Eunsun Kim

Eunsun Kim’s memoir about growing up in North Korea, going through the famine of the 1990s, and leaving for a better life. She, her mother, and her sister overcame many obstacles to eventually escape. Unfortunately, it reads like a report. There is little reflection or analysis. She is a young person who has endured many hardships, so I do not want to be too critical. Her goal is to raise awareness about the human rights abuses in North Korea, and in this, she succeeds. Stories like this one are important to the international community.… (meer)

A Thousand Miles to Freedom: My Escape From North Korea by Eunsun Kim (5.5 hours, audio book). There may be a variety of reasons why, but this is one of least readable books I’ve read in the last couple years. Possibly that is the fault of the translation/translator, or maybe it was just really poor writing. The story lacks what I think are important details, ones that would’ve made its different parts cohere, includes unexplained leaps of time & distance, and is rife with details that strain credulity. This subject (North Korea generally plus defection) is one that can fascinate, so it was extremely disappointing to find little to like about this woman’s story. The detail is so spare that I began to doubt the authenticity of the story. Needless to say, buying this book was a mistake.… (meer)