In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom Paperback – September 27, 2016

I first heard about Yeonmi when she was on a podcast. Then there were YouTube shorts of her telling people that DEI is how communism sets in. People who escaped Cuba, China have this similar experience where at first they want everyone to have discontent at the current situation then feed it until there is a division, then incite fear. Then, they claim that it would be more equitable under their administration. Totalitarian governements start this way. She was urging people to wake up. She was sounding the alarm because she already lived through it. So I read her story and it is a testament her determination and drive to survive, to live another day, to be reunited with her family. She has endured so much. She is a voice that needs to be heard until those with no voice can join hers into a thundering witness of what really happens in totalitarian regimes.

I loved (hated) learning more about the horrible North Korean country, but loved learning more about the culture. Very interesting. Thank you to the author for sharing so much of her life, which makes us all more compassionate.

I’m speechless as I write this. I’m an American who is finding out through other’s hardships that on my worst day, it would be a dream come true for people like this woman. I pray for North Korea. I pray for those who haven’t opened their eyes yet. I pray for dictatorship to fall. And more stories like Yeonmi Park’s come to light. She is not only a voice for 25 million people who still occupy her mind, but for all of humanity. Love one another. It’s what this world needs.

Story itself: WOW. One of so few that has come out of North Korea. I've read my fair share of books/stories about abusive regimes as a history teacher who is constantly trying to educate myself in the little details, but this particular regime is a whole new level of evil. This story in particular was eye opening because it was an overview of many different social situations in North Korea, all in one woman's personal experience. She experienced the highs and the lows: what it was like to be poor, then well-off, then the daughter of a criminal, and finally her escape.Writing style: not horrible, but not brilliant. If you're someone who really loves a well-written book, this isn't your book. The plot is great, it's a true story, no issues there. But everyone loves books for different reasons, and if writing style is one of the main reasons you love to read, this probably isn't your book.Age group: for sure a mature audience. The writing is pretty approachable for even a middle school level, but I would NOT hand this to anyone younger than college. It has multiple mentions of rape, horrific treatment of humans, bullying, starvation, dead bodies, etc. It's horrific. Rightly so, it's a true story about something horrific. But readers be aware.

This book is definitely a must read. So inspiring to hear her story anyone who reads this book do not help but be encouraged by the sheer determination and strength that this family had to overcome adversity.

Review of IN ORDER TO LIVE By Yeonmi ParkThe key words or phrases appropriate here are starvation, disease, corruption, rape, connections, bribery (seemingly everywhere), propaganda, black market, jammed radio signals, human trafficking, frozen river, no electricity at times, clothing stolen from clotheslines, dogs not kept outdoors at night, mystical powers of leaders, etc.Are you still with me? Don't worry. There are some words they do not have, a list of no's.No words for shopping malls, liberty, or love (except for love or worship of the Kims). No tampons for women. No food and very little water during the 1990s famine, no state-controlled economy when Communist countries abandoned them, no business allowed legally outside of state control, no videos with foreign movies or SK TV shows except those smuggled in, no books except those printed by the government with political themes, no eating of cows without permission (one starving man was executed publicly for doing so), etc.This may seem more like a grade Z melodrama about an exaggerated empire in the Middle Ages than a view of a living hell on earth today, but this is life in North Korea as outlined by the very young author Yeonmi Park. Fortunately, she survived to tell the tale, and, fortunately, she found a worthy co-author Maryanne Vollers. Surviving, however, for this young lady meant knowing her mother was being raped to prevent her own rape (the second time even in front of her), listening to lies about the outside world, learning that one must put words like "demon," "bastards," "devil," or "big-nosed" before or after the name for Americans (as well as looking at images of grotesque GIs killing civilians and being killed by Korean children), learning to control your emotions and think with one mind, told to spy on neighbors and even fellow school children, learning that your Dear Leader could control the weather with his thoughts, and expressing enough visible grief when Kim Il Sung (thought to be immortal) passed away.She and her sister were supposed to bring food to school for the teacher, and when they could no longer do so, they dropped out of school. If neighbors learned that her family had rice cakes, they would show up and devour them until none were left for her family. Surprisingly, spring was the season of death -- when most people died of starvation and whose bodies were left on the streets -- because stores of food were depleted and new crops were just being planted. Children would even eat dragonflies.She realized later that her father was like Winston Smith in 1984, a man who was able to see through Big Brother’s propaganda and knew how things really worked in the country.Finally, Yeonmi and her mother were smuggled across the river into China by women at night, not knowing they were being rescued to become involved in human trafficking. Her sister had gone before them and had disappeared.Women were sold as wives to Chinese where birth rate of males was low. "Get sold or go back to NK." A broker wanted to have sex with her (at age 13), which is when her mother took her place. Her price would go up each time they were sold along the chain. Finally, eventually, she was allowed to eat a whole bowl of rice by herself.Changchun = capital of Jilin province – is where she saw small wonderful things, cooking everywhere, unrecognizable fruit sold on the streets, real toilets and showers, disposable pads for menstrual periods. Unfortunately, she also encountered a hierarchy of gangsters and barely escaped attempted rape several times. Eventually, she agreed to live with a particular influential broker because he promised to buy back her mother, bring her father to China, and help her find her sister. At 13 (she lied that she was 16), she became the xiao-xifu (little wife or mistress) of the broker. She even helped him with his business.All defectors lived in fear and stated that they would kill themselves before going back to NK. Some soldiers looked scared and took them to Seoul.South Korea was not the Emerald City for them, however. When she saw SK girls in miniskirts, she wanted to crawl into a mouse hole to hide her shabby tweed coat and mended jeans. In school, she couldn't catch up with SK middle school students, didn't know multiplication tables, only knew letters from the Russian alphabet, and had to endure comments like "What's that animal thing doing here?" and "Spy." She finally left school never to return.On her own, she became a learning machine – reading classics (at the university), reading books that were just about Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, reading Socrates and Nietzsche on her own. Finally, she took a risk to appear on national TV show.Her dread of evil Americans melted when she arrived in a Houston airport. She was amazed at how quickly a lie loses its power in the face of truth. She was impressed with the size of products in Walmart Superstore. (But did she go to Cosco?)She visited San Jose Costa Rica YOUTH WITH A MISSION and even worked with the homeless in Atlanta. She gave speeches and interviews from Australia to the US, became the face of human rights issues, and even brought a weeping audience to its feet in Dublin.All this time, of course, she was watched by the NK government and even had to watch her relatives back in NK denounce her and her family on TV, obviously not of their own free will (since such as concept is unknown there anyway). Media exposure by dictator demand. Lie or die.Now she doesn't have to and can even think for herself.

very nice book, great read..........

One of the books everyone should read. We as humans need to know how others are existing in this world.