Title: Under the Same Sky
Author: Joseph Kim with Stephan Talty
Published: 2015
Language: English
Pages: 288
Rating: 3/5
Summary:
This is the story of Joseph Kim, a North-Korean defector.
Review:
This was definitely an interesting book, and one I had high hopes for. In the end, although I found parts of it fascinating and heartbreaking, I find myself slightly disappointed.
The majority of this book is about Kims life in North Korea, and by the majority, I mean about 80% of it, then there are a few chapters about his life in China. The epilogue deals with what happened after he came to America. This in itself is not a problem, but I felt myself wanting a bit more reflection on his life in North Korea, on his thoughts about North Korea now, and I wish more of the book had consisted of this.
The writing is simple and quite to the point, which one cannot blame him for, not having learned English until he was a young man. However, this also contributes to the fact that I never felt like I completely got to know the inside of his head, to get to what he thinks now. Parts of it is there, but it's not there completely for me.
Overall though, it's a fascinating look into the day-to-day life of North Koreans during the time he grew up there. It's definitely worth the read.
You can get this book at The Book Depository*
You can read more about it on Goodreads
Author: Joseph Kim with Stephan Talty
Published: 2015
Language: English
Pages: 288
Rating: 3/5
Summary:
This is the story of Joseph Kim, a North-Korean defector.
Review:
This was definitely an interesting book, and one I had high hopes for. In the end, although I found parts of it fascinating and heartbreaking, I find myself slightly disappointed.
The majority of this book is about Kims life in North Korea, and by the majority, I mean about 80% of it, then there are a few chapters about his life in China. The epilogue deals with what happened after he came to America. This in itself is not a problem, but I felt myself wanting a bit more reflection on his life in North Korea, on his thoughts about North Korea now, and I wish more of the book had consisted of this.
The writing is simple and quite to the point, which one cannot blame him for, not having learned English until he was a young man. However, this also contributes to the fact that I never felt like I completely got to know the inside of his head, to get to what he thinks now. Parts of it is there, but it's not there completely for me.
Overall though, it's a fascinating look into the day-to-day life of North Koreans during the time he grew up there. It's definitely worth the read.
You can get this book at The Book Depository*
You can read more about it on Goodreads
*AFFILIATE LINK
