Somewhere Inside is the electrifying, never-before-told story of Laura Ling’s capture by the North Koreans in March 2009, and the efforts of her sister, journalist Lisa Ling, to secure Laura’s release by former President Bill Clinton. This riveting true account of the first ever trial of an American citizen in North Korea’s highest court carries readers deep inside the world’s most secretive nation while it poignantly explores the powerful, inspiring bonds of sisterly love.
Somewhere Inside
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From Booklist
*Starred Review* In 2009, Laura Ling, a reporter with Current TV, traveled with a film crew to the region of China that bordered on North Korea to report on defections, particularly of women who were later forced into arranged marriages or sex slavery. The crew momentarily crossed into North Korea, and Ling and Euna Lee, her editor and translator, were captured. Given the hostilities between North Korea and China and a recent critical documentary on North Korea by Laura’s sister, journalist Lisa Ling, the women knew they were in for an ordeal. Laura was beaten during the capture, and the women were held in isolation and faced meager meals, cold, and little medical treatment. In the U.S., Lisa and her family prayed and called on powerful contacts, including Al Gore and Bill Richardson, to win the women’s release. During the time of their captivity, North Korea conducted a nuclear test and fired off missiles, increasing tensions with the U.S. and UN. The women were eventually tried for attempting to overthrow the government and sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp, but through behind-the-scenes maneuvering and negotiations with prickly North Korea, they were finally released after five months in captivity. This memoir alternates between the sisters, with Laura recalling the escalating peril of her capture and imprisonment and Lisa recalling heightened worries as weeks dragged into months. A riveting story of captivity and the enduring faith, determination, and love of two sisters. --Vanessa Bush
From the Back Cover
On March 17, 2009, Laura Ling and her colleague Euna Lee were working on a documentary about North Korean defectors who were fleeing the desperate conditions in their homeland. While filming on the Chinese–North Korean border, they were chased down by North Korean soldiers who violently apprehended them. Laura and Euna were charged with trespassing and "hostile acts," and imprisoned by Kim Jong Il's notoriously secretive Communist state. Kept totally apart, they endured months of interrogations and eventually a trial before North Korea's highest court. They were the first Americans ever to be sentenced to twelve years of hard labor in a prison camp in North Korea.
When news of the arrest reached Laura's sister, journalist Lisa Ling, she immediately began a campaign to get her sister released, one that led her from the State Department to the higher echelons of the media world and eventually to the White House.
Somewhere Inside reveals for the first time Laura's gripping account of what really happened on the river, her treatment at the hands of North Korean guards, and the deprivations and rounds of harrowing interrogations she endured. She speaks movingly about the emotional toll inflicted on her by her incarceration, including the measures she took to protect her sources and her fears that she might never see her family again.
Lisa writes about her unrelenting efforts to secure Laura and Euna's release. Offering insights into the vast media campaign spearheaded on the women's behalf, Lisa also takes us deep into the drama involving people at the highest levels of government, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, Senator John Kerry, and Governor Bill Richardson—intense discussions that entailed strategically balancing the agendas and good intentions of the various players. She also describes her role in the back-and-forth between North Korea's demands and the dramatic rescue by former President Bill Clinton.
Though they were thousands of miles apart while Laura was in captivity, the Ling sisters' relationship became a way for the reclusive North Korean government to send messages to the United States government, which helped lead to Laura and Euna's eventual release.
Told in the sisters' alternating voices, Somewhere Inside is a timely, inspiring, and page-turning tale of survival set against the canvas of international politics that goes beyond the headlines to reveal the impact on lives engulfed by forces beyond their control. But it is also a window into the unique bond these two sisters have always shared, a bond that sustained them throughout the most horrifying ordeal of their lives.
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99 of 122 people found the following review helpful
By B. Park
Format:Hardcover
My take on this book is quite different from others. I have a mixed review of this book and the actions of the author, mainly negative ones.
I'm a South Korean-born American. And so I have a great deal of interest in anything that deals with North Korea. (NK) I followed this story closely when it unfolded. I also saw the Ling sisters give countless interviews about the events, during and after it occurred.
On the positive front: If you just look at this book on an emotional level as a tale of sisters bonding and rooting for Laura Ling to get out of the hellhole known as NK, you will love this book. It is well written and very detailed. Due to the frankness and the clear writing, you will feel yourself transported into the shoes of these sisters and feel as if you were going through these events yourself. Both sisters write well and as a result, there is a great amount of suspense and page-turning effect that makes you keep reading.
Both sisters are pretty honest. And so as a reader, you end up liking them and cheering for them. It is an emotional tale with a happy ending: when you either read about or see the video footage on the internet, seeing Laura and Euna getting off the plane and being reunited with their families will move you to tears. I mean if that doesn't get you misty eyed, there seriously is something wrong with your heart. I was so happy and joyed to see the women return and embrace their families. And the efforts of President Clinton, Vice-President Gore, President Obama, and everyone else should be commended for getting these two ladies home. They are daughters, wives, friends, loved ones, and in the case of Euna Lee, a mother. And so on a humanitarian heart level, this is a feel-good story and a survival tale.
On the negative front: Having said all this, it is important to look at these events from a world and moral perspective. In other words, use your mind, not just your heart when you read this book and assess the events. You cannot separate their experience and their actions. And so I encourage you to look at this book and the two journalists' actions on a global scale. When you do that, you will come away with a much less impressive view of these two sisters, particularly Laura Ling. And you will view the writing of this book on a much different level. Here are my observations.
1. Much of the tension in the narrative by Laura Ling is artificially created. She obviously wants sympathy from the readers. And to get it, she unnaturally tries to heighten her situation with drama and suspense. She does this with an amazing amount of detail in this book. Too amazing. The two sisters recall almost a day-by-day, sometimes an hour-by-hour account of what happened to them. They directly quote people on countless situations. This is just not believable. If you read Euna Lee's book, she rarely quotes but rather just summarizes what a person said. Plus in the front of her book, Euna Lee even says that the quoted dialogue is her best memory of what someone said and may not be accurate. Laura Ling does none of that in her book. I strongly doubt these were the actual words spoken by the various people. There is no way a person could remember that amount of details for five months short of recording constantly. In my experience if someone is being this exact about this much volume of detail, they are filling in the details and gaps of memory liberally, exaggerating the events and the atmosphere to suit their own agenda.
This kind of amplification of truth is even more apparent when describing the dialogue. Instead of writing this person "said" something, Laura Ling writes with exaggerated descriptions like, "I screamed breathlessly" or "he said gruffly." These are obvious and unnatural drama-creating devices. All of this is done to grab greater sympathy from the reader and paint themselves even more as a sympathetic victim. Many of these events of Laura are probably dramatized and not completely accurate. It made me look at her story with greater doubt.
2. The tone of both sisters has a quiet and underlying sense of arrogance about them. Lisa Ling talks many times about the amount of years she has in television and the number of contacts she has. Of course this may be factually true, but the manner in which she talks about herself and her stature put me off, as many other reviewers have commented on. Laura Ling is worse. She clearly sees herself as a survivor and victim of these events. But there is no humbleness nor any sense of responsibility of her own actions in this book. And when you see her in interviews on the internet about these events, her narcissism really comes through. This is not a grateful person at all. There is a lot of "but I want this..." type of attitude as a prisoner in NK. She is extremely preoccupied about telling what happened to herself and how hard it was on her. Yet she is oblivious to what other negative effects her actions have had on others.
I'm guessing she did some research on NK before going there for her assignment. And so she should know about the incredible food and medical shortage in that country. Most North Koreans who are not in prison do not receive the amount of food as well as medical care that she received. She took a dangerous assignment which means she should understand the amount of risk she was taking. And when the risk doesn't pan out, she should accept the logical consequences. Instead, she goes into this victimhood mode which was very unattractive. When you play with a rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth mad dog, you can and will get bitten. She acknowledges so little of her circumstance to her own actions. She blames the events virtually all on her guide who took them into NK. NK is a murderous, paranoid, child-like regime who are always looking for a reason to be offended. Why would you risk going across the river like that into NK, especially when she has all that video footage, contact information about people who work to help NK refugees?
There is also no sympathy by Laura Ling in looking beyond her own pain. I cannot imagine their level of shock when she was imprisoned. But what about realizing that she and Euna Lee are not the only ones imprisoned? There is an estimated 150,000-200,000 prisoners in North Korea, most if not all of them unjustly imprisoned.
[...]
She must know this. And she must know about the amount of physical labor, torture, malnutrition, starvation, beatings, unsanitary conditions, lack of medical care, brainwashing, and forced abortions that goes on regularly and systematically in NK prisons. Yet she received lavish meals compared to NK standards, a clean room, allowed to exercise, and received whatever medical treatment was available. I never read Laura Ling once reflect or sympathize about the other NK prisoners in worse situation than her.
The following article shows that Pastor Chun told them repeatedly not to stray into NK territory.
[...]
And that the journalists should know about the danger of even being near the border in the various examples in this article.
[...]
As this article discusses, they took an unnecessary risk. They may say that they were trying to shed light on the plight of NK refugees. That's a nice motive. But their actions were still reckless and not even necessary as this article shows.
[...]
They could have competently reported on NK escapees without crossing the Tumin river. They had various footages from interviews with defectors, they had footages from the area, town, woods, and river that the refugees would go through. They did not need to cross the river and into NK territory. They could have shot the same footage standing from the China side without crossing the river.
[...]
3. Laura Ling's actions also placed the refugees and the South Korean people who help them at risk. For those brave and blessed folks who want to escape NK and risk so much, they are now worse off because of Laura Ling's actions. Since the journalists were captured in an area where many people escape into a town in China, NK officials are now more aware of the refugee movement and have a greater insight in how to prevent refugees escaping. There is a silent war going on between NK officials and NK citizens who want to escape as well as those who risk so much to help them. Their actions made it harder for NK people to escape and to help those who want to escape.
4. Laura Ling gave too much details regarding her NK captors and guards. NK is a dictatorship built on fear and loyalty to the state/demi-god Kim Jong Il. Like the old Stalinist Soviet Union, kids are encouraged to spy on their parents and to be on the lookout for any disloyalty to the state. This means any signs of disloyalty, failure of job duties, or sympathy to prisoners can be grounds for you or your whole family to be imprisoned or killed without any legal process.
[...]
Knowingly or not, Laura Ling recounts in great detail, the "kindness" many of the female guards and captors showed her. Many of the female guards asked and talked to Laura Ling about what its like in America, learned Ling's yoga moves, talked about Ling's family and husband, laughed and cried with Ling, showed sympathy, slept and goofed off rather than guard Ling, and even was sad when Ling was freed. This can and will get these female guards into trouble for dereliction of duty and being kind to an enemy criminal once the NK officials read this in Laura Ling's book.
Ling also writes about how one of her main captors, Mr. Baek, was the one who suggested that the American envoy should be President Carter rather than President Clinton. This communication error by Mr. Baek can also get him into trouble. Read more ›
I'm a South Korean-born American. And so I have a great deal of interest in anything that deals with North Korea. (NK) I followed this story closely when it unfolded. I also saw the Ling sisters give countless interviews about the events, during and after it occurred.
On the positive front: If you just look at this book on an emotional level as a tale of sisters bonding and rooting for Laura Ling to get out of the hellhole known as NK, you will love this book. It is well written and very detailed. Due to the frankness and the clear writing, you will feel yourself transported into the shoes of these sisters and feel as if you were going through these events yourself. Both sisters write well and as a result, there is a great amount of suspense and page-turning effect that makes you keep reading.
Both sisters are pretty honest. And so as a reader, you end up liking them and cheering for them. It is an emotional tale with a happy ending: when you either read about or see the video footage on the internet, seeing Laura and Euna getting off the plane and being reunited with their families will move you to tears. I mean if that doesn't get you misty eyed, there seriously is something wrong with your heart. I was so happy and joyed to see the women return and embrace their families. And the efforts of President Clinton, Vice-President Gore, President Obama, and everyone else should be commended for getting these two ladies home. They are daughters, wives, friends, loved ones, and in the case of Euna Lee, a mother. And so on a humanitarian heart level, this is a feel-good story and a survival tale.
On the negative front: Having said all this, it is important to look at these events from a world and moral perspective. In other words, use your mind, not just your heart when you read this book and assess the events. You cannot separate their experience and their actions. And so I encourage you to look at this book and the two journalists' actions on a global scale. When you do that, you will come away with a much less impressive view of these two sisters, particularly Laura Ling. And you will view the writing of this book on a much different level. Here are my observations.
1. Much of the tension in the narrative by Laura Ling is artificially created. She obviously wants sympathy from the readers. And to get it, she unnaturally tries to heighten her situation with drama and suspense. She does this with an amazing amount of detail in this book. Too amazing. The two sisters recall almost a day-by-day, sometimes an hour-by-hour account of what happened to them. They directly quote people on countless situations. This is just not believable. If you read Euna Lee's book, she rarely quotes but rather just summarizes what a person said. Plus in the front of her book, Euna Lee even says that the quoted dialogue is her best memory of what someone said and may not be accurate. Laura Ling does none of that in her book. I strongly doubt these were the actual words spoken by the various people. There is no way a person could remember that amount of details for five months short of recording constantly. In my experience if someone is being this exact about this much volume of detail, they are filling in the details and gaps of memory liberally, exaggerating the events and the atmosphere to suit their own agenda.
This kind of amplification of truth is even more apparent when describing the dialogue. Instead of writing this person "said" something, Laura Ling writes with exaggerated descriptions like, "I screamed breathlessly" or "he said gruffly." These are obvious and unnatural drama-creating devices. All of this is done to grab greater sympathy from the reader and paint themselves even more as a sympathetic victim. Many of these events of Laura are probably dramatized and not completely accurate. It made me look at her story with greater doubt.
2. The tone of both sisters has a quiet and underlying sense of arrogance about them. Lisa Ling talks many times about the amount of years she has in television and the number of contacts she has. Of course this may be factually true, but the manner in which she talks about herself and her stature put me off, as many other reviewers have commented on. Laura Ling is worse. She clearly sees herself as a survivor and victim of these events. But there is no humbleness nor any sense of responsibility of her own actions in this book. And when you see her in interviews on the internet about these events, her narcissism really comes through. This is not a grateful person at all. There is a lot of "but I want this..." type of attitude as a prisoner in NK. She is extremely preoccupied about telling what happened to herself and how hard it was on her. Yet she is oblivious to what other negative effects her actions have had on others.
I'm guessing she did some research on NK before going there for her assignment. And so she should know about the incredible food and medical shortage in that country. Most North Koreans who are not in prison do not receive the amount of food as well as medical care that she received. She took a dangerous assignment which means she should understand the amount of risk she was taking. And when the risk doesn't pan out, she should accept the logical consequences. Instead, she goes into this victimhood mode which was very unattractive. When you play with a rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth mad dog, you can and will get bitten. She acknowledges so little of her circumstance to her own actions. She blames the events virtually all on her guide who took them into NK. NK is a murderous, paranoid, child-like regime who are always looking for a reason to be offended. Why would you risk going across the river like that into NK, especially when she has all that video footage, contact information about people who work to help NK refugees?
There is also no sympathy by Laura Ling in looking beyond her own pain. I cannot imagine their level of shock when she was imprisoned. But what about realizing that she and Euna Lee are not the only ones imprisoned? There is an estimated 150,000-200,000 prisoners in North Korea, most if not all of them unjustly imprisoned.
[...]
She must know this. And she must know about the amount of physical labor, torture, malnutrition, starvation, beatings, unsanitary conditions, lack of medical care, brainwashing, and forced abortions that goes on regularly and systematically in NK prisons. Yet she received lavish meals compared to NK standards, a clean room, allowed to exercise, and received whatever medical treatment was available. I never read Laura Ling once reflect or sympathize about the other NK prisoners in worse situation than her.
The following article shows that Pastor Chun told them repeatedly not to stray into NK territory.
[...]
And that the journalists should know about the danger of even being near the border in the various examples in this article.
[...]
As this article discusses, they took an unnecessary risk. They may say that they were trying to shed light on the plight of NK refugees. That's a nice motive. But their actions were still reckless and not even necessary as this article shows.
[...]
They could have competently reported on NK escapees without crossing the Tumin river. They had various footages from interviews with defectors, they had footages from the area, town, woods, and river that the refugees would go through. They did not need to cross the river and into NK territory. They could have shot the same footage standing from the China side without crossing the river.
[...]
3. Laura Ling's actions also placed the refugees and the South Korean people who help them at risk. For those brave and blessed folks who want to escape NK and risk so much, they are now worse off because of Laura Ling's actions. Since the journalists were captured in an area where many people escape into a town in China, NK officials are now more aware of the refugee movement and have a greater insight in how to prevent refugees escaping. There is a silent war going on between NK officials and NK citizens who want to escape as well as those who risk so much to help them. Their actions made it harder for NK people to escape and to help those who want to escape.
4. Laura Ling gave too much details regarding her NK captors and guards. NK is a dictatorship built on fear and loyalty to the state/demi-god Kim Jong Il. Like the old Stalinist Soviet Union, kids are encouraged to spy on their parents and to be on the lookout for any disloyalty to the state. This means any signs of disloyalty, failure of job duties, or sympathy to prisoners can be grounds for you or your whole family to be imprisoned or killed without any legal process.
[...]
Knowingly or not, Laura Ling recounts in great detail, the "kindness" many of the female guards and captors showed her. Many of the female guards asked and talked to Laura Ling about what its like in America, learned Ling's yoga moves, talked about Ling's family and husband, laughed and cried with Ling, showed sympathy, slept and goofed off rather than guard Ling, and even was sad when Ling was freed. This can and will get these female guards into trouble for dereliction of duty and being kind to an enemy criminal once the NK officials read this in Laura Ling's book.
Ling also writes about how one of her main captors, Mr. Baek, was the one who suggested that the American envoy should be President Carter rather than President Clinton. This communication error by Mr. Baek can also get him into trouble. Read more ›
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"Somewhere Inside" is a book telling the story in two parts of what really happened on the riverbanks between China and North Korea on March 17, 2009 when Laura Ling and Euna Lee were captured by DPRK border guards while they were fleeing a brief incursion into North Korean territory. After finishing the book, reading between the lines of their confessions, and analyzing their post-release pronouncements, what appears to be the most accurate explanation of how they got themselves into such a predicament is that the Chinese guides they hired to lead them into an area where they could more easily find and interview defectors, were either DPKR agents, intelligence stringers, or knew how to make a quick Yuan by "setting up" and then "selling out" a foreign press crew engaged in a dubious, not very smart, borderline legal and risky mission.
Investigating defectors from the DPKR (and specifically those being trapped in the sex trade), was indeed a very high-risk operation. So the reader is left to assume that the team of US reporters captured there were either too naďve to realize the kind of danger they were putting themselves into, or too trusting of their guides whom they did not know? In either case, they should have been well aware that crossing the river onto DPRK soil would put them and their mission in maximum danger - and as it turns out would be very costly in political capital to the USG.
Yet, cross it they did, giving the DPKR a clear-cut case of illegal entry into that godforsaken pariah country. Why is it that every several months there is another case just like this one of Americans being captured on one of our enemy's borders? Once caught in the "DPKR Guide/Intelligence trap," the team complicated their own situation immensely by lying about their mission, requiring DPKR authorities to "smoke" the truth out of them through harsh interrogations.
All things considered - the complete idiocy of being lured onto DPKR territory, and the backdrop of sensitive international events -- the paranoid nation comes out smelling like a compassionate rose. Except for the beating that Laura took during the capture, in prison they were treated more like "pampered celebrities" than like what we had been taught to expect of Kim Jung Il's gulags: They were given three square meals, mild interrogations, English-speaking guards, and other amenities ordinary North Korean citizens would never dream to see even without being in jail? I doubt very seriously that had they been imprisoned in most U.S. jails they would have been treated nearly as well as they were in a North Korean jail?
Plus, once they were forced to come clean and confess, the "diplomatic game was on." It was a quid pro quo all the way: their freedom from a 12-year jail sentence in exchange for one day in the sun of international respectability for DPKR's beloved leader Kim Jung Il and his despised regime.
For this amateurish folly, I believe that was just too high a price for the US to pay. It is a political trade-off that should never have happened -- provided a bit of elementary caution by our fellow international "cub" reporters had been taken. In fact, given the backdrop of international saber-rattling by the DPKR going on at the time (the firing off of two rounds of IRBMs and a nuclear test), that they were released at all strikes me as no less than a miracle. The way they carried out their mission was dumb, dumb, dumb, period.
Considering how much unnecessary political currency was burned up over this bit of shortsightedness by a team of neophyte reporters, one would think that in the future as a minimum, similar missions ought to be "cleared" by the State Department before hand. Or at the very least, anyone traveling in sensitive terrain such as was the case here, should be "briefed" by the State Department, and warned of the kinds of trouble they can get themselves and our country into. And finally, if this indeed was some kind of ultra dumb US intelligence operation, the overseers back in Langley ought to be fired forthwith.
Although these women were made into heroes as a result of this episode, what they did was just plain foolhardy and amateurish. We must stop glorifying this kind of politically expensive amateurishness. Two Stars
Investigating defectors from the DPKR (and specifically those being trapped in the sex trade), was indeed a very high-risk operation. So the reader is left to assume that the team of US reporters captured there were either too naďve to realize the kind of danger they were putting themselves into, or too trusting of their guides whom they did not know? In either case, they should have been well aware that crossing the river onto DPRK soil would put them and their mission in maximum danger - and as it turns out would be very costly in political capital to the USG.
Yet, cross it they did, giving the DPKR a clear-cut case of illegal entry into that godforsaken pariah country. Why is it that every several months there is another case just like this one of Americans being captured on one of our enemy's borders? Once caught in the "DPKR Guide/Intelligence trap," the team complicated their own situation immensely by lying about their mission, requiring DPKR authorities to "smoke" the truth out of them through harsh interrogations.
All things considered - the complete idiocy of being lured onto DPKR territory, and the backdrop of sensitive international events -- the paranoid nation comes out smelling like a compassionate rose. Except for the beating that Laura took during the capture, in prison they were treated more like "pampered celebrities" than like what we had been taught to expect of Kim Jung Il's gulags: They were given three square meals, mild interrogations, English-speaking guards, and other amenities ordinary North Korean citizens would never dream to see even without being in jail? I doubt very seriously that had they been imprisoned in most U.S. jails they would have been treated nearly as well as they were in a North Korean jail?
Plus, once they were forced to come clean and confess, the "diplomatic game was on." It was a quid pro quo all the way: their freedom from a 12-year jail sentence in exchange for one day in the sun of international respectability for DPKR's beloved leader Kim Jung Il and his despised regime.
For this amateurish folly, I believe that was just too high a price for the US to pay. It is a political trade-off that should never have happened -- provided a bit of elementary caution by our fellow international "cub" reporters had been taken. In fact, given the backdrop of international saber-rattling by the DPKR going on at the time (the firing off of two rounds of IRBMs and a nuclear test), that they were released at all strikes me as no less than a miracle. The way they carried out their mission was dumb, dumb, dumb, period.
Considering how much unnecessary political currency was burned up over this bit of shortsightedness by a team of neophyte reporters, one would think that in the future as a minimum, similar missions ought to be "cleared" by the State Department before hand. Or at the very least, anyone traveling in sensitive terrain such as was the case here, should be "briefed" by the State Department, and warned of the kinds of trouble they can get themselves and our country into. And finally, if this indeed was some kind of ultra dumb US intelligence operation, the overseers back in Langley ought to be fired forthwith.
Although these women were made into heroes as a result of this episode, what they did was just plain foolhardy and amateurish. We must stop glorifying this kind of politically expensive amateurishness. Two Stars
39 of 53 people found the following review helpful
By rmcrae
Format:Hardcover
I bought this book early this morning planning to read it another day, but once I started I couldn't put it down. I wasn't very familiar with the events surrounding Lisa's sister's imprisonment until both she and colleague Euna Lee were pardoned. I practically held my breath from the moment of their capture until their release while reading. Laura's narrative is beautifully detailed and makes you feel like you're experiencing it all with her. Somewhere Inside pulls the covers on just how secretive and oppressive North Korea is under the regime of Kim Jong Il. The widespread starvation, inhumanity, and cult-like worship of Jong Il's dictatorship. Charged with "hostile acts" (giving the US a no holds barred view of what's really going on), Laura and Euna Lee's 12 year sentence of hard labor will make your heart drop. The narrative alternates between the sisters (Laura and Lisa), but isn't jarring. Trust me when I tell you you'll go through so many emotions while reading. Great job, ladies!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting Read
I always wondered what this incident was all about. I found this book an interesting and quick read. Read more
Published 3 days ago by J. Petro
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book!
Even though you know the positive outcome of the story, reading it makes you cry and stress like crazy. Loved it!
Published 11 days ago by Linh Do
4.0 out of 5 stars
engaging read
No matter what you think of the circumstances surrounding Laura's captivity (stupidity vs. accident), this was a very interesting read about NK. Read more
Published 15 days ago by EJR
4.0 out of 5 stars
A real story of captivity
Laura and Lisa's story show cases real fear and hope and their emphasis on the glimmers of compassion shown the girls in their ordeal are commendable as we readers can fill in the... Read more
Published 24 days ago by J. Woo
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting but could have been so much more . . .
This is a fascinating story and I was very excited to read this book but it really isn't written that well and that was disappointing. Read more
Published 1 month ago by M. Roberts
4.0 out of 5 stars
very interesting!
I knew Lisa was a journalist however I was unaware Laura was also a journalist. If Laura's family had not been so well connected politically Laura would have been held much longer.
Published 1 month ago by JC
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating story
This is a great read, I'm so happy it ended well for this family. Everyone should be aware of this dangerous country and the horrible conditions and control this regime keeps over... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jacques7
5.0 out of 5 stars
North Korea exposed
I remembered this story in the news and after reading The Orphan Master's Son, wanted to know more about the repressive regime of North Korea. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Lynn
5.0 out of 5 stars
Laura & Lisa Ling experiences
This book was very well written and I am sure great care was taken with every word. The love of these two sisters and their families is so strong. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Lotisl
4.0 out of 5 stars
Trapped in North Korea
Two American sisters with Chinese ancestry chose writing and reporting was their careers. Lisa Ling had snuck into North Korea as part of a medical team which operated on... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lynn Ellingwood
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