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Światu nie mamy czego zazdrościć. Zwyczajne losy mieszkańców Korei Północnej by Barbara Demick
estheresr's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Interesting and informative, written by an American reporter and based on interviews with North Korean defectors, it offers insight into the lives of ordinary people in North Korea. It has a distinctive American perspective, which has both advantages and disadvantages for American readers, and also touches on some of the issues of reintegration faced by defectors
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
joytianyi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.75
very informative read, it reads almost like a dystopian YA novel but then you realize this is real and actual humans are experiencing this magnitude of suffering and loss and suddenly you need to reflect on the mechanisms of society and our international relations. also it’s almost 20 years old now so i would love to read more on what’s happened since. worth a read!
sammibreads's review against another edition
4.0
Finished on the couch.
Hard to read at times but a really fantastic book. Focussing on real people’s stories and using them to showcase the experience of being in North Korea was well done. Would recommend.
Hard to read at times but a really fantastic book. Focussing on real people’s stories and using them to showcase the experience of being in North Korea was well done. Would recommend.
pboutin75's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
bellawoo's review against another edition
4.0
This would be 5 stars if I could imagine myself reading this again, but cultural non-fiction and commentary are rarely re-reads.
This book cobbles together the stories of six North Korean defectors, all of whom are neither the preferred elite class in Pyongyang nor the lowest of the low. They are in various strata of the population's core, all leading ordinary lives in North Korea. (Very accurate title for this book.) I understand so much more about why North Korea is the way that it is; it makes no predictions about the future nor does it make judgements about North Korean regime's political or economic decisions.
One of the true standout profiles are those of Mi-ran and Jun-sang, two youthful lovers. Though they lead separate lives and their story is told to Demick post-defection, I found myself cheering for both of them to make it out and be reunited. It is a rare skill for a non-fiction author to accurately retell someone else's story gripping enough to be believed as fiction.
Truly worth a read.
This book cobbles together the stories of six North Korean defectors, all of whom are neither the preferred elite class in Pyongyang nor the lowest of the low. They are in various strata of the population's core, all leading ordinary lives in North Korea. (Very accurate title for this book.) I understand so much more about why North Korea is the way that it is; it makes no predictions about the future nor does it make judgements about North Korean regime's political or economic decisions.
One of the true standout profiles are those of Mi-ran and Jun-sang, two youthful lovers. Though they lead separate lives and their story is told to Demick post-defection, I found myself cheering for both of them to make it out and be reunited. It is a rare skill for a non-fiction author to accurately retell someone else's story gripping enough to be believed as fiction.
Truly worth a read.