The Orphan Masters Son

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Average customer rating 4.7 (24 comments)

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I havn't read this yet but looks like a great read!

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Since this title won the Pulitzer, it probably doesn’t need any more praise from me, but it possible the best book I read in 2013. For most of the world, North Korea is a country shrouded in mystery. The events portrayed in The Orphan Master’s Son are fantastical and absurd, yet who can say what is real and what is imagined? All I know is I couldn’t stop reading. Imagine an entire country of over 20 million suffering from Stockholm Syndrome and you’ll have an idea of life in the DPRK as depicted in the book. Remarkably, however, despite the brutality and despair of life under a totalitarian regime inherent in the subject matter, the story was neither disheartening nor hopeless. I highly recommend it.

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I absolutely loved this book. Johnson's novel of North Korea presents the insular nation as almost comically ridiculous before veering into black and tragic territory. Pak Jun Do, the titular orphan master's son, serves as an almost picaresque hero in a world that is more 1984 than recognizable. In a country where lies become truth when they are agreed to, where identities can be erased with the nod of the Dear Leader's head, where not fitting into the system will almost certainly kill you, Pak Jun Do slips into experiences that should result in his obliteration with the silence of a fish. Survivor, kidnapper, spy, prisoner--he fills all these roles and more as he exposes the idiosyncrasies and insanities of North Korea under Kim Jong Il. Driven by his love for the famous North Korean actress Sun-moon, Pak Jun Do follows the passionate heart he keeps hidden under a stoic face. Johnson won pretty much all the major awards last year, and it's easy to see why. He makes this world, so foreign to Western eyes, come alive in all its absurdity and horror. It's easy to love Pak Jun Do, whose inner torments and triumphs against all odds seem to have something profound to say about the human spirit and the drive for fulfillment and wholeness we all face, no matter the obstacles. The novel alternates between three separate voices--the propaganda announcer on the radio, a third person narrator following Pak Jun Do, and a first person interrogator who is attempting to learn the story of Commander Ga, husband of Sun-moon and rival of Kim Jung Il. As these stories intertwine around and through each other, journeying from the seas around the Korean peninsula to a Texas ranch, and from a prison camp to the shores of Japan, Johnson allows us to ask questions about truth, about love, about what makes us who we are, and about human nature. The plot barrels forward without ever becoming trite, and as Pak Jun Do's world becomes increasingly labyrinthine and complicated, it also becomes richer and more rewarding for the reader, culminating in a climax that I completely adored. It's been a great reading year for me so far, but this is currently one of my front runners for my book of the year: just absolutely compelling and, despite those Orwellian tones, like nothing I've ever read. I'm guessing it's too complex (and maybe even dark) for my tenth grade students, but this is the kind of book I would love to teach in school if I can find a way to fit it in, simply to expose more people to it.

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If I had to describe this book in one word, I would call it "haunting." I had vivid dreams in which I was trying to escape from North Korea while reading this novel. It's fiction, but of the sort that may contain deeper truths than non-fiction often does. This isn't light, fun reading, but if you're up for a challenging, absorbing, disturbing book, I highly recommend "The Orphan Master's Son."

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I was interested in this book since it was about a country that I don’t know much about, North Korea. Unfortunately, the author tried but doesn’t know as much as he wishes he did and that comes through. I couldn’t trust what I was reading most of the time since what he was describing could have been rumors instead of based on stories told from defectors. I think this story would have been more useful if it wasn’t set in an actual country, but a fictional one that readers could understand was like North Korea. My main problem with the book was the lack of believable characters. The main character is never really fleshed out. He just has things happen to him, but his thought process isn’t really shared with the reader. The same thing happens with some other characters in the book. Actually, I felt like I did get to know an interrogator that appears halfway through the book in how he relates to his family. I found it odd that I felt more for one of the minor characters compared to the main one in the story. I also found it silly to have Kim Jong Il as a character in the story. The characters seemed to be there just to drive the plot, which gets more and more outlandish. It starts off with the main character living in an orphanage, describing the horrors of what happens to the orphans. Then it skips to him being already trained as a kidnapper. I thought that would have been interesting to read about, but instead I got to spend many pages reading about him transcribing on a boat. It was the long boring passages like that where I wanted to give up, but forced myself to continue. Halfway through, the story changes. I had hope! I actually enjoyed the propaganda chapters about what the citizens would hear on the loudspeakers. It was all so ridiculous and gave more insight into North Korea than anything else that I read, especially when compared to what was actually happening in the plot. Still, the second half of the book lost me with boredom again. As it went forward and backward in time, telling us the end of the story or hinting at it enough that by the time we read how it actually happened, it seemed repetitive. I kept waiting for some big reveal at the end to make it worth my effort of finishing it, but there was none.

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Adam Johnson has created a masterpiece. We living in the free world cannot begin to imagine life in places like North Korea where Johnson has set his "The Orphan Master's Son." He follows the tale of one brave man and we read along breathlessly. Every reader will want Jun Do to prevail and come out as a winner and in so far as he possibly can, he does. A definite page-turner and deserving of the Pulitzer prize.

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This book kept me up at night because I couldn't stop reading and once I was done reading I couldn't stop thinking about what I'd read. Amazingly well-written, fully realized characters and relationships, horribly evocative devastation. And it was funny to boot. Seriously, read it.

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I read Orphan Master's Son a good 6 months ago, and yet residuals of events within the book stick to my ribs, the underside. The word "gripper" pales when describing the horrors and ordeals the protagonist endured. As a Westerner, with the belief of the oneness of humankind, I find I must read what I consider to be true and authentic. Only by acknowledging someone else's reality is a way to do this, that and consciously become a better person contributing to the world. The young boy is born into the prison system or gulags of Puoninintang(sp) and his existence or struggle for survival seems to be lower than the level of a rat. I'm not surprised at the cruelty, having read books about North Korea, but I am relieved these stories are getting out there. Cruelty and oppression seem to last forever, but the power of the pen does a great deal to obliterate ignorance. I found this book to be profound and well written.

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Beautiful, haunting story, read it a few months ago and it continues to come back to me.

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This is author has one of the most creative and fresh styles I've found in years.

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The Orphan Master's Son would be my vote for the most intriguing book I read in 2012. It crosses so many genres,it is a political thriller, a mystery novel, an adventure yarn, a work of historical fiction and ultimately an old fashioned romance. The book is a novel but provides insight into the lives of people struggling to just survive, let alone find happiness under an oppressive political regime.

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Fascinating mix of fiction and non-fiction.

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Unforgettable!

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Reading The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson, I could not help but think of what life in North Korea must be like. Even though the book was a work of fiction, I believe much of it is based on truth. The story is riveting, the protagonist is resourceful and endearing. I will never think of North Korea again without thinking of Pac Jun Do. This is the best book I read in 2012.

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A very very thought provoking book about a country and people I have never thought about before. Adam Johnson has done a very fine job researching North Korea and writing his story. Assuming the living conditions and complete oppression of North Korea is true, the reality is shocking. The story itself delivers several shocking blows of its own. The story is about Pak Jun Do who believes he is raised by his father in an orphanage after his mother is abducted into service in Pyongyang as she is a beautiful woman. During the famine in North Korea, Jun Do is taken by the military to become a zero light combat fighter. His life twists and turn from there into a very intriguing love story. Adam Johnson's writing is not as poetic and beautiful as David Mitchell's or Ann Pattchet's, but he weaves a masterful story. His picture of North Korea is horrifying - people can not really live in conditions like the ones painted in this book. Yet, he writes some chapters as if they are coming from the government run media through the loud speakers mounted in every home and every factory in North Korea. The propaganda spewed from the loud speakers can be laugh out loud funny.

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This book gives one a rare glimpse into the hidden kingdom of North Korea. Even though it's a novel, it has been painstakingly researched. The story is compelling, as are the characters. I really loved this book! What a sad world Adam Johnson portrays, but the story was still uplifting.

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So many worthwhile books to comment upon, but suffering and endurance lie at the core of our age - a brutal time, and we must honor those whose lives are horror filled. The Orchard Master shines light on those caught in the prisons of North Korea, but the author's depiction of this life is made more horrendously clear by showing someone born into the gulags of North Korea. I read books like this not for titillation but so that as long as I live, I am aware of others' suffering and do my best to lead a life of nobility and service to humankind.

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One of the best books I've read this year. At first I wasn't sure I wanted to read a lengthy book about North Korea, but it sounded intriguing, so I decided to give it a chance. I'm glad I did. Though I don't know how much of Johnson's descriptions of life in that country are accurate and how much is made up or exaggerated, I do think it gave me some idea of what it must be like to live their. It's not a pretty picture.

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This is a case of too much hype about THE ORPHAN MASTER'S SON, too much exclamation about how great it is, too much insistence that it will be the best book I ever read. I expected too much; therefore, I'm disappointed. The book is about North Korea. It was difficult to read about such a hellish country and the sorry state of everyone in it. But it is also difficult to read such choppy writing. As a result, I thought throughout that I was missing something as I tried to get a handle on the orphan master's son, Pac Jun Do. 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.

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This is a fascinating novel set in North Korea, written by a professor of creative writing at Stanford who has traveled to North Korea. I was mesmerized by the characters and plot, and intrigued by Adam Johnson's choice of structure, which seemed to reflect the lack of clarity and information experienced by the North Koreans. Even before opening the book, the blurbs on the back cover by two of my favorite writers, Abraham Verghese and David Mitchell, and a rave review by Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times made me think I would like this book. I think Adam Johnson is brilliant, and look forward to reading more of his books.

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A very very thought provoking book about a country and people I have never thought about before. Adam Johnson has done a very fine job researching North Korea and writing his story. Assuming the living conditions and complete oppression of North Korea is true, the reality is shocking. The story itself delivers several shocking blows of its own. The story is about Pak Jun Do who believes he is raised by his father in an orphanage after his mother is abducted into service in Pyongyang as she is a beautiful woman. During the famine in North Korea, Jun Do is taken by the military to become a zero light combat fighter. His life twists and turn from there into a very intriguing love story.

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The Orphan Master's Son is a brave, brutal look at North Korea and a man named Jun Do. Jun Do is no angel. Jun Do is many things: a tunnel assassin, a kidnapper for his country, but compared to many of the other characters, he is the closest thing to an angel and always sympathetic. By the end of part one, I was gulping like a guppy at the injustice. Part two takes it to another level, splitting into three ways to tell a story: Jun Do's memory, the life of Jun Do's interrogator, and the North Korean announcements over the loudspeaker telling Jun Do's story, or what the country wants Jun Do's story to be. As another character in the book tells Jun Do: "In North Korea, the story is worth more than the person." Kim Jung Il is a character in the book and I am actually scared for Adam Johnson's life because of it. Kim Jung Il probably knew about the book before his death, since Johnson went to North Korea to research the book. Rather than changing the name of North Korea to a fictional place, for the purposes of making the book easier to digest if it isn't real, Johnson needed to write about North Korea after visiting. This isn't an easy book. It's very dark (how could it not be?), but very necessary. Even what happens to a shark is traumatic, but this book is worth it. Absolutely stunning characters, plot and writing style. I'm really hoping this book is widely read by many people. Hopefully Adam Johnson isn't assassinated before writing many many more books! REMINDS ME OF: the writing style of T.C. Boyle (a favorite of mine), David Mitchell's amazing 'The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet', Terrence Cheng's 'Sons of Heaven' for the personality similarities of the two main characters and that bit in Max Brooks 'World War Z' about North Korea, where all of North Korea hides underneath the mountains to avoid the zombies, never to be seen again. They don't come out of the mountains and no one wants to look for them, in case they are all zombies, stuck underneath the mountains. That might just be because World War Z is the last thing I read about North Korea though.

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The story of Park Jun Do, the son of a man who runs a work camp for orphans in North Korea, is remarkable in its telling. It's apparent from the beginning that the author did extensive research. The characters all seemed very authentic. I was amazed at the author's ability to capture the essence of a country that is as secretive and closed off as North Korea. The writing was superb and the storytelling was engrossing. I could not put this book down. Nevertheless, it should be noted that this book is not for the faint of heart. The author does not spare the reader stories of violence, torture, starvation and cruelty. It is often disturbing and gut-wrenching. Also, there is some salty language. It all made sense in the context of the book, but some images are hard to erase and continue to haunt me. The knowledge that Kim Jong Il is still in power and that atrocities and suffering continue makes the story of Park Jun Do all the more unsettling. Even so,despite the oppression and inhumanity, there is also love, friendship and self-sacrifice. I wouldn't be surprised if this book wins awards because it has broken new ground and put a face to those who continue to suffer under the leadership of an oppressive tyrant. The story of Park Jun Do's journey from boy to man is filled with a myriad of experiences and ultimately an outrageous deception. If you can stomach the darkness and want to get a real feeling for life in one of the most oppressive countries in the world, I highly recommend this book. It will disturb you, but it will also enlighten you. This book is an amazing literary achievement.

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Who hasn't wondered what life in North Korea is like? The Orphan Master's Son takes us there, where "nothing is spontaneous". Pak Jun Do, "a survivor with nothing to live for" comes of age in extraordinary circumstances. As one who is deemed an orphan, yet knows who is parents are; he learns early on that in North Korea, "if a man and his story are in conflict, it is the man who must change". Through multiple story lines, Jun Do is both perpetrator and victim. He kidnaps and rescues, tortures and nurtures, and serves the "Dear Leader" as soldier, prisoner, expert, and officer. Like people everywhere, he yearns for love and acceptance. After reading the book, I find the story difficult to describe. But I am struck by the images in my mind, many of them haunting, that reading it provoked. I feel they will stay with me long after I've forgotten the details of the book.