Title: In Order to Live
Author: Yeonmi Park
Type: Non-Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 274
Rating: 4/5
This book has been on my radar for a while, because it’s long been a popular book amongst the BookTube community. I can see why.
It’s essentially a non-fiction book that tells the true story of Park’s upbringing in North Korea, along with the crazy tale of how her and her mother were able to flee the country and to eventually make new lives for themselves in the west, although not without facing their fair share of issues along the way.
I was expecting to like this book because of it providing a glimpse into life in the notoriously secretive state on the Korean Peninsula, but it turns out that there’s a lot more on offer than that. True, there was plenty of that on offer, but at its heart, this is a human story that grips you as the reader because of the ordeals the family goes through during their escape attempt.
It turns out that people are assholes, and that’s just as true outside of North Korea as it is inside it. It’s actually pretty crazy that Park was able to go through what she did and to retain her humanity, although I’m sure that there are plenty of internal scars and it’s clear that there are things that she’d rather forget.
All in all, then, this is a cracking read that has a lot to offer, and I think most people would be able to find something here that makes it worth reading for them. Read it.
