I recently finished an interesting non fiction book . Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, by Barbara Demick. Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years. It was a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the unchallenged rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine that killed one-fifth of the population.
I read a good fiction book a few months ago The Orphan Masters Son written by Adam Johnson, and it peaked my interest. This book showed up on my Amazon page as a book that might interest me, due to my recent purchases. I am glad it did. I really liked this book.
The author interviewed the six people, once they made it to South Korea. There stories are amazing. The lives they led in North Korea are impossible to even imagine. The differences between the two Koreas is fascinating. It's like North Korea was left back in time after the Korean War.
The real people and their stories in this book really spoke to me. Their stories of courage and faith, in spite of the unbelievable adversity blew me away. The ability that these people had to persevere, survive and eventually escape the conditions that would break most people is amazing. The reality that these people lived, even before the famine and loss of electricity, makes "Big Brother" in the book 1984, by George Orwell, look like child's play.
It is amazing how the leaders in North Korea, the Workers Party, have been able to stay in control of the people as long as they have been, despite the horrendous conditions. It seems that the atmosphere of mistrust, (neighbors are expected to turn each other in, or face the punishment themselves) of not being able to trust your neighbors, or anyone for that matter, makes it impossible for the people to band together and rise up against the "Dear Leader."
The recent news from North Korea confirms that it is still a very scary place and the current leader appears to be just as as unstable as his father and grandfather. My heart goes out to the people that live in this country.
This type of book really makes me grateful that I was born an American.
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