PDF Ebook Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
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Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
PDF Ebook Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
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From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. A fascinating and deeply personal look at the lives of six defectors from the repressive totalitarian regime of the Republic of North Korea, in which Demick, an L.A. Times staffer and former Seoul bureau chief, draws out details of daily life that would not otherwise be known to Western eyes because of the near-complete media censorship north of the arbitrary border drawn after Japan's surrender ending WWII. As she reveals, ordinary life in North Korea by the 1990s became a parade of horrors, where famine killed millions, manufacturing and trade virtually ceased, salaries went unpaid, medical care failed, and people became accustomed to stepping over dead bodies lying in the streets. Her terrifying depiction of North Korea from the night sky, where the entire area is blacked out from failure of the electrical grid, contrasts vividly with the propaganda on the ground below urging the country's worker-citizens to believe that they are the envy of the world. Thorough interviews recall the tremendous difficulty of daily life under the regime, as these six characters reveal the emotional and cultural turmoil that finally caused each to make the dangerous choice to leave. As Demick weaves their stories together with the hidden history of the country's descent into chaos, she skillfully re-creates these captivating and moving personal journeys. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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From Booklist
*Starred Review* In spite of the strict restrictions on foreign press, award-winning journalist Demick caught telling glimpses of just how surreal and mournful life is in North Korea. Her chilling impressions of a dreary, muffled, and depleted land are juxtaposed with a uniquely to-the-point history of how North Korea became an industrialized Communist nation supported by the Soviet Union and China and ruled by Kim Il Sung, then collapsed catastrophically into poverty, darkness, and starvation under the dictator’s son, Kim Jong Il. Demick’s bracing chronicle of the horrific consequences of decades of brutality provide the context for the wrenching life stories of North Korean defectors who confided in Demick. Mi-ran explains that even though her “tainted blood†(her father was a South Korean POW) kept her apart from the man she loved, she managed to become a teacher, only to watch her starving students waste away. Dr. Kim Ki-eum could do nothing to help her dying patients. Mrs. Song, a model citizen, was finally forced to face cruel facts. Strongly written and gracefully structured, Demick’s potent blend of personal narratives and piercing journalism vividly and evocatively portrays courageous individuals and a tyrannized state within a saga of unfathomable suffering punctuated by faint glimmers of hope. --Donna Seaman
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Product details
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau; 1 edition (December 29, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780385523905
ISBN-13: 978-0385523905
ASIN: 0385523904
Product Dimensions:
6.3 x 1.1 x 9.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.7 out of 5 stars
1,724 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#64,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
This book has a different format compared to many North Korea books. In this book, the author starts with telling the story of the lives of several North Koreans in various walks of life. Of course, we know from the beginning, that regardless of how unlikely it seems, at some point all of these people are going to escape North Korea in order to be able to tell their story. We learn the story of how these individuals grew up and lived in North Korea, their thoughts about their government and now Eternal Leader Kim, how they lived through the starvation years of the 90's, and the long road leading to why they decided to defect (or in 1 case, was tricked by a family member into defection, and how they finally were able to defect to South Korea. We learn what happened to some of their family members left behind, about their attempts to rescue family members trapped in North Korea (some successful and some not), and the sometimes harsh adjustment to the freedom and capitalism of South Korea. The author details the difficulty and perils involved for North Koreans to defect and safely make it sanctity in South Korea. We learn about a young man left an orphan whose father had been Party member, a pediatrician whose greatest dream was to be allowed to join the Party, a housewife with 2 young children and an abusive husband, a young woman and her "forbidden" boyfriend, a factory worker who had absolute loyalty to the regime, and several more. The stories are poignant and heartwarming, showing vividly the humanity of people trapped in North Korea. This book also covers the operation of the government and its regimentation over people's lives from a historical viewpoint, how this all changed (slightly for the better) during the starvation years of the 90's, and the newer changes (for the worse) under Kim Jong-un. Also covered are the issues and problems involved as former North Koreans adjust to a life of capitalism and freedom in South Korea. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to go beyond the history of and current living situation in North Korea, to hear the stories of real people surviving in and then escaping from North Korea.
When Kim Jung-il died, I remember seeing a photo of a young woman dressed in black and sobbing. I though, “Why is she crying? I’d be opening a bottle of wine to celebrate!â€But I’m an American, I have no idea what it’s like to be afraid to criticize politicians. In truth, I don’t think anyone who hasn’t lived under the Kims could know how disparaging it is. It’s ‘1984’ come true in all the worst ways.The news covers a regime, a country and the mad man who runs it. We hear of nuke testing, missle launches and sancuntions. But we don’t hear about the mothers trying to care for their families, the homeless, starving children or the men who are forced to work for no pay. This book is an eye opener. It focusing on those who really matter and it’s not the Kims, it’s the people who are trapped in his hell.At the end of the day, I get to put down the book and return to my life. There is nothing that can be done to reach those who are suffering. But I’d like to think that just knowing that they are suffering helps in some small way. I am certainly more grateful for everything in my life.
Great insight into other permeating governmental systems and how they shape everyday life. Some of the daily rituals seen in other countries--especially truly dictatorial countries--seem so foreign as to be absurd to those of us who grew up and live differently. Placing these foreign rituals squarely back into the philosophical basis from which they come only serves to make those philosophical premises absurd. And indeed--declaring human nature "wrong" and seeking to "correct" it through governmental force is, unfortunately, a historical travesty performed over and over again, continuing to expect different results "this time". Those who, when pointed towards communist failures, continue to maintain "but that wasn't REAL communism" only show they have no understanding of philosophic ideals made manifest, and that when the (now predictable) results are horrifying instead of Nirvana, prove the error of the philosophical premise.This story is well researched, well told, and fleshed out so that we come to know the people involved. We share their fears and struggles, though their daily lives, shaped by specific legalities, is different than our own. We see them as human beings, regardless of the governmental system they happened to have been born into, or even subscribed to.Now that several books are coming out about daily life in North Korea (mass starvation and collapse has made defection easier, though by no means easy) we have, not only information about a secretive and totalitarian country, but more points of reference for what human dignity is NOT, and can and should be.
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