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A review by rachel_abby_reads
The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee, David John
4.0
"The Kims rule by making everyone complicit in a brutal system, implicating all, from the highest to the lowest, blurring morals so that no one is blameless. A terrorized Party cadre will terrorize his subordinates, and so on down the chain; a friend will inform on a friend out of fear of punishment for not informing. A nicely brought-up boy will become a guard who kicks to death a girl caught trying to escape to China. . . Ordinary people are made persecutors, denouncers, thieves. They use the fear flowing from the top to win some advantage, or to survive."
This book is exactly what the title says: a North Korea defector's story. Her journey, and her struggle to bring her mother and brother out of North Korea as well. She encounters corruption, evil, bondage as well as kindness, generosity, and love.
The irony is that she didn't leave North Korea for the animating quest for freedom. It started by accident. She snuck out, a lark before she turned 18 and a prank became a crime with heavy consequences. But after a month out, as she's guiltily preparing to return home, her mother calls to say "Don't come back. We're in trouble."
Hyeonseo Lee has an amazing story to tell about her time as an illegal immigrant in China, her efforts to get to South Korea to seek political asylum, and the final push to bring her mother and brother to South Korea. As you read, you can't help but see that there was truly some divine intervention in her journey. So many times, it could have ended so badly.
This book is exactly what the title says: a North Korea defector's story. Her journey, and her struggle to bring her mother and brother out of North Korea as well. She encounters corruption, evil, bondage as well as kindness, generosity, and love.
The irony is that she didn't leave North Korea for the animating quest for freedom. It started by accident. She snuck out, a lark before she turned 18 and a prank became a crime with heavy consequences. But after a month out, as she's guiltily preparing to return home, her mother calls to say "Don't come back. We're in trouble."
Hyeonseo Lee has an amazing story to tell about her time as an illegal immigrant in China, her efforts to get to South Korea to seek political asylum, and the final push to bring her mother and brother to South Korea. As you read, you can't help but see that there was truly some divine intervention in her journey. So many times, it could have ended so badly.