Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea Reprint Edition

by Barbara Demick (Author)

1,539 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0385523912

ISBN-10: 0385523912

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An eye-opening account of life inside North Korea—a closed world of increasing global importance—hailed as a “tour de force of meticulous reporting” (The New York Review of Books)

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST

In this landmark addition to the literature of totalitarianism, award-winning journalist Barbara Demick follows the lives of six North Korean citizens over fifteen years—a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il (the father of Kim Jong-un), and a devastating famine that killed one-fifth of the population.

Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive regime today—an Orwellian world that is by choice not connected to the Internet, where displays of affection are punished, informants are rewarded, and an offhand remark can send a person to the gulag for life. She takes us deep inside the country, beyond the reach of government censors, and through meticulous and sensitive reporting we see her subjects fall in love, raise families, nurture ambitions, and struggle for survival. One by one, we witness their profound, life-altering disillusionment with the government and their realization that, rather than providing them with lives of abundance, their country has betrayed them.

Praise for Nothing to Envy

“Provocative . . . offers extensive evidence of the author’s deep knowledge of this country while keeping its sights firmly on individual stories and human details.”—The New York Times

“Deeply moving . . . The personal stories are related with novelistic detail.”—The Wall Street Journal

“A tour de force of meticulous reporting.”—The New York Review of Books

“Excellent . . . humanizes a downtrodden, long-suffering people whose individual lives, hopes and dreams are so little known abroad.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“The narrow boundaries of our knowledge have expanded radically with the publication of Nothing to Envy. . . . Elegantly structured and written, [it] is a groundbreaking work of literary nonfiction.”—John Delury, Slate

“At times a page-turner, at others an intimate study in totalitarian psychology.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Following six North Koreans over the course of 15 years, Demick offers a haunting portrait of life in North Korea. Her subjects are instantly relatable—they fall in love, raise families—but as their country grows increasingly isolated, totalitarian, and repressive, and is ravaged by unemployment and famine, they risk everything to leave. Karen White delivers a stunning reading; her character interpretations are confident and well-rounded, and she forges a strong bond with the audience. Powerful without becoming overwrought, White handles the harrowing material with sensitivity and intelligence. An unforgettable listening experience that will resonate long after the final sentence. A Random hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 28). (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* In spite of the strict restrictions on foreign press, award-winning journalist Demick caught telling glimpses of just how surreal and mournful life is in North Korea. Her chilling impressions of a dreary, muffled, and depleted land are juxtaposed with a uniquely to-the-point history of how North Korea became an industrialized Communist nation supported by the Soviet Union and China and ruled by Kim Il Sung, then collapsed catastrophically into poverty, darkness, and starvation under the dictator’s son, Kim Jong Il. Demick’s bracing chronicle of the horrific consequences of decades of brutality provide the context for the wrenching life stories of North Korean defectors who confided in Demick. Mi-ran explains that even though her “tainted blood” (her father was a South Korean POW) kept her apart from the man she loved, she managed to become a teacher, only to watch her starving students waste away. Dr. Kim Ki-eum could do nothing to help her dying patients. Mrs. Song, a model citizen, was finally forced to face cruel facts. Strongly written and gracefully structured, Demick’s potent blend of personal narratives and piercing journalism vividly and evocatively portrays courageous individuals and a tyrannized state within a saga of unfathomable suffering punctuated by faint glimmers of hope. --Donna Seaman --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product details

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau; Reprint edition (September 21, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385523912
ISBN-13: 978-0385523912
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 1,539 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > History > Asia
- #3 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Specific Demographics > Asian American Studies
- #4 in Books > History > Asia > Korea > North

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Top customer reviews

Poignant, True Stories of North Koreans Who Escaped

ByT-Rex 5on October 11, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book has a different format compared to many North Korea books. In this book, the author starts with telling the story of the lives of several North Koreans in various walks of life. Of course, we know from the beginning, that regardless of how unlikely it seems, at some point all of these people are going to escape North Korea in order to be able to tell their story. We learn the story of how these individuals grew up and lived in North Korea, their thoughts about their government and now Eternal Leader Kim, how they lived through the starvation years of the 90's, and the long road leading to why they decided to defect (or in 1 case, was tricked by a family member into defection, and how they finally were able to defect to South Korea. We learn what happened to some of their family members left behind, about their attempts to rescue family members trapped in North Korea (some successful and some not), and the sometimes harsh adjustment to the freedom and capitalism of South Korea. The author details the difficulty and perils involved for North Koreans to defect and safely make it sanctity in South Korea. We learn about a young man left an orphan whose father had been Party member, a pediatrician whose greatest dream was to be allowed to join the Party, a housewife with 2 young children and an abusive husband, a young woman and her "forbidden" boyfriend, a factory worker who had absolute loyalty to the regime, and several more. The stories are poignant and heartwarming, showing vividly the humanity of people trapped in North Korea. This book also covers the operation of the government and its regimentation over people's lives from a historical viewpoint, how this all changed (slightly for the better) during the starvation years of the 90's, and the newer changes (for the worse) under Kim Jong-un. Also covered are the issues and problems involved as former North Koreans adjust to a life of capitalism and freedom in South Korea. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to go beyond the history of and current living situation in North Korea, to hear the stories of real people surviving in and then escaping from North Korea.

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Bleak and Frightening Look Behind the North Korean Curtain

ByWilliam Capodannoon August 7, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

While eight years have passed since this book was published, little has changed with North Korea in terms of their isolation from the rest of the world. Told through stories of defectors, Demick's book is a gripping account of what life is like behind a repressive, totalitarian state, built upon the cult of personality where the citizens of North Korea live in a country that resembles 1957 not 2017.

There are so many unforgettable stories in this book, the one of Mi-Ran and Jun-Sang, read like a Shakespearean tragedy. As these two young teens carry on a secret romantic (and non-sexual relationship) violating societal and class norms, the reader understands the true personal loneliness that a totalitarian society exerts not on the individual, the inability to trust even those closest to them. As Jun-Sang's schooling leaves him far away from Mi-Ran, we understand the extent to which a famine consumes the country, killing even the healthiest, and causing citizens like Mi-Ran to consider the unthinkable, fleeing the country through China in order to make it to South Korea to survive the catastrophe unfolding before their eyes to the family and neighbors.

"Nothing to Envy" is a brilliant book in how deeply it humanizes the people of North Korea, pawns of a corrupt, maniacal family that has exerted absolute control over 20+million people for nothing more than power. Outside of the ruling family, everyone else is a dispensable pawn, only valuable in so far as they further the ends of Kim Il-sung and his heirs. Demick gives voice to the untold stories that represent the millions unfortunate to be born into a repressive totalitarian society, virtually all with little hope and no control on their ultimate destiny, most fortunate to have food to eat to live for another day. This book is just as important a read today given how little conditions have changed for North Koreans.

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Chilling

BySteven M. Anthonyon May 6, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This non-fiction work takes a look at the repressive and dysfunctional North Korean regime of Kim Il-sung and his successor Kim Jong-il through the stories of individual North Korean citizens who ultimately defected to China and South Korea. The stories told by those that survived the economic collapse and subsequent famine are chilling.

I’ve read several works focusing on North Korea, and all face the same hurdle of getting reliable information from such a tightly controlled, xenophobic culture. Indoctrinated at a very young age, citizens literally starve to death while continuing to idolize and worship the very people responsible for the barbaric conditions in which they try to survive. It is the individual stories that help to bring an understanding of how such a thing can happen and provide the most reliable account of what life in North Korea is actually like.

The time frame of these accounts spans approximately 15 years, including the period encompassing the death of Kim il-Sung, the ascension of his son and the disastrous famine that ensued. It ends in about 2009, prior to the death of Kim Jong-il and the current regime.

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Most recent customer reviews

I liked following the personal lives of a diverse group of ...

A lot of information, I liked following the personal lives of a diverse group of individuals. But, I also was grateful for the history lessons.

Published 1 hour ago by Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Excellent read.

Published 4 hours ago by Cathy Kendall

Question re: Cover picture

I am glad I bought this book, real stories about real people.

Can anyone tell me anything about the cover picture? The propaganda poster, in particular?

Published 1 day ago by The Cup

Beyond Belief

Details of life in North Korea were beyond shocking. Demick uses real people's stories to show readers the horrors that have gone on for generations.

Published 6 days ago by Liane Dolezar

Good Look Into N Korea

I am interested in the lives and history of North Korea and this book was very informative. I plowed through it and wished it had been much longer!Read more

Published 7 days ago by undeadcow

Very timely in light of what is going on between ...

Very timely in light of what is going on between the US and North Korea right now. It evoked one f the longest discussions ever at Book Club!Read more

Published 7 days ago by Patricia

Liberate all North Koreans

This book is wonderful. It should have won the Pulitzer Prize. But it's not just superb journalism, throwing a bright light on North Korea's history, culture and politics, it's...Read more

Published 7 days ago by Han

An insight into life in North Korea

A different book from the defectors' biographies, Demick's journalistic background makes her justify some of the more extreme parts of the life stories of her 6 interviewees: so...Read more

Published 9 days ago by jennifer campbell

Korean Nightmare

Chilling picture of civilian life in North Korea. Imagine 1984 without food and electricity and a rigid caste system. No wonder some are willing to risk their lives to escape.Read more

Published 11 days ago by Eleanor A. Gabriel

Great author's viewpoint

I liked that this book was written by an outsider, a reporter who told the stories of several people. There was even a follow to how they were doing at the time of printing.

Published 15 days ago by Tammy H. Price

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