A review by internationalkris
The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

4.0

The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson has naturally been on my radar since winning the Pulitzer last year, though I had my doubts as the author hales solidly from the US (Arizona by way of South Dakota). I lived in South Korea for 4 years and have read some great non-fiction about the North such as Barbara Demick’s Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives of North Koreas. Consequently, as I opened the book that is what I was searching for – insight into North Korea; the truth of the hermit kingdom. With Orphan Master you get that, but in the way that all good fiction brings it; through metaphor and mood, and visceral scenes. North Korea itself was definitely the primary character in the book for me but almost equal was the wonderful Jun Do – maybe an orphan, maybe a favorite of his fatherland, maybe just a puppet of the gods. So much more of a hero to me than Winston Smith of 1984 (I definitely agree with others that this is an apt comparison), I was proud of every move that Jun Do chose through this story and was rooting for him all the way. This was a book that kept me up at night considering the layers of meaning that could be found in the title, the levels of sacrifice and loyalty that were shown by a former neglected child, the depth of inhumanity portrayed in the book that we know is owned by all us as part of the human psyche. What a vision, what a mirror, what a fabulous adventure it was.