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While I don't believe Demick to be a good writer (ideas were scattered all over the place), I was fascinated learning about what life was like in North Korea.
Here are some of the facts I learned:
~WHY North Korea's economy failed — mostly due to the Soviet Union's collapse in the early 1990's, and their losing interest in supporting communistic North Korea (especially when North Korea failed to pay their debts to Russia).
~How North Korea actually had a higher standard of living than South Korea h ...more
Here are some of the facts I learned:
~WHY North Korea's economy failed — mostly due to the Soviet Union's collapse in the early 1990's, and their losing interest in supporting communistic North Korea (especially when North Korea failed to pay their debts to Russia).
~How North Korea actually had a higher standard of living than South Korea h ...more
Jun 14, 2021
Kemlo
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
nonfiction,
library-kindle-edition-available
If you’ve ever wondered how people come to believe wholeheartedly in absurd propaganda, or what makes it so damn hard to get away from a repressive dictatorship (mentally or physically), this book is eye opening. The combination of real-life personal stories with historical facts and journalistic reporting kept me hooked. What made this book especially memorable for me was the way it shows people who could easily be me or people I know: we see them falling in love, trying to please their parents
...more
Even before I completed this book, I started to being grateful even at the simplest dish I could eat. Simply because this book opened a devastating fact that there are millions of North Korean who had difficulties even to find food to survive the day. I wish I could one day work for North Korean refugees..
just fascinating to learn about all the suffering un this closed nation.
I got curious about the lives of North Koreans from reading The Orphan Master's Son and with all the news around The Interview. This book totally delivers. You get a pretty wide panorama of lives: a doctor, a teacher, a housewife, a street kid who all share lives of deprivation and hardship that is almost beyond imagination for us in the west.
...more
Oct 04, 2011
Anna
marked it as to-read
Jan 12, 2012
Nanosynergy
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May 10, 2012
MichelleCH
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Sep 11, 2013
Suzanne
marked it as to-read
May 12, 2014
Keith Bado
marked it as to-read
Sep 27, 2014
Laura
added it
Nov 25, 2014
Steve Anderson
marked it as to-read
Nov 29, 2014
Stephanie Bengtson
marked it as to-read
Dec 21, 2015
Amy
marked it as to-read
May 05, 2016
Sarah
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
around-the-world-in-80-books,
uno-2016
Dec 25, 2016
Liz
marked it as to-read
Jun 21, 2017
Terri
marked it as vaca-home-library
Shelves:
awards-nom-national-book,
north-korea-history
Dec 06, 2017
Stacy
marked it as to-read
Nov 07, 2022
Lori
rated it
liked it
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review of another edition
Shelves:
audiobook,
reading-the-world
