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Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

Barbara Demick

Start date: October 31, 2020

Finish date: December 1, 2020

Discussion: Group Reads Discussions

Why we're reading this: October 2020 selection for Migration Theme
[close] October 2020 selection for Migration Theme

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By Diane , Armchair Tour Guide · 3 posts · 1373 views

last updated Jan 18, 2013 07:12PM

Thank you for the Amazing Reviews!
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last updated May 14, 2025 08:13AM

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What Members Thought

Jul 20, 2011 Sera rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: library, non-fiction, audio

I give this book 5 stars, not because I loved it, but instead, because it's an important piece of non-fiction that should be mandatory reading for all. Journalist, Barbara Demick, weaves together a gripping, albeit depressing, account of six North Koreans who defected from their homeland. Each gives a first-hand account of what it was like to live in North Korea and why they left. Interestingly, each defector was a staunch advocate of the North Korean government. However, once the great famine o ...more

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Jan 27, 2019 Kimberly rated it it was amazing

Shelves: land-of-the-morning-calm-the-two

This book was very readable and it was a great introduction to North Korean history and culture. It has a personal feel since it is structured around the stories of a number of North Korea defectors. This book helped shape my understanding of the lives of ordinary North Koreans, although it does not cover much about North Korea after the death of Kim Jong-Il.

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Feb 28, 2020 Jen Pratt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Nothing to Envy is a true, fascinating and tragic compilation of several different people’s experiences growing up in North Korea. The author does an amazing job of integrating all of the stories into a coherent chronology. She alternates between story of one person and the many different reactions and experiences of one larger event, like how they all reacted to the great leader’s death.
Communism and the leadership had such an incredible hold over its citizens that they were not able to make h ...more

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