Great read

I don't really know how to review this book. I felt the same way after reading 'Uneducated' by Tara Westover. It is very hard to review someone's life.

This is well written, and my first biography of of a North Korean defector. I was very interested in the lives of people in North Korea, and the escape into China.

I do believe that some of the story may have been embellished to sell books, as some of the events seemed contradictory, missing information or just plain didn't make sense.

However, I did very much enjoy this account.

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This will move you and you will appreciate it.

A must listen. This woman's journey may have an emotional effect on the listener that transforms who they are. I hope I can keep a connection to what I felt while listening. Thank you Yeonmi for your courage and honesty.

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Insightful

An amazing insight into the world of a North Korean defector or what I now know is a survivor.

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Enlightening

One of the most crucial accounts ever written. I learnt more about the human mind and our natures just listening to how she was changed from her North and South Korean lives. Comments like learning a more complex vocabulary allowed her to think more deeply about topics resonated strongly with me. A must listen!!

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Powerful Search for Freedom

Yeonmi Park shares all the horrifying details of her life and escape from North Korea. What a brave and courageous soul who reminds us to be grateful for the creature comforts and freedoms we take for granted.

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life-changing

from the beginning to end i couldn't put this book down. it was engrossing, horrifying but at the same time very inspiring.
how much Yeonmi's experience puts into perspective in our own lives!
Is a Russian, I have lived in a communist country as a child, so many of the aspects of the North Korean story were familiar to me. However, the scale of it all was much bigger in North Korea. I grew up in the crumbling Soviet Union, and through the chaos after it collapsed. Yeonmi lived in the fully communist dictatorship like my grandparents, and it's both fascinating and terrifying.
It also reminded me of the political direction of the modem Left. The ignorance of the leftists in regards to socialism and communism is mind boggling.
Finally, it reminded me of the cost of freedom. because freedom isn't free. I too experienced a difficulty with choices and making my own moral decisions once I have left the cultural and moral hegemony of the Soviet system. I think that modern young people who are experiencing 'decision fatigue', confusion and who want the state to take care of them and tell them what to do, have no idea about the price of giving up your power to make decisions to somebody else. that kind of power should belong only to you.
Yeonmi have lived it both ways, and I think she is happily paying the price of freedom because she knows the alternative.

Thank you for your courage in writing this book.

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Entering another world - unimaginable stories

Beautifully narrated with such poignant, evocative language - interwoven stories of the harshness, barren lives locked in North Korea - a place devoid of individuality - a regime so delusional- its robs its people of a life with choice. A caste system that worships the leaders whilst its people starve - have no medicines - no careers unless military.
Yet despite this there is hope and dreams, many never reach such an ideal or even imagine a full stomach, a warm safe bed. The human trafficking of young girls and women into China - to meet the death of females in China due to the one child policy.
This is a soothing yet provocative story.

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Eye opening & harrowing

Joyful to know of their escape but heartbreaking to think of so many left behind.

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Incredible story.

This was such an enthralling tale. I was captivated from start to finish and absolutely amazed at how she found the strength to continue day to day.

A must read/listen.

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Powerful

Unbelievable story and an unbelievably strong and brave woman.
Shocked to hear the multiple hell's on earth she went through, has left me with multiple emotions and opened my eyes to life in N Korea.
Well written and beautifully read.

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