Reviews

4/5 stars!

It was interesting to learn about North Korean culture and finding out that I know nothing about how North Korea works and reading this was a learning experience. It really shows how North Korea is and doesn't hold back on the intrinsic fear and policing that the people of the country go through.

My biggest thing that kept me from giving it a full 5/5 was that some of the stories were really hard to get into and I found myself just skimming or having to go back and reread passages to make sure I understood everything.

marlenemo's review against another edition

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dark informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

siobhanward's review

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emotional medium-paced

4.0

This was a solid read and was still enjoyable even though I have almost no context about North Korea, apart from a very basic knowledge. The stories were short but good and there were none that stood out as particularly weak, which is rare in a short story collection. I'm choosing to believe that this is what it says it is and is actually a collection of stories that were written in and then smuggled out of North Korea, but some of it seems too perfect. But that's an aside.

lottie1803's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

mc7606's review

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2.5

It was smuggled out of NK, but i simply couldn't care less about these stories.

neverbird2409's review

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4.0

A lovely collection if short stories that manage to bring out a whole range of human emotions without any explicit violence. A must read.

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