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Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

by Barbara Demick

ISBN13: 9780385523912
ISBN10: 0385523912
Condition: Standard
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A National Book Award finalist and National Book Critics Circle finalist, Barbara Demick’s Nothing to Envy is a remarkable view into North Korea, as seen through the lives of six ordinary citizens

Award-winning journalist Barbara Demick follows the lives of six North Korean citizens over fifteen years—a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il, and a devastating famine that killed one-fifth of the population. Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today—an Orwellian world that is by choice not connected to the Internet, where displays of affection are punished, informants are rewarded, and an offhand remark can send a person to the gulag for life. Demick takes us deep inside the country, beyond the reach of government censors, and through meticulous and sensitive reporting we see her subjects fall in love, raise families, nurture ambitions, and struggle for survival. One by one, we witness their profound, life-altering disillusionment with the government and their realization that, rather than providing them with lives of abundance, their country has betrayed them.

Synopsis:

"Nothing to Envy" follows the lives of six North Koreans over 15 years--a chaotic period that saw the unchallenged rise to power of Kim Jong Il and the devastation of a famine that killed one-fifth of the population.

About the Author

Barbara Demick is the Beijing bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times. Her reporting on North Korea won the Overseas Press Club's award for human rights reporting as well as awards from the Asia Society and the American Academy of Diplomacy. Her coverage of Sarajevo for The Philadelphia Inquirer won the George Polk Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting. Her previous book is Logavina Street: Life and Death in a Sarajevo Neighborhood.

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: SandyPP, January 1, 2013 (view all comments by SandyPP)
What do we really know about North Korea? Next to nothing. I was so grateful to finally learn something that feels accurate.

Journalist Demick was stationed in Seoul and managed to get a visa to go to the north but found it wasn't possible to be allowed to actually talk honestly with anyone. So she came back to the south and interviewed people who had escaped. It feels balanced because among her subjects is a woman who belonged to the Communist Party and believed in the government, who hadn't even wanted to leave but was tricked by one of her children.
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: from the reading room, February 18, 2012 (view all comments by from the reading room)
In the midst of our country’s current challenges and frustrations, Barbara Demick’s “Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea”” is a timely reminder of how immensely fortunate we are to live in an American democracy. It is a book so extraordinary, so captivating that I literally could not put it down. Little wonder that it is not only a recent National Book Award finalist, but a book club favorite as well.

Focusing on the stories of six defectors who lived in North Korea from about 1900 to 2005, Demick movingly recounts their agonized struggles to survive through the final years of Kim il Sung and the cataclysmic famine that decimated the population. It horrifies me to realize that even today, as I worry about gaining too much weight, deciding what TV program to watch, or which brand of chicken to buy, millions of North Korean citizens exist without food for body or spirit in “the world’s most repressive regime.”
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: ferret, January 22, 2012 (view all comments by ferret)
A powerful and very personal look into the lives of ordinary citizens of North Korea. One of the best nonfiction books I have ever read.
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Product Details

ISBN:: 9780385523912
Author:: Demick, Barbara
Publisher:: Spiegel & Grau
Subject:: Anthropology - Cultural
Subject:: Asia - Korea
Subject:: Ethnic Studies - Asian American Studies
Subject:: anthropology;cultural anthropology
Edition Description:: Trade paper
Publication Date:: 20100931
Binding:: TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:: General/trade
Language:: English
Illustrations:: CHAPTER-OPENING PHOTOS; 1 MAP
Pages:: 336
Dimensions:: 8 x 5.17 x .7 in .5694 lb

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Featured Titles » General
History and Social Science » Anthropology » Cultural Anthropology
History and Social Science » Asia » General
History and Social Science » Asia » Korea
History and Social Science » World History » Asia » General
History and Social Science » World History » Korea

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