Brilliant, if a little cliched, study of the difficulties of life under Il-Sungian Communism in North Korea. Very effectively emotive, but never soapy or trite, and informative too.
Just finished this one. I'm very interested in North Korea and how ordinary people cope with life in a complete sense of isolation with a totalitarian government and propaganda machine working around the clock to dominate their lives. Heartbreaking and beautiful stories of love, fear, and loss among ordinary North Koreans--these stories come from those who managed to defect to S. Korea.
I just started this based on the Hunch recommendation, and it's great. I really didn't realize that the regime had such total authoritative control, down to how people dress and wear their hair. The neighborhood snitches that report any rogue comment about the government elicit memories of the East German stasi...it's terrifying and unsettling.