Yeonmi wrote this book with the purpose that more people will listen to her story and know the reality that resides in North Korea even though this means putting her life in danger as she's now being branded as a public enemy to the whole country where she's born. At the same time she's also letting us know that in the darkest situation, there’s always hope to be found. I listened to her story, I'm inspired and I cared. If somehow my review could reach just one more person to know her story then I’ll be satisfied. Doesn’t matter if you’re a fan of fantasy, sci-fi, romance, YA, or any other genre, this is a book that everyone must read. Of course we won’t let that happen. I’m not going to let that happen. I’ll live longer than Kim Jong-un – he’s fatter than me. He doesn’t like me. I don't agree with all of the opinions that she's presented in this book but she brings up a lot of great points and offers a lot of food for thought. Also, the comparisons that she was able to draw between woke/cancel culture and North Korean dictatorship and propaganda were very interesting. Your mother and sister went through journeys as difficult as your own. What did this experience teach you about the importance of family?

But while Park's moral authority as political pundit rests on her experience as a refugee from an authoritarian pariah state, she has been dogged for years by accusations that some of her more lurid tales of state vengeance and extreme societal decay don't add up. Scholars on North Korea who are skeptical of Park say she's symptomatic of a booming market for horror stories from the cloistered nation that they believe encourages some “celebrity” defectors to spin increasingly outlandish claims." [3] Park, Yeonmi (27 May 2014). "North Korea's best hope" (Opinion). Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Retrieved 11 July 2021. Review to be revised Education. Re-education and even more re-re-education. Or you could just call it programming or that nice, old-fashioned Cold War word, brainwashing. But who, in the end, is being brainwashed? It wouldn't be us now, would it? Stabile, Angelica (16 June 2021). "North Korean defector drags Dems for comments on Americans being deprived of freedom: 'That's a complete lie' ". Fox Business . Retrieved 4 August 2021. I think I'm going to have to reread the book and rethink my review in light of this interview with the author. It adds to my knowledge of her and what she went through in a way I wasn't aware of.Miller, Barbara (4 September 2017). "North Korean defector stories find home in the South on reality TV show". ABC News. Some of the comparisons she makes are a bit difficult to grasp. She makes rapid-fire statements with little argumentation. Like when she compares anti-racism with Juche. Like, I’m sorry, just… how. Can we get an explanation? I find it easy to compare Trump’s MAGA with Juche, but… anti-racism? There were many other comparisons that were made the same way and I just can’t avoid assuming she knows most of her readers won’t know anything about North Korea but I just couldn’t make sense of a lot of things.

a b c Power, John (29 October 2014). "North Korea: Defectors and Their Skeptics". thediplomat.com . Retrieved 22 June 2023.Power, John (21 January 2015). "Celebrated Korean gulag defector changes story. Does that change the truth?". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729 . Retrieved 18 December 2020.

FMI Public Speaker Series Featuring North Korean Defector Yeonmi Park". Events@Rawls . Retrieved 3 May 2021.a b c d Gupta, Priyanka. "Escaping North Korea: one refugee's story". www.aljazeera.com . Retrieved 25 September 2015. Park, Yeonmi (14 February 2023). While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector's Search for Freedom in America. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-668-00333-6. Books like these are the reason I read. I love having my eyes and world open. They motivate me to make a difference and a change, even if I can only contribute in small ways. I'm a Special Education Teacher that teaches high schoolers with cognitive/intellectual disabilities and I started a book club about diversity. Both of these things are small but they help me feel like I'm making even a small difference.

Yeonmi, being only 4 years younger than me (she’s 23 currently) had faced brutal hardships to get through to where she is now. It’s truly a wonder she could smile the way she does now. In the meantime, the love theme is casually inserted in the story, when a rich, smart, cool and older (I am running out of adjectives) kid falls for the 13 year Park, despite the social class gap.

having the production values of a Stalin-era newsreel, the footage was chilling: some of her uncles, aunts and cousins still living in North Korea were paraded in front of the camera to denounce her. The worst they could come up with was that Yeon-mi was an ambitious child. But it was horrifying for her to see them so vulnerable. At least she knew they were still alive. [9] Brown, Isabel (22 September 2021). "On The Frontlines With Special Guest, Yeonmi Park". Turning Point USA . Retrieved 10 October 2022. Hakim, Danny (25 October 2014). "The World's Dissidents Have Their Say". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 25 September 2015.