I could not put this one down; normally when I read non-fiction I intersperse my evening reading with fluffy memoirs or popcorn fiction but despite the difficult subject matter I read this one in two nights. Barbara Demick spent numerous years in Seoul covering both Koreas for American articles; in that time she formed relationships with North Korean defectors and began piecing together what eventually became Nothing to Envy. Six defectors are interviewed and their stories are woven together to create a multi-dimensional picture of […]
Nothing to Envy. Plenty to Fear.
Barbara Demick’s Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea is a really hard book to read. Not the writing — it’s wonderfully written — but the subject is so dark and depressing that I had to keep putting it down and stepping away. But it’s hard because it’s true — people are living in fear and famine in North Korea, and if we don’t learn about it, how will anything change? “It is axiomatic that one death is a tragedy, a thousand is a statistic. So […]
One death is a tragedy, a thousand is a statistic
Like most people, I find history and politics more palatable when they focus on specific people rather than the sweeping ideas and dates of textbooks. Obviously, you need a balance, but if you look only at the big picture, you miss the innumerable tragedies and triumphs that are more relatable. This is one of the strengths of Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (2010) by Barbara Demick. Demick gives us a look into North Korea during the famine of the 1990’s through the […]
1984 IRL
While reading this book, I had to keep reminding myself that it is not, in fact, 1984. The stories Demick tells are true. North Korea is a place that actually exists. These stories happened, are happening. This is the story of North Korea as told through the lives of 6 ordinary but very different people, from the Korean War through 2010. The story is told masterfully, gliding between the details of the regime and the details of these people’s lives: there’s Mrs. Song, my personal […]
On Despotism, Famine, and Glimmers of Hope
Imagine this. You’re a college student from a fairly prosperous family. You know things are starting to go wrong in your country, but your position in life shelters you from the profoundly bad shit that’s going down. You have a girlfriend, but social mores and the difference in your stations mean that the most you’ve ever done is hold her hand during late-night walks down unlit streets. But then, your family begins to run out of money, long after less fortunate people have already begun […]
A Book to Truly Envy
This book was a CBR recommendation from Alannaofdoom and I wasn’t disappointed. In fact, I’m calling it now as one of my top five books for the year. Nothing to Envy is based on the lives of North Korean defectors, whom Demick reported on extensively during her time working as the Los Angeles Times Bureau chief in Korea. Her book focuses on six individuals, all from Chongjin. It is beautifully written, at times reading like a fictional novel rather than a journalistic work of non-fiction. […]