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Teresa's Reviews > Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
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It’s one thing to read dystopias like 1984 and theoretically visualize an authoritarian government; it’s another thing entirely to read of real people who actually live under totalitarian rule. If the reading of a classic like the former is perhaps a more powerful reading experience, this nonfiction work proves a more empathetic one.
Demick writes in an ‘easy� style, making this a work anyone can (and perhaps should) consume. The details of the rough lives of her six subjects and their resourcefulness in the face of utter hopelessness (and danger) are novelistic; the book is a page-turner. I became invested in these lives and wished I knew even more of them.
One of the defectors is a former university student, a voracious reader, and is given by Demick a copy of 1984. The young man is amazed that George Orwell understood so well North Korea’s “brand� of totalitarianism.
Demick writes in an ‘easy� style, making this a work anyone can (and perhaps should) consume. The details of the rough lives of her six subjects and their resourcefulness in the face of utter hopelessness (and danger) are novelistic; the book is a page-turner. I became invested in these lives and wished I knew even more of them.
One of the defectors is a former university student, a voracious reader, and is given by Demick a copy of 1984. The young man is amazed that George Orwell understood so well North Korea’s “brand� of totalitarianism.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
May 4, 2018
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Finished Reading
May 5, 2018
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Fionnuala
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May 05, 2018 01:49PM
That cover image matches living in a totalitarian state brilliantly, Teresa. It is overbearingly bleak.
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Fionnuala wrote: "That cover image matches living in a totalitarian state brilliantly, Teresa. It is overbearingly bleak."Color seems to be seeped out of everything in their lives. The author is brilliant at showing that.
Diane wrote: "Nice review, Teresa!"Thanks so much. Diane!
Well stated, Teresa. I bought into these courageous defectors� lives too. That the author lived in Seoul for so many years and spread her interviews out over that time really gave us a full series of pictures, not just a single snapshot of each person’s life. Nice review.
LeAnne wrote: "Well stated, Teresa. I bought into these courageous defectors� lives too. That the author lived in Seoul for so many years and spread her interviews out over that time really gave us a full series ..."Thank you, LeAnne. Demick did an amazing job -- as she said in the notes somewhere she's "obsessed" with NK and she had to have been to have such dedication.
I found this book to be fascinating. Good review!
Tina wrote: "I found this book to be fascinating. Good review!"It sure was. Thanks, Tina!
Nice review, Teresa. I hope and pray that I never have to experience anything like this. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be one of the brave ones. And I truly pity anyone who has to live a life of fear.
Kathleen wrote: "Nice review, Teresa. I hope and pray that I never have to experience anything like this. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be one of the brave ones. And I truly pity anyone who has to live a life of fear."Thanks, Kathleen. That's how I felt reading this book -- I doubt I would've been one of the survivors.
It's awful that such horrors exist now, for real, but I think you're right about the importance of reading about them, not just fictional dystopias. I read Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West a couple of years ago. Equally powerful.
Cecily wrote: "It's awful that such horrors exist now, for real, but I think you're right about the importance of reading about them, not just fictional dystopias. I read [book:Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Rema..."Thanks, Cecily. I see that I read and liked your review of that book, likely from when you first posted it. I'll reread your review with new eyes now that I've read this.
The government only allows cheery images to be released, if any at all. It doesn’t take a lot of figuring out to know that what we’re shown is bs. It appears from your review that we are given at least a peak at what North Korean lives are really like. As you said, you wish you could’ve learned more about them. Thanks for your insights.
Lee wrote: "The government only allows cheery images to be released, if any at all. It doesn’t take a lot of figuring out to know that what we’re shown is bs. It appears from your review that we are given at l..."This book is the accounts of NK defectors, though the writer tried her best to verify what they said by comparing their stories against each other as she concentrated on a particular region at a particular time. As you say, it's impossible to verify anything coming out of NK itself. Thanks, Lee.
Teresa wrote: "As you say, it's impossible to verify anything coming out of NK itself...."That's very true of the book I mentioned as well.
Cecily wrote: "Teresa wrote: "That's very true of the book I mentioned as well."One of the defectors in this book reminds me of Shin Dong-hyuk. The young man in this book, though not born in a labor camp, spent time in one and seemed 'stunted' by that experience -- and by experiences that came beforehand: in an orphanage where his father had brought him after his mother's death and afterward living on the streets. The writer could not verify his prison experience and I believe some of it seemed contradictory to her but she believed he was telling the truth in the main.
Teresa wrote: "The writer could not verify his prison experience and I believe some of it seemed contradictory to her but she believed he was telling the truth in the main."That sounds similar. Given the relentless suffering, people are bound to be damaged, and that may include faulty memory, or even (though I hate to say it) manipulative fabrication. But the gist is horrific.
