A Goodreads user asked Suki Kim:

What’s the aftermath of publishing a memoir, stories of you in real life, as a writer who used to, and is likely to continue to write fiction? Especially with this book being so popular, do you have any concerns that readers from now on will constantly symbolize you as certain subjects that were prominent in ? How are you taking all these responses you’re getting from the world?

Suki Kim Certainly, there is that concern in the immediate aftermath of publishing a book. You feel restricted and trapped by the expectations, not so much from the readers but from yourself. You are so used to thinking about that one topic that it is difficult to imagine thinking about anything else with an equal level of passion and devotion. Not all writers are like this, but I am. It's not the best characteristic for a writer who must produce books with frequency and regularity, but that is the way it is for me. I am insanely loyal, and I find it nearly impossible to move on. But then, to a degree, the subject only shields what lies beneath. What makes me obsessed enough to write an entire book has that same hollowness and violation of alienation and blurred boundaries. So I keep on. It's a step by step. The first step is to feel connected enough with myself to write a book again, and the next step is to become excited about it and fall in love with the new world.

As for the response from the world, I am only grateful for the emotional connection that my readers seem to have made with the characters -- the North Korean boys who are actual human beings living currently inside that horror. And I remain hopeful that the book will continue to have its life, and do what great books are supposed to do -- to move people and make the world better in some invisible and miraculous way.

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