Atalar Cengi - Çağlayan Yılmaz kitap serbest oDF biçim

Amy Dighton amydighton — It was... a sad story. The ending wasn't exactly a surprise, but it was un-hoped for and heart-breaking. I didn't realize they were at Auschwitz until half-way through the book, which I think was the author's intention.

Andrius Nesvarbu andrius99 — Definitely a must read for people interested in personal stories from North Korea. I personally enjoyed Nothing To Envy; Ordianry Lives in North Korea quite a bit more, but that was written by a WRITER, retelling the stories she extracted verbally from refugees, and not written as a firsthand account by a refugee in their own words. It's a different experience- a good one though. The book is written fairly well. It's not a literary masterpiece, but it's not simple or clunky. The story is, of course- I don't think I even need to say really, exceptional. What kept this book from being more highly rated was a pretty basic error is story construction. Setting aside all the miseries and shock- the story jumped around a little bit. There's a great deal of description about generalities, and not as much personal story. Huge swaths of this book are devoted to describing, in general, the social structues, expectations, propaganda devices, scrict heirarchy, work schedules, depravations, etc. While all of this was very interesting in it's own right, much of it was not nearly as autobiographical as I had hoped. There were personal experiences, but they were almost like bookends to the generalities, rather than the other way around. This book definitely should have been longer, as others have staed before me in reviews, but for me it was the social-studies type descriptions that filled large percentages of the chapters that I was a little bummed out by. What really turned this book into a 4 star for me was, surprisingly, the part I was least interested in- that is, the end, after his escape and flight from North Korea. Really the very last chapter or two- his description and reflection on adjustment to life in China, but more especially, to life in South Korea, was extraordinarally good. The authors ability to examine his own acting out and misbehaviors, as well as analyzing the jibes and cruelties of South Koreans towards their Northern bretheren was really very acute. I think the moment this book really went from 3.5 to 4 was after he had been taken in by a religious group who would help smuggle him into S. Korea. He is enormously grateful to the kind and generous people who assist him, but he is still put off by their religious fervor, and gently, kindly, compares it to the personality cults he had just fled from. For me, to read about someone who has just come from such a harrowing existence into an entirely different world- but who still maintained his sharp eye and intelligent observation- was pretty cool.

Hussam Alhadi ihussd — I don't really know what to say about this one right now.

Muhammad Taha socialfollowerz — I listened to this as an audio book on a road trip. It was perfect for that! Though the narrator had a weird voice... But still, the perfect type of book for that.