![A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea by [Masaji Ishikawa, Risa Kobayashi, Martin Brown]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51P4Q9TQDmL._SY346_.jpg)
HOW TO CHOOSE? I had to ask myself: Which selection offers me the most in-depth “feel” of a nation or a time in history, a family’s struggles and survival? What shows great courage in the midst of extreme hardship? What demands to be read NOW?
To me, it is A RIVER IN DARKNESS. That metaphor is apt for the oppression faced by so many people in the last 40 years in North Korea. It deepens my understanding, sympathy and appreciation for freedom.
A TOUGH MEMOIR. I’m sure it was not easy for the author, Masaji Ishikawa, to share his story with us. So much suffering, deprivation, and death from disease and starvation. So if you want a happy book, this is not it. It is a tough read, satisfying to my need to know and to share in the author’s life. But often I had to take a break from reading it in order to cope with the build-up of inner distress.
STYLE—NOT FANCY BUT HONEST. “Truth is stranger than fiction.” If I read this as a novel, I would find much that's hard to believe. The hardest would be the loss of loved ones to starvation, loss of dignity, purpose, hope. But somehow the author clings to the hope of escape to freedom, to return to his homeland of Japan from which he was taken 39 years earlier.
VIVID—I felt I was right there with Ishikawa, suffering and hoping with him, holding my breath as he tries to escape across the river to China. Always he faces the possibility of being sidetracked and captured even after he's in China. It's amazing how certain people come to his rescue, showing there is still good in the world.
THE GREATEST RIGHT--STOLEN. Even though as a young man Ishikawa did well in a North Korean university, he was reduced to being a farmer; he was too educated for the repressive governing officials. I felt his sorrow when he stated: “I never could forgive Kim Il-sung for taking away our right to think.”
Hopefully where you are, you have the right to express what you think. After reading this simple but disturbing book, I was left thinking far into the night. And this morning I'm so grateful for what I have in this land of freedom and much love.
When I read headlines about North Korea, the first thing that comes to mind is a cartoonish image of the country’s leader, projected on large screens in front of military displays, bragging about testing nuclear weapons. But what about the regular people like you and me? It’s difficult to imagine the challenges they face while raising families, while living their everyday lives. Enter Masaji Ishikawa, who has risked his safety and the safety of his family members—if any of them remain alive—to come forward with a daring story of escape.
Only a few scraps of information make their way across the barbed-wire borders of nations and ideologies that divide America from North Korea. Add the physical distance between us and it’s clear why we don’t automatically feel a kinship with people living in Pyongyang, Dong Chong-ri, or Wonsan. But A River in Darkness breathed life into the “enemy,” revealing warmth, humanity, and dignity in the face of a man we come to know well. Mr. Ishikawa has lost everything, but he holds out hope that at least one of his sons is alive—and that, perhaps, if more people know his story, his son might learn that his dad is alive and safe in Japan.
It is my hope that by sharing this story with you I will share the empathy that overwhelmed me while reading. What do we do with this newfound connection to our fellow human beings—those living next door as well as those living across the world? Perhaps we will all feel encouraged to promote peace in our neighborhoods, vote for things we believe in, reach out to those in need, and realize that there are always real people involved in current events—some of them fathers who go to bed each night dreaming of reconnecting with their sons.
Only a few scraps of information make their way across the barbed-wire borders of nations and ideologies that divide America from North Korea. Add the physical distance between us and it’s clear why we don’t automatically feel a kinship with people living in Pyongyang, Dong Chong-ri, or Wonsan. But A River in Darkness breathed life into the “enemy,” revealing warmth, humanity, and dignity in the face of a man we come to know well. Mr. Ishikawa has lost everything, but he holds out hope that at least one of his sons is alive—and that, perhaps, if more people know his story, his son might learn that his dad is alive and safe in Japan.
It is my hope that by sharing this story with you I will share the empathy that overwhelmed me while reading. What do we do with this newfound connection to our fellow human beings—those living next door as well as those living across the world? Perhaps we will all feel encouraged to promote peace in our neighborhoods, vote for things we believe in, reach out to those in need, and realize that there are always real people involved in current events—some of them fathers who go to bed each night dreaming of reconnecting with their sons.
- Gabriella Page-Fort, Editor
