Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

För att kunna leva: en nordkoreansk flickas resa till frihet by Maryanne Vollers, Yeonmi Park

84 reviews

underthetreereads's review against another edition

dark informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

“In the free world, children dream about what they want to be when they grow up and how they can use their talents. When I was four and five years old, my only adult ambition was to buy as much bread as I liked and eat all of it.”

In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom by Yeonmi Park is a brutally eye opening memoir of human brutality and kindness. Yeonmi tells her story suffering under the North Korean regime, escaping to China only to be sold into human trafficking, and then finally making her way to freedom. Something I think was very unique (and yet not at all for so many) was her eventual understanding that even when she made it to South Korea, she still wasn’t free until she allowed herself to be free.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Abortion and Death of parent

booktalkswithregina's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

I always have a hard time rating memoirs. How to rate someone's life.
This is a story of overcoming the cruellest conditions. 
A story of survival and loss. Incredible pain and suffering, but also resilience and strength. I already knew a lot about North Korea, but this book still shocked me. Very hard to read and comprehend even.
After finishing, I was left amazed by the human capacity to overcome anything and everything.4

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Death of parent

Moderate: Torture

kirstenpod_'s review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Cancer and Terminal illness

Minor: Alcoholism and Genocide

sofiarf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

ajsterkel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

I didn't like it, which is a terrible thing to say because it's a memoir. I feel like I'm judging somebody's life. Maybe this is why I don't read more nonfiction.

The author was born in North Korea and didn't have an easy childhood. When she was 13, her and her mother escaped into China and became victims of human trafficking. They jumped from one bad situation into an equally bad situation. It's a brutal story to read.

Aside from the difficult subject matter, most of the book is fine. The writing isn't great, but I can forgive it because the author doesn't have the same education level as other writers.

I think the pacing is too fast. I kept wishing the author would slow down and give more details. I wondered how she learned Mandarin faster than the other kidnapped refugees, and why she was so valuable to human traffickers that they were willing to "go to war" for her, and why her mother allowed a 13-year-old to make so many important decisions for the family. I wanted more information!

Then, a paragraph at the end of the book slightly ruined everything for me. The author admits that her story has changed multiple times. She gave different accounts to different journalists. Instead of telling the truth, she told reporters what she thought they wanted to hear. She says, "I was reacting, improvising like a jazz musician playing the same melody a little differently each time, unaware that there might be people out there keeping score."

My brain went in two directions with this. First, I said, "She obviously lived through something traumatizing. Of course she's not going to spill her secrets to every reporter who asks a question." The second part of me went, "Nooo! North Korea is a vault wrapped in propaganda. Changing your story will muddy the waters and cast doubt on the stories of other refugees." The North Korean government is going to grab these inconsistencies and use them to discredit survivors and keep people trapped.

I don't know what to think about this book. I'm not mad that I read it, but I can't recommend it to other people. I lost trust in the author. How do I know I'm reading the real story right now? Does it even matter if I'm reading the real story? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Abandonment, Colonisation, Classism, and Deportation

ernie_8's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Cancer and Confinement

Minor: Alcoholism and Abortion

graff_fuller's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.25

Do we ever really know why we pick up a book...and start reading it? Was it the cover? Was it the topic? Or could it be that we desire to know the story being told is going to TOUCH us...change the way we feel about [whatever the subject is]. 

I love biographies, but autobiographies are even better. "Straight from the horse's mouth", as they say.

The traumatic escape of Yeon-mi Park from N. Korea, to China, to Mongolia, to S. Korea, onward...to where she now lives in America.

The peak behind the curtain of what is actually going on in N. Korea is amazing (in a bad way). Also, to read about the propaganda machine that is at work in N. Korea...for 70+ years, so that not even S. Koreans know HOW different these two cultures are now.

To hear about empathy and love being devoid in the average N. Korean. Seeing public executions and dead people in the streets...as normal events. Being sold into slavery and prostitution, just to survive and escape...for slavery and prostitution are one thing, but HUNGER is worse. Anything, just to eat food.

None of us in the US can understand these things, which I'm glad for, but we need to educate ourselves. We do not agree with the leadership of N. Korea, but the people of N. Korea are enslaved, themselves to this dynasty and deserve our pity. The need to help other escape this hell hole...as Yeon-mi says, it is the DARKEST place on the earth. If you look at satellite photos of the area...there are very few lights, compared to the bordering countries...it looks like a black hole swallowed the entire country. Shortages of electricity, food, are necessities normal...and this is how the leadership keeps the people in check.

You really have to read it in her own words. She escaped when she was 13, but it wasn't until years later that she truly had freedom from the oppression that ALL people of N. Korea accept as NORMAL.

Share this story to your friends and family. It is a VERY sad tale, but she's come out of it, scars and all...and is trying to shine a light on N. Korea...so the world will come to its (the enslaved people who live in this country, under THIS regime) rescue.

I'm so happy that I picked this book up and read her story. There will be images that I won't be able to get out of my head, but maybe this will help people to help these downtrodden people.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, and Deportation

nidhimoney's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Trafficking, Grief, War, and Classism

deluna's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

nookatdusk's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Death of parent