How I Became a North Korean Summary
“How I became a North Korean” by Krys Lee, the reason I pick up this book is because I am totally attracted by the title. I am very curious and interested in reading any books related to North Korean. This book is absolutely captivating and eye-opening read for me. I have to say that any books or articles related to North Korea are painful, no exceptions for this one either.
At first I was little bit confused by the author’s writing style. After reading a few chapters, I thought it’s a short story book with different characters in it, until later on after reading more chapters, I noticed that this book is following three different characters from different cultures, backgrounds, social classes and life experiences. Until all three characters’ stories got merged, at that point the book became very interesting.
Brief Summary of the Book
One character is Daehan (Danny), a teenage from North California. He is a North Korean origin with Chinese passport whose family has moved to North California after living in China. After an incident is happened in School, his dad is sending him back to china for a visit to his mom who has moved back there for her missionary work. When he comes back to China, he has found his mom’s secret out accidentally. This incident makes him to escape from his family, winds up with teenage from North Korean refugees and becomes committed to help them out.
Another Character is Yongju, a North Korean college student from Pyongyang whose parents hold high position under the Great General. But something his Dad did made Kim angry and killed his dad. Yongju, his mom, and his sister flee to China. China is just another hell from North Korea. They find North Koreans are often abused and turned into slaves in China. No one cares at all.
The third character is Jangmi, a small village pregnant North Korean woman who lives so poorly and never has enough food in North Korea flees to China. As a woman, she has even worse experience ever in China. I don’t want to be the story spoiler, and I will stop right here.
What You can Learn from the Book
Even I knew North Korean’s living condition from medias and from some people who knew the inside stories, but still this book was an eye-opener for me to think more about the world as a whole rather than as countries. People in North Korea are human beings too, they deserve to live in a better life and to be treated as equal as everyone else. At the same time, the story makes me to appreciate more about our day to day life in USA.
I loves the language used in this book. Krys Lee is using very beautiful and insightful ways to describe the world. I really appreciate her writing style and the way she uses the words. This is a very worth reading book for everyone!
Let me know what you think about this book, please leave comments below.
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