To share.

An extraordinary insight into life under one of the world’s most ruthless and secretive dictatorships – and the story of one woman’s terrifying struggle to avoid capture/repatriation and guide her family to freedom.

As a child growing up in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee was one of millions trapped by a secretive and brutal communist regime. Her home on the border with China gave her some exposure to the world beyond the confines of the Hermit Kingdom and, as the famine of the 1990s struck, she began to wonder, question and to realise that she had been brainwashed her entire life. Given the repression, poverty and starvation she witnessed surely her country could not be, as she had been told “the best on the planet”?

Aged seventeen, she decided to escape North Korea. She could not have imagined that it would be twelve years before she was reunited with her family.

Released in my Far East bookbox.

This book looks very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

I very much enjoyed Lee's memoir, of her childhood in North Korea, and her subsequent exile in China and South Korea. I don't quite know if "escape" is the right word though. It feels more like she as a teenager wanted to explore and see the world a bit and somehow found out that it was too dangerous to go home, instead of having a clear mind to escape something bad. On the other hand, being brain washed into thinking that she lived in a great country and with nothing to compare to, she won't have known or thought of escaping to a better place.

I really admire her for being so resourceful, determined, clever and strong.

One really funny moment - one day her mom called excitedly, "I've got a few kilos of ice" and wondered if Lee had connections in China to sell it. I laughed out loud at that. A mother turning her daughter into a drug dealer!! But then, in a country where owning a k-pop CD is illegal, wearing pants is an offense, and a speck of dust on Kim's portrait can get you in trouble, well, I guess the rules and standards are a bit different.

This book gives us a glimpse of the hardship inside North Korea. Now I know Trump is not the worst. LOL... I admire how the author managed to escape and forge a path of success through it all.

Back to the Far East Bookbox it goes for the next reader to enjoy.

Sounds fascinating...

Claimed from AlterEgoZoe's Far East Bookbox with thanks!

Reserved for a wishlist tag.

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Themes for the 4th quarter re-do of Secretariat's 2019 NJABBIC challenge:

4th quarter: Week 40: fall colors (red)
4th quarter: Week 51: author names beginning with H, J, M, and W (Hyeonseo)

Monday, December 30, 2019: headed for Ohio!

USPS tracking 9549 0104 3302 9364 5492 91
ETA 1/21/20

Released for Secretariat's 2019 NJABBIC challenge (week 52: 4th quarter re-do) and DragonGoddess's What's in a Name Challenge.

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Got this in the mail today. Can’t wait to read this!

This was a fascinating tale of the author’s escape from North Korea. How sad is it that she had to “escape” her own country?! And that there were basically bounty hunters in the surrounding countries who would have turned her in? All she needed to do was get to South Korean to be “safe” and yet it took almost insurmountable obstacles to get there.

I was sad for her mother and brother who didn’t know how to cope with their newfound freedom. It reminded me of prisoners who don’t know how to cope in the world after they are released.

Fascinating book.

Hello again little book. Glad to see you are still enjoying the travel and not looking a day older!
(leaving inside the box)

Taken from the "Books I've Read and Journaled Bookbox."

This was an amazing book. Lee was not a defector by choice but got caught "out of N. Korea" while satisfying her curiosity. I'm going to listen to her TED talk now.