Author: Bandi, Deborah Smith (translator)
Published: 2014
Language: English (translated from Korean)
Pages: 247
Rating: 3/5
Summary:
This is a collection of stories from North Korea, written in secret in the late 80's and early 90's and eventually smuggled out of the country.
Review:
This was an incredibly interesting collection to read.
The story of how this collection even came to be is already both moving and brave, and you can't help but give it a certain amount of merit just for existing. You also can't help but feel the weight of the stories themselves and how important they are, and how incredible it is that we even get to read them.
As a whole, the collection gives us a look at what it's like to live in a totalitarian state and my favorite part about this collection is how all the stories show you that no matter who you are in this society, poor or powerful, you are never safe.
That being said, I had a little bit of a hard time getting invested in the individual stories and I spent a really long time even getting through this book, which is unusual for me. I don't think the writing is amazing, but like I said, as a whole, the collection paints a very interesting picture, and you cannot deny that this book is unique, and perhaps for that reason alone, worth the read.
You can read more about it on Goodreads
