"If you look at satellite photographs of the Far East by night, you'll see a large splotch curiously lacking in light” (p. 3). Nothing to envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, by Barbara Demick is a unique heartrending book based on the experiences of six North Koreans or defectors over the course of fifteen years. Over the course of this time, the defectors she chose to interview experienced the death of Kim II-Sung, the rise of his son Kim Jong-II to power, and a demoralizing scarcity that was responsible for the deaths of millions. Demick expresses their mental state, coping strategies, daily experiences, and their way of escaping. Demick’s purpose in sharing this information is to expose the effects of living under a cruel totalitarian
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Interviewing defectors conveys more information that one would gather than from a passing visitor, but what about individuals who are still trapped in the conditions? Initially the book states that hungry people of North Korea would climb utility poles to steal bits of copper wire in exchange for food. The lack of electricity dismantled culture. The closing chapters gave insight on the Famine of the 1990s. Survival through life-threatening scarcity of food may seem intolerable, but the means for continued existence is the main reason defectors fled. Following the lives of the six North Koreans grants a merging theme that everyone feels let down by the not so developed country. Providing detailed background on the Korean War and the dictatorship of Kim II-Sung and son through skillful illustration displayed a line of fears, where manufacturing and trade nearly ended, earnings left unpaid, medical care botched, and individuals became comfortable with walking over deceased bodies in the streets. Everyday interactions and survival of the North Koreans defectors display financial, social, and moral bankrupt. Mi-ran, one of the six defectors, gives positive insight on her romance with an older privileged young man. Demick’s approach to focus on the six specific defectors was to help her reveal a true depiction of daily life in North Korea, but limits understanding due to the lack of diverse resources in current
Interviewing defectors conveys more information that one would gather than from a passing visitor, but what about individuals who are still trapped in the conditions? Initially the book states that hungry people of North Korea would climb utility poles to steal bits of copper wire in exchange for food. The lack of electricity dismantled culture. The closing chapters gave insight on the Famine of the 1990s. Survival through life-threatening scarcity of food may seem intolerable, but the means for continued existence is the main reason defectors fled. Following the lives of the six North Koreans grants a merging theme that everyone feels let down by the not so developed country. Providing detailed background on the Korean War and the dictatorship of Kim II-Sung and son through skillful illustration displayed a line of fears, where manufacturing and trade nearly ended, earnings left unpaid, medical care botched, and individuals became comfortable with walking over deceased bodies in the streets. Everyday interactions and survival of the North Koreans defectors display financial, social, and moral bankrupt. Mi-ran, one of the six defectors, gives positive insight on her romance with an older privileged young man. Demick’s approach to focus on the six specific defectors was to help her reveal a true depiction of daily life in North Korea, but limits understanding due to the lack of diverse resources in current