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Fiction. Literature. Suspense. Thriller. HTML: The Pulitzer Prizewinning, New York Times betselling novel of North Korea: an epic journey into the heart of the worlds most mysterious dictatorship. Imagine Charles Dickens paying a visit to Pyongyang, and you see the canvas on which [Adam] Johnson is painting here.The Washington Post Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mothera singer stolen to Pyongyangand an influential father who runs a work camp for orphans. Superiors in the North Korean state soon recognize the boys loyalty and keen instincts. Considering himself a humble citizen of the greatest nation in the world, Jun Do rises in the ranks. He becomes a professional kidnapper who must navigate the shifting rules, arbitrary violence, and baffling demands of his overlords in order to stay alive. Driven to the absolute limit of what any human being could endure, he boldly takes on the treacherous role of rival to Kim Jong Il in an attempt to save the woman he loves, Sun Moon, a legendary actress so pure, she didnt know what starving people looked like. Part breathless thriller, part story of innocence lost, part story of romantic love, The Orphan Masters Son is also a riveting portrait of a world heretofore hidden from view: a North Korea rife with hunger, corruption, and casual cruelty but also camaraderie, stolen moments of beauty, and love. FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER OF THE DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE Named ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR by more than a dozen publications, including The Washington Post Entertainment Weekly The Wall Street Journal Los Angeles Times San Francisco Chronicle Praise for The Orphan Masters Son An exquisitely crafted novel that carries the reader on an adventuresome journey into the depths of totalitarian North Korea and into the most intimate spaces of the human heart.Pulitzer Prize citation Mr. Johnson has written a daring and remarkable novel, a novel that not only opens a frightening window on the mysterious kingdom of North Korea, but one that also excavates the very meaning of love and sacrifice.Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times Rich with a sense of discovery . . . The Orphan Masters Son has an early lead on novel of [the year].The Daily Beast This is a novel worth getting excited about.The Washington Post [A] ripping piece of fiction that is also an astute commentary on the nature of freedom, sacrifice, and glory.Elle.… (more)
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“The key to fighting in the dark is to perceive your opponent, sense him, and never use your imagination. The darkness inside your head is something your imagination fills with stories that have nothing to do with the real darkness around you.”
This is on one level
It’s a very scary, horrific, hugely funny, utterly gripping, heartfelt and bonkers tale of a very real dystopia. It is a story that carries a stark warning on the evil and power of stories; an anti story in two parts, with different narrators (1st person and third) that create a loving chaotic jumble that works solely as a damn fine story at the same time whetting your intellectual taste buds. Did I mention that is very very well written?
“Where we are from, he said, stories are factual. If a farmer is declared a music virtuoso by the state, everyone had better start calling him maestro. And secretly, he'd be wise to start practicing the piano. For us, the story is more important than the person. If a man and his story are in conflict, it is the man who must change....But in America, people's stories change all the time. In America, it is the man who matters.”
Its trick, for me, is to overcome all the faults I have with dystopian fiction and grab the reader’s imagination and thrust it so deeply into a different culture that when you meet Americans for the 1st time your head explodes with the oddity. Johnson draws an amazing sense of place then fleshes it out with tiny details like the shock of a blank wall (sans Dear Leader photo) and imbues it with characters that fit just so. It hooks you in and never lets you rest as it’s so packed with plot. It will make you complicit in the lies of the anti-story because we know so much more.. the orphan master's son? sure he is, and then lie to you and twist your expectations (but never cruelly)
Of course it depends on what you want from the book. It doesn't have a linear narrative nor is it a factual account of North Korea, research was done and liberties taken. It is at once very dark and insane but not nearly as dark or insane as the reality and if that doesn't give you pause for thought I don't know what will. I guess it could be said to be too clever for its own good but I think that’s a matter of taste.
I loved this book and I highly recommend it. Literature and story lovers, adventure fiends and Dystopia fans will find something of interest here. Without a doubt one of the best books I have read all year.
"Jun Do never looked. He knew the televisions were huge and there was all the rice you could eat. Yet he wanted no part of it - he was scared that if he saw it with his own eyes, his entire life would mean nothing. Stealing turnips from an old man who'd gone blind from hunger? That would have been for nothing."
Part Two is longer and we find our hero with a new identity. It takes a few pages to realize that we’re still talking about Jun Do although he is now known as Commander Gah. This part of the book continues the third person narrative alternately with the first person narrative of Gah’s interrogator. And it is in Part Two that Gah finds love, family and sacrifices all to overcome the desires of Kim Jong Il.
Throughout the book the overriding theme is the oppression of the North Korean people until you want to throw your hands up in the air and cry, “Can’t anything be done about this?” Just like in Barbara Demick’s non-fiction account of life in North Korea, Nothing to Envy, Johnson brings out all the gruesome facts: torture, starvation, and the overriding influence and power of “Our Dear Leader.” So much so that I started to wonder if this wasn’t over kill. Every apartment is equipped with a loudspeaker where the state bombastically spews their views every day, several times a day. And the citizens had better be listening:
“Citizens, we bring good news! In your kitchens, in your offices, on your factory floors—wherever you hear this broadcast, turn up the volume! The first success we have to report is that our Grass into Meat Campaign is a complete triumph. Still, much more soil needs to be hauled to the rooftops, so all housing-block managers are instructed to schedule extra motivation meetings.” (Page 218)
This is not a perfect book by any means but riveting? Heart-pounding? Oh my, yes. I couldn’t put it down. It moves back and forth in time and is somewhat hard to follow at times, and then there’s all that torture, but the terrific writing and the sheer adrenalin rush make it very worthwhile. And in years to come if you want to consider what kind of impact Kim Jong Il had on the people he abused for so many year you can turn to this book and see what the unfortunate citizens of North Korea endured. Very highly recommended for those who are not squeamish.
This is, in a way, a sort of traveling narrative-type of story. Through the course of the book we're introduced to various characters in Pak Jun Do's life - the Orphan Master (his father), the Captain, and so on and so forth. Each person has an impact on him, each one provides a valuable lesson, and each one gives us, the readers, an insight into a different aspect of life in North Korea.
This book is talked about. It's received a lot of hype, and that hype is deserved. Don't let it put you off from reading it. It's a thoroughly engrossing story that is not only beautifully written, but also very accessible to readers of all types.
Some readers may be aware of countries that broadcast information loudly and frequently throughout the day by means of public loudspeakers. The truth as the government sees it is impossible to avoid, paying attention is demanded of the citizenry and critical analysis or questioning of facts presented is strongly discouraged and may be life threatening. A visitor from a Western nation after being exposed to this system would never criticize elevator music again. In this novel, we look at North Korea. I have seen the same system in China, Cambodia, and Vietnam. North Koreas efforts as presented in this book are unique in the extremes reached that defy belief.
Immediately after the table of contents, before we are introduced to our hero and protagonist Jun Do, we get a chance to read one of these broadcasts. According to Johnson, many of these ridiculous claims typically broadcast as news were lifted from actual news articles published in a popular North Korean newspaper. A few examples:
(1) While the Dear Leader lectured to the dredge operators, many doves were seen to spontaneously flock above him, hovering to provide our Reverend General some much needed shade on a hot day. (p. 3)
(2) The shark has an ancient camaraderie with the Korean people. In the year 1592, did sharks not offer fish from their own mouths to help sustain Admiral Yi’s sailors during the siege of Okpo Harbor? Our national actress Sun Moon capsized in Inchon Bay while trying to prevent the American sneak attack (Korean War). It was a scary moment for all of us as the sharks began to circle her, helpless amid the waves. But did the sharks not recognize Sun Moon’s Korean modesty? Did they not smell the hot blood of her patriotism and lift her upon their fins to carry her safely to shore, where she could join the raging battle to repel the imperialist invaders? (p 5-6)
Our public information narrator in (1) above is referring to Kim Jong-il but the same could be (and probably is) said about the current leader, Kim Jong-un. In (2) above, reference is made to Sun Moon who will have an important part in this story as she is the love interest of Jun Do. She is possibly the love interest of the entire Korean male population much the same as American males were in love with Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe, and on and on in the fantasy world. But Jun Do will never meet Sun Moon in his Jun Do persona. He will meet her as Commander Ga and how that comes about is as fascinating in its fictional creation as is the information we learn about North Korea.
Jun Do might be an orphan. We first meet him as a child in an orphanage. But Jun Do will never accept the label “orphan.” He presents his rationale of why he is not an orphan; the orphan master of the orphanage “Long Tomorrows” would never give him so much responsibility for and over other orphans if he were not, in fact, the son of the orphan master. But Jun Do also acknowledges that what is true in reality may conflict with the reality as prescribed by the government. And the Dear Leader, whether Kim il-Sung, Kim Jong-il, or Kim Jong-un is never wrong.
During a famine, labeled by the government as “The Arduous March”, the orphan master gave into the reality of no food and no way to survive other than distributing the orphans to other places, especially places with a government connection. Jun Do, at 14, went to the Army and became a tunnel rat. He learned skills enabling him to fight and survive in total darkness. He worked in tunnels that crossed borders where members of Jun Do’s team would surface to steal goods that could not be found in North Korea. Eight years later he was discovered by a man who would turn him into a kidnapper and a thief of other goods from Japan. During this job, he would learn seafaring skills. Jun Do also attracted the attention of intelligence officials. They noted that during his kidnapping adventures, he developed an interest in learning Japanese. Just as with the label “Orphan,” Jun Do refused to accept the label “Spy.” Again the government reality prevailed and while on a fishing boat Jun Do was tasked to listen for broadcasts from US and South Korean vessels. After an unfortunate incident with a US Navy ship and a South Korean officer, Jun Do was rewarded as a hero. As a form of reward, he was sent to the US as part of a diplomatic initiative.
Returning from the US, the team was deemed corrupted by western values. They had also failed to return with an item desired by the Dear Leader. The entire team was disciplined. Jun Do lost his hero status and was sent to the mines as punishment. Jun Do disappeared and was not heard from again.
Commander Ga was the Minister of Mines. He had to make frequent inspections of mines in a quest for certain rocks that made certain measuring meters click at a high rate of speed. The trips were lengthy and wife Sun Moon always expectantly awaited his return. Not with joy and love, but with fear, hate, and disgust. When he returned from his latest trip, she did not greet him with joy and love, but the fear, hate, and disgust were gone. It was as if he were a different man. And the love story begins. This is also where we meet our third narrator, an interrogator. A reader who also has familiarity with interrogation will discover a lot of points of comparison with western interrogation methods.
The improbability and coincidences in the fictional story are as amazing as the unreality that is depicted as North Korea. They are at the same level and are why the book works so well. There are many stories told that are woven together as skillfully as the quilt of the Senator’s wife (told during Jun Do’s visit to Texas).
This is a remarkable book told by an author with limited access to a closed society. There is a narcissistic cult leader, a totalitarian government, and a repressed people (physically) who have to deal with an inherent evolution (mentally). How they succeed and fail in their struggles invites our emotional attachment and reflection. This is a great book not to be read quickly.
Pak Jun Do is named after a martyr to the revolution, all orphans are, and yet he doesn't consider himself an orphan. His father was the director of the orphanage and his mother was a singer who must be in Pyongyang even now, though he has never heard from her. Raised in brutal conditions, Jun Do spends his youth as many in his country do, as a faithful believer in the Dear Leader and the glorious purpose to which every life is dedicated. As a soldier, Jun Do learns to fight in preparation for the next American sneak attack, and when chosen for other violent work, he does so without question. But at several points in his life, Jun Do meets someone who represents an alternative mindset. A sea captain who cares for his young sailors more than for the state, or even himself. An old woman who remains true to her ideals and her teaching profession under the most inhumane of circumstances. People who allow him to see a different path for himself.
At first, I found myself constantly searching for the line between North Korean reality and the fictional plot. Do these things actually happen, or is it a plot device? But I remained engaged in the plot throughout, especially with the added complexity when, in the second half, the book shifts from straightforward narration to other perspectives on the plot: the first person narrative of an interrogator and a serialized story broadcast to the nation over loudspeakers. The book ends with a claustrophobic narrowing that intensifies both the inevitable ending and its attendant philosophical questions about heroism, loyalty, and love. For me, however, the story's real power lies with the protagonist and his gradual awakening to the nature of freedom. Although the setting is attention-getting, it became less import to me as a reader as I became more invested in the characters as they confront life's larger questions.
More thoughts:
--Gorgeous language—I went back and re-read a lot of passages in the first quarter.
--Once they got to Texas, things fell apart for me. The set up didn’t ring true anymore—the dialogue was cheesy and the symbolism obvious. Texas was also when he began to set up the main action with Commander Ga and that’s when I started to get bored with the book. I liked it better when it was about this one individual and his survival. This is personal preference. The “love” story was unconvincing and hackneyed and the thriller plot wasn’t very thrilling. And to have that boring plot told through 3 different POVs was unnecessary.
--Long-winded. I get that everything is supposed to be surreal and absurd—Orwellian, as other readers kept pointing out—but I can’t take surreal and absurd when it goes on and on and on and on and on. The author could have explored his themes of identity, myth-making, relationship between (and gaps in) truth and propaganda without having to drag it all out so much. I pretty much got bored once he got to the interrogation center and the point of view split into the nameless interrogator, the propaganda person, and Jun Do. There was no suspense, and I was looking forward to the end just to be put out of my agony and not because I was so excited to see what would happen. When I saw that I had the last 10 pages left to read, I felt like I was going to die from having to read them in order to finish. There was one sequence in which Sun Moon was playing her instrument the night before the great escape that especially drove me bananas.
--In the interview with the author, which is included at the end of the book, he says that he treated the novel as a “trauma narrative,” in which different types of stories—adventure, bildungsroman, farce, love story, etc.—“collided” together. This smorgasbord didn’t work for me.
The book is about North Korea. It was difficult to read about such a hellish
I know for sure that Pac Jun Do is a master liar. But I couldn't tell for a long time whether he was a good guy or a bad guy. Now I think that while he was younger and into adulthood he just went with the flow, accepting his lot and behaving as he was expected to. But he gradually came to think differently. Still it's choppy. So I'm not sure.
The story gets better when Jun Do is part of a delegation traveling to Texas. But the reason he goes with the North Korean officials is never clearly sated. He doesn't seem sure himself.
When he returns to North Korea, he comes home to the hideous. It gets worse. Frankly, it was so awful I could read only so much until I had to put the book down and take a break.
In my opinion, someone did some great marketing of this book and put out there some stupendous reader reviews that really sold the book to a lot of readers who believed them. In reality, it's difficult to follow. It is hard to tell if description is imagined or true. The writing is clumsy. First Jun Do is here, then he's there, then you can't tell where the heck he is. Too much is left unsaid, left to the reader's imagination. Yet torture scenes are described in awful detail.
I didn't like this book at all. If you still want to read it, borrow it from the library; don't buy it. That way, even though you'll waste time, you at least won't waste money.
I think the story epitomizes the phrase "perception IS reality". The first part tells of the life of Jun Do, who grows up in the orphanage that his
In the second part, Jun do is no more, he has now taken on the identity of Commander Ga, a national hero, whom he has no resemblance with. But because perception is reality, he is accepted as such. Except by his (or rather Ga's) wife, who is Korea's moth famous film star and the ingenue, of the Dear Leader; Kim Jong-Il
This was a twisted and delightful read. It brought to mind shades of Catch-22 and Dr. Strangelove, as well as a smattering of Walter Mitty. My favorite read so far this year.
Passages that stuck with me...
"The boys stopped at the harbor, it's dark waters ropey with corpses, thousands of them in the throes of the waves, looking like curds of sticky millet that start to flip and toss when the pan heats."
"How to tell the Second Mate that the only way to shake your ghosts, is to find them..."
"To survive in this world, you've got to be many times a coward buy at least once a hero... At least that's what a guy told me one time when I was beating shit out of him"
9/10
S: 5/7/16 - F: 5/22/16 ( 16 Days)
Jun Do was born and raised in a North Korean orphan work camp, where his father was in command. We then follow this young man through a serpentine path, spiked with fear and danger. He is trained in the military, becomes a guard in the prison mines, then
And this is just the beginning of this tough, brilliantly plotted novel. It‘s a book about identity and false-fronts, where nothing is as it seems, where a government controls your every thought.
“The darkness inside your head is something your imagination fills with stories that have nothing to do with the real darkness around you.”
In preparation to reading this, I read [Nothing to Envy] a couple months ago. An excellent nonfiction account and a perfect companion. Seek out both.
Set in North Korea, a place I know little about beyond what I've picked up in the news, Johnson
The second half of the book is narrated by 'the Biographer', a torturer who justifies his trade to himself by writing a biography of each of his victims. His story, and that of Pak, are intertwined and Johnson moves between their stories and back and forth in time with a clear hand.
The stories about Kim Jon Il are fantastic but based on true events. It is hard to believe one man could be responsible for so much suffering. The author does a good job of describing how societies can be made to do almost anything through fear and loss of control. I strongly suggest this as a must read.
So instead of a straightforward narrative we get a kind of mix: reportage of state-sanctioned horrors -- both real and imagined -- episodes drawn from recent history, moments of low comedy, a healthy dose of surrealism, a commentary on what humans will do to slip through the cracks to survive, and a moments of pure melodrama, most of which have to do with love story of sorts between the book's two principals. As the book goes on, Johnson takes the liberty of mixing fact and fiction more freely: propaganda broadcasts bleed into the book's central narrative, elements that drawn from police procedurals filter into the book's structure. It's a cunning technique that makes up for the always-present questions about life in North Korea that will likely persist until the Kim regime finally falls. But the book's not just a pastiche, it's held to together, more or less, by two characters, Pak Jun Do and actress Sun Moon, whose character is ably split into both popular perceptions of the country's "national actress," the façade she maintains for others, and what private life she still might have. Johnson's novel is long, but doesn't outstay its welcome. Despite the unwieldy subject that the author has chosen, the book maintains its forward movement and a remarkable degree of coherence.
As well-drawn as some of these characters are, "The Orphan Master's Son" is, at base, a book about it's setting, and, as often happens with books and articles about North Korea, it's the details that tug at the heart most: he fact that North Koreans often hunt swallows to get more protein into their diet, that they collect chestnuts -- which Europeans used to rely on in times of famine -- from public parks. The fact that there's a whole class of orphans whose parents have either been killed or been sent to "re-education camps" and a whole register of names associated with them. It's hardship and sadness beyond most of our comprehensions. While not all of "The Orphan Master's Son" is factual, to portray life under these conditions with dexterity, sensitivity and even, upon occasion, humor, qualifies as an achievement of some sort.
When I began reading the book I was mortified about how little I know of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. I know almost nothing of it's history, let alone the life of the people now. For this reason alone the book was gripping.
Told through the eyes of one main character and three important lesser characters the story of life in the current Korean regime opens up. It is a world of propaganda, where most people seem to know the reality, of manipulation and fear and of almost no trust. "The Dear Leader" is deified and people even offer a type of prayer prior to meals to thank "the Dear Leader" for their food. There are slogans that are repeated often "the story is more important than the individual" "loyalty is to the Dear Leader and then to the family", 'channel anger into doubling work quotas", etc. The value of people is not important, replacement husbands and wives are found for widows and widowers, love ones disappear, those who retire are never heard from again.
The book is not easy to read, but it is worth the reading. It is political, it is sociological, it is envirnomental, it is economic, but above all--it is a love story.
The title of this review is a rough quotation from the novel The Orphan Master’s Son. And as it turns out, in the North Korea Adam Johnson presents, this is the sad truth.
The novel follows a few years and some of the most traumatic experiences
Which leads to one of the novel’s-- or, rather, the author’s-- strong points: its prose. Such lovely analogies and patterns of words existing in a novel of horrors is really something to take note of. And it really serves to accentuate the fact that it is in fact horrors that are being described. Another particularly crafty trait of Johnson’s writing is the way in which he enumerates iniquities and offenses against his characters with nonchalance, slipping them in out of nowhere to take the reader totally off guard. It gives one a sort of sense of Johnson’s North Koreans’ overall capitulation to the injustices of their lives.
I know this novel will be described as drama or as a thriller; it’s true that the story has those elements. But I hope people recognize its literary value as well. Most notable, in my opinion, of meditations in this novel is the one on narration-- on storytelling as an act of creating reality; storytelling as an act of changing the truth; and storytelling to save oneself.
North Korea is regarded by the United States as a sort ‘black hole’ of intelligence; I suppose this is why I had no idea of what has gone on in this country for the past century or so. Adam Johnson’s novel is not nonfiction-- but he has stated in his interviews that it is based heavily on research he conducted. Given the research I’ve been compelled to do on my own since finishing his novel, I tend to believe that much of it is not at all far from the truth. I had no opinion of North Korea before reading this; I finished reading it on the day Kim Jong Il’s death was announced, and my feelings were overwhelming.
I found the characterizations to be flat and
This book is "dark" and bleak and really provided few redeeming qualities for the time that I invested in reading it.
Review: This was very much not my usual fare, and I probably never would have picked it up if not for my book club (and really, isn't that what book clubs are for?), but I wound up… not exactly enjoying it, but certainly finding it extremely interesting. Johnson paints a very vivid image of what life might be like for an average person inside North Korea, something I'd never really considered in any great detail before. (I say "might be like" rather than "is" because I'm still not entirely sure how much of this book is factual. Johnson has traveled in North Korea, albeit only with government-approved guides, and this book is based on that and on the tales of defectors… but I'm unsure how much his Western perspective really colored the story. I guess we'll have to wait until we start getting novels by North Korean novelists in order to find out for sure.) I think when we hear stories out of North Korea, we tend to think things like "how can people live like that? Don't they know any better?", and this book was an interesting explanation of how - and why - people live in these kind of totalitarian dictatorships, and how they retain some semblance of humanity and identity - or not. Fascinating stuff to think about.
The story itself was… odd. It was hard to really get to know Jun Do, much less any of the other characters, but that's sort of the point: he's our everyman, our John Doe, and he's not in a situation that's conducive to individuality or self-expression. The story was also really episodic - he's an orphan, he's a kidnapper, he's on a fishing boat, he's in Texas, he's in prison, he's impersonating a military commander. Part of that was also surely intentional, to point up the arbitrariness of the rules under which he exists, but there were some transitional steps, particularly early on (the tunnels and the language school, in particular), that were glossed over or only mentioned in passing, which made the beginning a little uneven and difficult to follow. All of the arbitrariness also had the effect of making some parts seem almost farcical - and I did find this book quite funny in places, in a very black humor kind of way - but there's always this awful undercurrent of paranoia and very real danger running under everything that makes things less amusing and more tense and distressing. So, overall, while I can't exactly say that I enjoyed this book, it was definitely a worthwhile read, a glimpse into a world we don't normally get to see, and one filled with some really vivid imagery that I think will stick with me for a long time. 4 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: If you like books that give you a doorway into someone else's life, someone else's world, that is nothing at all like your life or your world, this should definitely be on your list.
Johnson's ambition in setting his novel in the closed and surreal world of North Korea is clear. For me this never quite succeeded in being more than a series of set pieces based on the
The political message seems simplistic and heavy handed. Some of the writing is good, and some of the set piece scenes are quite funny, but overall it is too much of a grim catalogue of inhumanity to be an enjoyable read.
We begin by meeting Pak Jun Do at an orphanage that his father works at. Being an orphan is considered being one of the lowliest persons alive. Although Pak Jun Do's father works there, everyone he meets thinks he is an orphan and immediately forms their opinion about him.
We follow Jun Do through his unbelieveable and haunting life where he seems to be the puppet of those above him. He is forced to become a kidnapper, an intelligence officer that lives on a fishing boat, a prisoner, and eventually tortured. Throughout this, he has one thing to cling to, his love for the national actress, Sun Moon. We do not know his original name, but then he becomes Jun Do in the orphanage and then becomes others as the book progresses. In a society where you can "replace" a husband, or a wife, etc., and accept that as reality, Jun Do becomes who he needs to be when he needs to be.
I am so fortunate to have received an advanced copy of this book. I do not think it is a book I would have picked up on my own to read. Once I started reading, I was hooked. The author weaves Jun Do's different lives in and out of one another, and jumps from the present to the past and back again. It was confusing in the beginning, but once I figured out what was going on, it made the journey more interesting.
It really opened my eyes to the injustices that are occuring in North Korea and makes me thankful that I live in America. I would encourage others to read this book so they, too, can learn about life in North Korea.
I read a lot. I read a diverse cross-section of fiction. And I am telling you that I have never read anything like Adam Johnson’s novel, The Orphan Master’s Son. And I’ll cut to the chase here and tell you that it knocked my socks right off!
The novel is the story
This is merely the first chapter of Jun Do’s absolutely extraordinary life. He’s a tremendously appealing character, who struggles to overcome the many challenges of his life with integrity and without complaint. He literally doesn’t know there is an alternative to the harsh life he has experienced in North Korea.
So, the novel revolves around a terrific central character, and the author has given him an epic and eventful story, but truthfully it’s the North Korean setting that makes this story so compelling. The novel opens with the first of many propaganda bursts played from ubiquitous loudspeakers. What it broadcasts is insane!
“In local news, Our Dear Leader Kim Jong Il was seen offering on-the-spot guidance to the engineers deepening the Taedong River channel. While the Dear Leader lectured to the dredge operators, many doves were seen to spontaneously flock above him, hovering to provide our Reverend General some much needed shade on a hot day.”
That is just the very tip of the iceberg. Life in North Korea is like nothing I could imagine in my wildest dreams. Well, nightmares. Author Johnson spent years researching the peninsula, and actually had the rare opportunity to visit the country while writing this novel. It is fascinating in a truly horrifying way. I will never listen to news out of North Korea the same way again.
I could write more about Jun Do’s picaresque story, but the joy here is in watching it unfold. The Orphan Master’s Son has been described as a literary novel, a romance, and a thriller. It is all of those things and more. Beneath the surface of the story, there is commentary not only on life in this oppressive realm, but in our own. And it’s actually about the role that the stories we tell has on the direction of our lives. It has humor, emotion, heart, and a hero you’ll root for. This is a powerful novel and simply fantastic storytelling. I highly recommend it for pretty much everyone. This early in the year, I may just have read one of 2012’s best books.
All in all an interesting book worthy of all of the attention. If Hillary Clinton can read it for her book club, I'm glad I have read it as well.