying baby could tear down the universe, it would.’ Thats how I felt that day. I wanted to demolish the whole universe, but the sad truth was, it had already come crashing down around my head.”

My Review:

This story is so personal—you feel as if your friend is telling you a story. It’s not over A RIVER OF DARKNESS by Masaji Ishikawa (translated by Risa Kobayashi and Martin Brown) Thank you so much to Amazon Publishing for sending me a free copy - all opinions are my own.

“Someone once said, ‘If a crying baby could tear down the universe, it would.’ Thats how I felt that day. I wanted to demolish the whole universe, but the sad truth was, it had already come crashing down around my head.”

My Review:

This story is so personal—you feel as if your friend is telling you a story. It’s not overly dramatic—it doesn’t need to be. The details of this little book are very upsetting and hit straight to the heart.

Masaji Ishikawa tells his life from his childhood in Japan, up through his escape from North Korea. He was born in 1947, just after the conclusion of the Second World War, and after Japanese colonial rule in Korea ended. His father, Do Sam-dal, was Korean and his mother, Miyoko Ishikawa, Japanese. It was a tumultuous childhood, full of fear, anger, and pain. Even though his mother’s family was respected, his father was not. His father was very resentful towards his mother and took it out on her.

When Masaji was thirteen, his father insisted they move to North Korea under the regime of Kim Il-Sung. He thought he’d have a better life in North Korea, which he had told would be “paradise on Earth”. Except, as Masaji describes it, it was hell on Earth, and after reading his story, I am in 100 percent agreement.

His childhood was difficult but it did not hold a handle to the struggles of living in North Korea for thirty-six years and every time I saw the phrase, “Luckily I...” I couldn’t believe how optimistic he was—the human spirit is an amazing thing. I also thought it was interesting to see the change in his father’s temperament over the years in North Korea. And how Masaji finally understood what made his father who he was.

I loved how matter-of-factly Masaji speaks. It is very well-written memoir and I believe 170 pages is all it needed to be extremely impactful. This is an important story and one that everyone should know and understand.

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Sep 26, 2018 Malia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

This is a short book, but what a harrowing, thought-provoking story it tells! It is not an easy read, this man's account of life in North Korea, his escape back to Japan and the terrible losses he and his family suffered in the process. I kept feeling stunned when the author mentioned the dates - so recent! - and that people dying of starvation seems a fairly common occurrence in North Korea. he paints a bleak picture, made bearable by the fact that he felt close bonds with his family. An eye-op ...more

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May 28, 2018 Joy D rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, asia, journeys, politics, zck, reviewed

Memoir of Masaji Ishikawa wherein he relates the details of his life from being born in Japan in 1947 to moving with his family to North Korea, where they were promised “paradise on earth,” to his escape to Japan in 1996. Unsurprisingly, the so-called paradise never materialized, and his family’s standard of living gradually diminished until it reached starvation-level.

Ishikawa tells his story in a very straight-forward conversational manner. This memoir delivered educational information about l ...more

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Jan 07, 2019 Nora|KnyguDama rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Pirmoji mano perskaityta knyga apie Šiaurės Korėją buvo Adam Johnson "Našlaičių prižiūrėtojo sūnus". Šis romanas iki dabar man yra vienas geriausių kada skaitytų. Jis ir sukrėtė, ir sujaudino, ir ilgam įstrigo. Perskaičiusi norėjau dar daugiau sužinoti apie tą šalį, iš kurios nori sprukti kiekviena gyva būtybė. Na, ne kiekviena. Tai šalis, kurioje gera gyventi tik vienam žmogui. Skamba kraupiai, be tokia šiandienos realybė. Taigi, ėmiau ir perskaičiau knygas, kurias pavyko rasti šia tema: "Pabėg Pirmoji mano perskaityta knyga apie Šiaurės Korėją buvo Adam Johnson "Našlaičių prižiūrėtojo sūnus". Šis romanas iki dabar man yra vienas geriausių kada skaitytų. Jis ir sukrėtė, ir sujaudino, ir ilgam įstrigo. Perskaičiusi norėjau dar daugiau sužinoti apie tą šalį, iš kurios nori sprukti kiekviena gyva būtybė. Na, ne kiekviena. Tai šalis, kurioje gera gyventi tik vienam žmogui. Skamba kraupiai, be tokia šiandienos realybė. Taigi, ėmiau ir perskaičiau knygas, kurias pavyko rasti šia tema: "Pabėgimas iš lagerio Nr. 14", "Neturime ko pavydėti". Tik dvi... Ir abi jos itin šokiruojančios, graudinančios, pykdančios dėl tokios neteisybės. Tai knygos, kurių niekad nerekomenduočiau jautriam žmogui. Pati tokia esu, ir perskaičiusi jas ilgai sau neradau vietos. "Upė tamsoje" - dra viena tikra istorija apie Šiaurės Korėja. Dar vienas skaudus, prarastų gyvenimų liudijimas.

Masadžio tėvas buvo korėjietis, o mama japonė. 1958 metais, kuomet Masadžiui buvo trylika metų, visa šeima patikėjo Šiaurės Korėjos pažadais ir išvyko ten gyventi. Šalis žadėjo geriausius darbus, geriausias sąlygas grįžusiems korėjiečiams, tačiau vos ten atvykę, žmonės suprato papuolę į spąstus. Šalyje nebuvo jokio darbo, jokios laisvės ir jokio maisto. Gyvavo žiaurios represijos, bausmės, badas ir nepriteklius. Visa šalis buvo valdoma baimės, prievartos ir skausmo. Masadžis pasakoja kaip už kelis ant žemės numestus ryžių grūdelius jį kone negyvai sumušė, už ištiestą nugarą laukuose laukdavo lazdos kirčiai.. Šalis mirė badu. Praeiti pro išdžiūvusius lavonus nebebuvo iššūkis, nestebindavo žinios, jog daug kur vyrauja kanibalizmas. Masadžis ryžosi sunkiausim savo žingsniui gyvenime - pabėgti į Japoniją. Jis paliko net savo šeimą - žinojo, kad iš ten jiems galės padėti daugiau. Jis bėgo nebijodamas gauti kulkos į nugarą. Vistiek geriau mirti, nei likti čia.

Žinot iš ko Masadžis sužinojo, jog jis atkeliavao? Jog nebėra Šiaurės Korėjoje? Nes jį išgelbėjęs žmogus buvo vedinas šunimi. Šiaurės Korėjoje šunys yra maistas, medžiojamas grobis, o ne augintinis. Ir čia tik mažytė dalis viso siaubo, kurį vyras savo knyga mums pasakoja. Skaitant, labai norėjau save raminti, jog čia "tik knyga", tačiau kaip tai padaryti, kuomet tai yra tikra istorija? Ir ne tik istorija - Šiaurės Korėja ir dabar egzistuoja, ir dabar kankina gyventojus, juokingai meluodama visam pasauliui. Man nepakeliama mintis, kad šiame pasaulyje yra šalių, kuriose nėra nė vieno tikrai laimingo žmogaus... Tai tikrai slegianti ir skaudi knyga. Man buvo taip taip taip gaila, taip liūdna, taip pikta, kad skaitydama ir emocijų nesulaikiau. Bet, o ar įmanoma? Juk kalbam apie gyvenimus. Visiškai, nuo mažų dienų griaunamus gyvenimus, be jokios prošvaistės. Knygoje daug rašoma apie vaikų kančias, tad jautrūs šiai temai irgi geriau venkit šios istorijos. Keista apie "Upę tasmoje" kalbėti kaip apie knygą. Ir ją vertinti kaip tokią yra neteisinga. Tai yra gyvenimo istorija, liudjimas, sukrėtimas ir pasaulio akių atvėrimas, su kuriuo siūlyčiau susipažinti visiems tikrų istorijų, istorijos mėgėjams, nebijantiems širdies sopulio. ...more

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Nov 30, 2018 ❄️Nani❄️ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: east-asia, historical, near-favourites, nonfiction

4.5⭐

An emotional memoir.

Ishikawa’s account of life in North Korea reads like a chilling dystopian novel. ...more

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Feb 02, 2019 Zuky the BookBum rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019, 5-stars, kindle-books, made-me-cry

I honestly think this book is the modern day Night. It's just as harrowing a story and is something that needs to be talked about and pushed into the public eye more. I'm sat here worried about Brexit but at the end of the day, I'm going to have my family, food and a place to live - millions of people living in North Korea have none of these things. I know you can't always compare your situation to situations such as this but it puts things into perspective and makes you realise just how easy yo ...more

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Mar 05, 2018 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir, non-fiction, 조선

I've long been interested in North Korea - writing my undergraduate dissertation on female North Korean refugees and their treatment in China - so I always try to check out any new memoirs or non-fiction books on the country. I've previously read Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, This is Paradise!, Somewhere Inside: One Sister's Captivity in North Korea and the Other's Fight to Bring Her Home and parts of Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty ...more

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Dec 05, 2017 Staci rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2017

Tragic. That one word sums up this entire memoir.

I've read both Fiction and Non-Fiction books about North Korea which has provided me a pretty good background about what life is like there. What I didn't know until reading this memoir is nearly 80,000 Japanese moved to North Korea after WWII. They were told North Korea was a land of paradise. The author was born in Japan and moved to North Korea in 1960 when he was 13 years old. He lived there for 36 years. It is truly astounding that so many mo ...more

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Jul 08, 2018 Calzean rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: author-north-korea, culture-north-korea, culture-japan, biography-autobiography-memoir

I you think you have it tough go and read this book. The author is born in Japan to a Korean father and Japanese mother. In the early 60s his family happily accept the propaganda that life back in North Korea was a paradise. On their return reality was a life of poverty, corruption, ostracism, starvation, homelessness, unemployment and despair. After 38 years, the author escapes to China to find a country that will return escapees. Luckily some local Japanese government officials help him get ba ...more

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Jul 12, 2018 Dr Osama rated it liked it · review of another edition

يتناول الكتاب قصة واقعية لرجل يدعى ماساجي ايشيكاوا، ولد في اليابان لأم يابانية وأب كوري. أنتقل مع أسرته إلى كوريا الشمالية عام ١٩٦٠ وهو فتى وعاش هناك ستاً وثلاثين عاما في ظروف اقتصادية وسياسية صعبة. سنوات المعاناة كانت مليئة بالقهر والجوع والمرض والموت. نجح بعد ذلك في الهروب إلى الصين ومن ثم الوصول إلى مسقط رأسه اليابان. فهل يصل للراحة المنشودة والحياة السعيدة؟

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Nov 08, 2018 K. rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2018, audience-adult, biographies, diverse-author, oh-god-my-feels, own-it-kindle, non-fiction, poc-narrator, own-voices, setting-asia

Trigger warnings: domestic violence, violence, death of a parent, death of a child, starvation, brainwashing.

Wow. Like...woooooooow. I bought this book on a whim when it was a Kindle deal of the day earlier this year. And then I promptly put off reading it up until now. And I'm sorry I put it off for so long because this book was astonishing.

There've been quite a lot of biographies published recently about North Koreans escaping through China. This one was actually published back in 2000 in Jap ...more

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Jan 05, 2019 Helly rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A mortifying account of a man's escape from North Korea - that will leave you hollow inside. How little does man actually need, and how often even that is deprived.

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Sep 17, 2018 Jocelyn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018, non-fiction

I saw 'North Korea' on this memoir and had to read it. I don't think I even fully got through the synopsis and new I was going to read it in one sitting. There is a huge curiosity when thinking about the average person living in North Korea. What this man and his family went through was unbelievable. It's a real life horror story and if it doesnt give you the 'feels,' I dont know what will.

I'm giving this 5 stars because I am absolutely not qualified to review or rate this book. A true glimpse ...more

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Jan 28, 2018 Kasa Cotugno rated it really liked it

Shelves: genre-biography-memoir, loc-asia-korea, theme-out-of-the-fire

When I read Pachinko, the fictionalized account of a family's actual history, it opened my eyes to the lives of Korean nationals who found themselves in Japan and unable to return. Now here is a memoir of a man whose life has thus been defined, but whose situation was even more dire. Born in 1947 of a Korean father and Japanese mother, Masaji Ishikawa endured early life feeling an outcast. Believing the hype that Kim Jong-sung had created a "paradise on earth" promising jobs and prosperity, his ...more

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Dec 04, 2017 Beverly K rated it it was amazing

Oh god, that was the most depressing book I've read in a long time. There is literally no light at the end of the tunnel for Mr. Ishikawa. On the one hand, it was a fascinating and disturbing tale of life in North Korea. On the other hand...it was a dark and dreary tale of what happens in North Korea.

I think I need a break from reading for a bit now.

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