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Cargando... Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea (2009 original; edición 2010)por Barbara Demick
Información de la obraQuerido líder : vivir en Corea del Norte por Barbara Demick (2009)
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. Barbara Demick gives us a rare glimpse into the day to day life of the people of North Korea. Through the tales of six people who managed to escape the "Hermit Kingdom", we are exposed to horrors that are all but unimaginable. We read of the initial prosperity of t the 60's and 70's and the decline from there, which ends in the famines of the 1990s. We read of a country where the people are so malnourished the average height to be accepted into the army had to be was lowered(to something like five feet). A country where if you were able to purchase a television set, you would need to register it with the government, who would then block all channels accept the approved state television networks, and could then show up at your home to inspect the television. As I read this book I had to stop and process the severity of the tales the author was telling us. People starving in such numbers you would literally stumble over dead people in the street. Arrests and deportations of 3 generations of a family for the most minor infractions. This is a must read for anyone interested in the Stalinist state, although it is at times hard to process due to the overwhelmingly depressing tales.
Barbara Demick's book Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea opens with a nighttime satellite image of northeast Asia that shows the bright lights of South Korea and China. In the middle of the photograph is a dark spot — a nation of 23 million people that has little electricity. Nothing to Envy – the title comes from a piece of propaganda aimed at hoodwinking gullible North Korean citizens – is a fascinating work which highlights in the lives of the individuals concerned the triumph of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity. Elegantly structured and written, Nothing To Envy is a groundbreaking work of literary nonfiction. Pertenece a las series editorialesPremiosDistincionesListas de sobresalientes
Referencias a esta obra en fuentes externas. Wikipedia en inglés (17)Follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years, a chaotic period that saw the rise to power of Kim Jong Il and the devastation of a famine that killed one-fifth of the population, illustrating what it means to live under the most repressive totalitarian regime today. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)306.095193090511Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Culture and Institutions Biography And History Asia China & KoreaClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
¿Eres tú?Conviértete en un Autor de LibraryThing. Tantor MediaUna edición de este libro fue publicada por Tantor Media. |
See the full review and more at baileysbooks.home.blog!
Recommended: ABSOLUTELY
For those who know nothing about North Korea, for those who know a boatload about North Korea, for a fantastic history of the country (and the whole peninsula, really), for moving stories of the people who grew up there, for an incredibly comprehensive and personal set of biographies
Thoughts:
Oh, wow. So I am not a beginner in learning about North Korea, but this book was a whole new style of writing about it that I deeply appreciated and was seriously impressed by. Although these are true stories of people who grew up in North Korea before making their way out of North Korea, it most often read like a novel. Barbara Demick was able to construct painfully relatable experiences from the numerous interviews she conducted with the people she met who had defected. Historical context is given as well, to help the reader understand the significance of events and actions that are occurring.
I mean... I'm just blown away by this. An absolutely fantastic compilation, and my gratitude to all who contributed to it - especially the defectors who relived some of the most painful parts of their lives in great detail and shared it with the world.
Stunningly effective writing brings each person to life on the page until you feel as though you know them inside and out, which makes their losses hurt all the more. The most chilling aspect of this is remembering that these are real people, these stories being told actually happened, and most of all that there are countless other people for whom these stories are still their daily life experience. ( )