Reviews

The Hard Road Out by Jihyun Park, Seh-Lynn Chai

zhoupinguo's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

3.0

Jihyun Park's story of overcoming almost impossible odds is incredibly moving. Unfortunately, I don't think her story is told as well as it possible could have been. Her co-author inserts herself really unnessecarily into the story with some incredibly overly dramatic and cloying passages. And the book ends quite abrubtly, glossing over her journey through the Gobi dessert and her trials in getting to the UK. Still a book very worth reading, but bad execution of a great story keeps the book from being excellent.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Police brutality

anjacanread's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.75

snarkycrafter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

3.5

owenatkinson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative tense fast-paced

2.5

I felt the story was cut short in places. It's an invaluable resource on life in North Korea, but there are parts of the story I would like to have learnt more about. Overall, a little curt. I'm still glad I read it, and it was very gripping, but I can't say I loved it

benebene's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad

4.0

alexaamarok's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

creativerunnings's review against another edition

5.0

I'm always very captivated when it comes to accounts from North Korea. This memoir was no different. At first, I didn't particularly enjoy the interweaving of the translator's South Korean story - on first glance it seemed to be so much less "harrowing", which made me feel like it didn't belong. However, I thought about it more, and the trauma of the Korean separation doesn't just affect the North. And with that, I came to appreciate the South Korean commentary and perspective, also because most often, that kind of thing seems to be suppressed.

frankiloves's review against another edition

5.0

i think that everyone should give this book a read. it’s heartbreaking & full of hard truths from NK. I genuinely am so glad I read this when i did, and give a glimmer of hope to all who are going through a tough time. Truly the power of resilience!

ivassavi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

jnicely's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad slow-paced

5.0