Scan barcode
A review by elizabacelar
In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom by Maryanne Vollers, Yeonmi Park
5.0
This history transformed so many parts within me and moved me so deeply that it really is very hard to describe my thoughts on this book. I happen to have read this book after I did George Orwell's 1984 and I would actually recommend that too. When reading 1984, I couldn't believe a human mind could imagine and conceive those notions and put them into paper in such a way it can actually be mentally disturbing to the reader and so intensely vivid when describing the horrors of torturing a person physically and mentally, not to mention the mechanisms of brainwashing a society through all means, including and definitely not least by controlling the language, as therefore, the ability to communicate, think or even understand basic concepts such as friendship, love, science, evolution, grief, and ultimately right, wrong and justice. I was shocked and mentally disturbed on some levels for a few days later after I was done reading 1984, even considering that my ignorant self thought that it was all fiction. I could not believe the words I was listening to on this audiobook from Yeonmi Park, when I learned that 1984 was not only real in North Korea, but 100 times WORST in real life.
This book is a piece of art, beautifully written albeit an intense and excruciating eye-opener of such a tragedy that happens daily with so many people's lives, without their consent and absolutely without their fault. It made me feel grateful in a way I had never felt before, but also weak, powerless, and enraged by the disgusting acts the human race is capable of inflicting on itself. There is no doubt Yeonmi Park is one of the strongest people in our generation, and I wish her voice to be as strong as her resilience, and to break through and make an even bigger difference in the world every day. She's one of the main reasons why I'm getting more and more concerned with humanity and want to make whatever I can to help and make a difference in people's lives, especially those in need.
This book was absolutely a catalyst to help me be a better human, and for that I thank Yeonmi.
This book is a piece of art, beautifully written albeit an intense and excruciating eye-opener of such a tragedy that happens daily with so many people's lives, without their consent and absolutely without their fault. It made me feel grateful in a way I had never felt before, but also weak, powerless, and enraged by the disgusting acts the human race is capable of inflicting on itself. There is no doubt Yeonmi Park is one of the strongest people in our generation, and I wish her voice to be as strong as her resilience, and to break through and make an even bigger difference in the world every day. She's one of the main reasons why I'm getting more and more concerned with humanity and want to make whatever I can to help and make a difference in people's lives, especially those in need.
This book was absolutely a catalyst to help me be a better human, and for that I thank Yeonmi.