From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
Ah jeeze. I know it's not cool to write about the book you wish the author had written, but man, I wish I had read a nonfiction book about contemporary life in North Korea instead. Does anyone have any good recommendations for a book like that??
That said, Adam Johnson has traveled in North Korea and has a lot of very vivid details about the surreal, Catch-22-y dystopia that is North Korea. (I kept doing Google fact checks because I wanted to see if weird shit in here was true or not. I KNOW I'M ...more
That said, Adam Johnson has traveled in North Korea and has a lot of very vivid details about the surreal, Catch-22-y dystopia that is North Korea. (I kept doing Google fact checks because I wanted to see if weird shit in here was true or not. I KNOW I'M ...more
This was a hard book to read due to the violent nature of sections of it, and I couldn't figure out why it has won so many awards until the second half when I could NOT PUT IT DOWN. This will definitely stick with me.
...more
A great novel but it gave me nightmares. It has alot of violence.
Wow! It is mind boggling to imagine a world even remotely like this exists in the current world. But apparently it does. Obviously this is fiction and it was a little 1984-esque at times but it definitely got me interested in the world of North Korea. I would like to read some first hand accounts from defectors to see how accurate Johnson's depiction really was.
...more
I get why this won the Pulitzer, but for me, it didn't quite do it. It was long and I felt the writing style to be a little disengaging. However, the story beneath the propaganda and style was dark and compelling. I wouldn't mind having someone to discuss this with...it's that kind of book.
...more
Just couldn't finish it all the way. It's so slow and the "hero" keeps getting in these ridiculous situations. I might try to finish it some other time but not now.
Suggested by Gabby Lindsey ...more
Suggested by Gabby Lindsey ...more
I became somewhat infatuated with this book. Eye opening, and I fell so hard for our hero. Awful... but lovely.
This book was stranger than Murakami and Saunders put together. North Korea seems truly weird.
Dec 20, 2012
Nadine
marked it as to-read
Apr 15, 2013
Julie
marked it as to-read
May 23, 2013
Loretta
marked it as to-read
Dec 30, 2013
Heather
marked it as to-read
Apr 05, 2014
Rachel
marked it as to-read
Mar 18, 2015
Kim Marques
marked it as to-read
Jul 20, 2015
Sarah
marked it as to-read
Aug 17, 2015
Meredith
marked it as to-read
Oct 27, 2015
Jen Wheeler
marked it as to-read
Dec 17, 2015
Samantha Storey
marked it as to-read
Feb 06, 2016
Aimee
marked it as to-read
