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Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee--A Look Inside North Korea (2014)

by Jang Jin-Sung(Favorite Author)

4.34 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

147676655X (ISBN13: 9781476766553)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Atria / 37 Ink

review 1: Here's a new front runner for my Worst Place in the World to Live contest: North Korea. You probably don't think it's that bad, compared to Iraq, Somalia, or all the other starving, warring places we hear about on the news. But you probably don't know what it's really like living in a paranoid dictatorship where, except for the dictator's small inner circle, who are constantly sabotaging each other and jockeying for crumbs at the table, none of the other 20+ million people have nearly enough to eat, can enjoy no entertainment other than state-sanctioned propaganda, and live in constant fear of public execution for hoarding food or not praising the leader loudly enough. I only had a vague inkling about this until reading this author's compelling, outrageous tale of woe a... morend redemption.
review 2: I am always intrigued by books written by North Korean refugees. What makes this one different, however, is that the memoir is written by someone who was a member of the "elite". His story is tragic and a testament to the will to survive. Rarely does a book move me to near-tears, but the ending of this one sure did. If you are interested in human rights and/or North Korea, this is a memoir worth reading. less

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