The Orphan Master's Son: A Novel of North Korea

Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother - a singer "stolen" to Pyongyang - and an influential father who runs Long Tomorrows, a work camp for orphans. Driven to the absolute limit of what any human being could endure, he boldly takes on the treacherous role of rival to Kim Jong Il in an attempt to save the woman he loves, Sun Moon, a legendary actress "so pure, she didn't know what starving people looked like." Part breathless thriller, part story of innocence lost, part story of romantic love, The Orphan Master's Son is also a riveting portrait of a world heretofore hidden from view: a North Korea rife with hunger, corruption, and casual cruelty but also camaraderie, stolen moments of beauty, and love. There the boy is given his first taste of power, picking which orphans eat first and which will be lent out for manual labor. A towering literary achievement, The Orphan Master's Son ushers Adam Johnson into the small group of today's greatest writers. Pulitzer Prize, Fiction, 2013An epic novel and a thrilling literary discovery, The Orphan Master's Son follows a young man's journey

It'll break your heart and open your eyes Jeena Livience Lim A simultaneously beautiful and harrowing tale of life in North Korea. Johnson tells the story of a young man living in the North who beats the odds to survive and even rise in prominence. He paints a grim picture of life in the Communist North, but shows that the drive to survive is strong. It'll break your heart and open your eyes.. "More True Than He Knew" according to OldSoldierSix. The author did his homework, bringing to light many virtually unknown things about North Korea's almost completely opaque, cruel regime. Many will presume his description of life in the dark half of the Korean Peninsula is fiction. Pity that it is not. He has woven the facts - and some suppositions which are more true than he knew - into human terms, with an interesting plotline and well-developed characters. This is NOT a light-hearted book, simply because there is precious little lightness in North Korean society. Highly recommended for truth-seekers.. I was skeptical, but this book is great Athenany This novel is not for the faint of heart. It contains graphic, horrible descriptions of kidnapping and of life in North Korea. It is intense. I am really interested in North Korea and I was a little bit skeptical that someone could write a fictional novel about it that managed to capture the essence of the society, but Johnson did a great job. If you like this novel, you should check out some of the fantastic non-fiction books about North Korea, particularly "Nothing to Envy" or "Escape From Camp 14." They read like novels in their own right, but are all too true.