Nothing To Envy: Real Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

First paragraph in the book:  If you look at satellite photographs of the Far East by night, you'll see a large splotch curiously lacking in light.  This area of darkness is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.


Synopsis:  North Korea is one of the most repressive and secretive states on earth.  Spying is encouraged, the media is government controlled, Gone with the Wind is a dangerous, banned book.  In the 1990s, famine descended.  Millions of people died, but the regime remained in power.  Through extensive interviews, Barbara Demick has created the first portrait of life in this extraordinary country, weaving together the stories of six ordinary citizens in a gripping and vivid account of adversity and survival in the land of 'Our Dear Leader'.

About the author:  Barbara Demick's coverage of the war in Sarajevo won a George Polk Award and the Robert F Kennedy Award, and was shortlisted for the Putlizer Prize in international reporting.  She is now a foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, where she has reported from the Middle East and South Korea.  She is currently based in Beijing.  This book won her the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction in 2010 and was nominated for the US's most prestigious literary prize, the National Book Awards.

Listen to what Barbara Demick has to say about life in this most reclusive of societies taken from youtube:



If you want to hear a longer version of what Demick has to say about her book, click on the Asia Society where she gave a talk in New York on 7 January 2010 about Nothing to Envy.

My thoughts:  Before this, I had never paid much attention to North Korea but this book has opened my eyes to a country where extraordinary true stories of defection, isolation, hunger, poverty, deaths, false/unfair imprisonments, fear, betrayal, depravity, deprivation, brainwashing, struggles for survival, oppression and many more happened to ordinary people like you and me in the most secretive state on earth.  Above all, I think it is important to realize that it is also a book about hope, freedom and a testament to the incredible power of the human spirit to survive against all odds.  I commend Demick for writing a deservedly award-winning and thought-provoking work of literature in exposing the true face of The Hermit Kingdom.  Every booklover should read this book.


I do not rate works of investigative journalism.