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I have read some true accounts of North Korean defectors as told by them (maybe with a bit of help, I don't truly know) however this book is written by an American journalist who lived some years in Korea for her job. And in doing so, interviewed hundreds of North Koreans and selected 6 of these stories to be told in this book.
The 6 stories are interwoven as follows chronologically from historical perspective (to follow on what was happening with the country). At the start of the book, the autho ...more
The 6 stories are interwoven as follows chronologically from historical perspective (to follow on what was happening with the country). At the start of the book, the autho ...more
As a person who freely admits her ignorance regarding North Korea, I found this book extremely interesting and informative. Demick interweaves large amounts of history, geography, politics, and culture while recounting several personal stories quite skillfully. There are small details from this book that will stay with me for a long time, like when a doctor successfully crosses the border into China, finds a bowl full of more meat and rice than she has eaten in years, then realizes it is meant f
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My favourite of the three North Korean defector books I've read (the other two being The Aquariums of Pyongyang and This is Paradise: My North Korean Childhood.) The stories of the famine are heartbreaking.
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Jul 12, 2012
Kathleen (itpdx)
rated it
really liked it
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review of another edition
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Engaging and fascinating. Demick gives us an inside view of North Korea. She has done extensive interviews with "defectors" or escapees from North Korea currently living in South Korea. She focuses in on those from the Chongin area in the far north, an area that Japanese developed during their long occupation. There is a family headed by a former South Korean soldier who was a prisoner of war, then a slave and was never returned by the North. There were families who returned from Japan and still
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A compelling account of the stories of six North Koreans who defected to South Korea. The author weaves together these stories into a narrative account that provides a very personal look at the totalitarian regime and the famine of the 1990s. I knew very little of the country's history before starting this book. The narrator for the unabridged audiobook version handled the Korean names reasonably well, and made the story engaging. The book did not provide much opportunity for the narrator to dem
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Jan 24, 2010
Kat (A Journey In Reading)
marked it as to-read
Jul 17, 2011
Jane
marked it as to-read
Dec 31, 2011
Athira (Reading on a Rainy Day)
marked it as to-read
Aug 28, 2012
Gaijinmama
marked it as to-read
Jan 17, 2013
Dana Arbelaez
marked it as to-read
Jul 19, 2013
mr. x
marked it as non-fiction
Feb 03, 2014
Celeste
marked it as to-read
Nov 19, 2014
Laurie
marked it as to-read
Jul 06, 2015
Lindsay
marked it as to-read
Mar 11, 2018
Sally
marked it as to-read
Oct 10, 2020
Claire Jefferies
marked it as to-read
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review of another edition
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