Scan barcode
A review by julan1027
Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite by Suki Kim
5.0
Suki Kim spent 5 months teaching English to the sons of North Korea's most elite families. This is a memoir of her time there and experience with the students. Although her movements within the country are limited, she learns a good deal from what she can observe and the bits of information which her students occasionally reveal.
Kim is a very likable woman and the perfect guide to this strange land. She does an excellent job evoking the stark and desolate environment. Through vividly expressing her sense of temporary isolation, she helps to bring home the terror of life in North Korea. The reader feels her sense of hope and her sense of hopelessness and desperation. At times her writing is beautiful, but it always powerful.
This is not an uplifting book, in many ways it's a very frightening book, but it's an important book to help us understand a bit more about the DPRK. An excellent book.
I received this book as a first-reads goodreads giveaway.
Kim is a very likable woman and the perfect guide to this strange land. She does an excellent job evoking the stark and desolate environment. Through vividly expressing her sense of temporary isolation, she helps to bring home the terror of life in North Korea. The reader feels her sense of hope and her sense of hopelessness and desperation. At times her writing is beautiful, but it always powerful.
This is not an uplifting book, in many ways it's a very frightening book, but it's an important book to help us understand a bit more about the DPRK. An excellent book.
I received this book as a first-reads goodreads giveaway.