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The Orphan Master's Son

Adam Johnson

Start date: February 15, 2022

Finish date: March 15, 2022

Discussion: Group Reads Discussions

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By Diane , Armchair Tour Guide · 3 posts · 1370 views

last updated Jan 18, 2013 07:12PM

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last updated Sep 16, 2025 07:57PM

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What Members Thought

May 06, 2013 Kathie rated it really liked it

Although the New York Times called Adam Johnson's book "The Orphan Master's Son", "exceedingly readable", it is not for every reader. The novel tells the story of Pak Jun Do's life of hardship, pain and endurance. The torture, casual violence and miserable living conditions described made for a thought-provoking, frightening, horrifying and sometimes very funny story.

The book won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The Pultizer committee said the book is "an exquisitely crafted novel that carr ...more

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Nov 23, 2016 Devin Murphy rated it it was amazing

this book engrossed me from start to finish. I loved being so close to this shuttered off country of North Korea, and the extreme access this novel offers. This is one of the most profound and interesting novels I have read in a long time. I highly recommend it as a novel, and tour guide to a hidden part of the world.

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May 16, 2016 Lara rated it it was amazing

Entirely strange and unique. Different from A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and Darkness at Noon which focus on the prison state, this book shows totalitarianism and what it takes to survive it across every level of society.

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Jan 25, 2013 Sunflower rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction-read-2013, e-books

I finished this book over two weeks ago and I just don't know what to say about it. It is amazing, confusing,interesting and genre-defying. Part of the problem is that I know nothing- literally nothing- about North Korea, so have no idea how much of this is likely to be real and how much isn't. This book will force me to do something about that and find out. Which is enough reason to read it. ...more

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