Book: In Order To Live by Yeonmi Park
Read From: 22nd July - 23rd July 2021
Rating: No Rating (memoir)
Summary: This book is the story of Park's struggle to survive in the darkest, most repressive country on earth; her harrowing escape through China's underworld of smugglers and human traffickers; and then her escape from China across the Gobi desert to Mongolia, with only the stars to guide her way, and from there to South Korea and at last to freedom; and finally her emergence as a leading human rights activist - all before her 21st birthday.
EVERYBODY SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. Non-fiction is always such a hard one to review, as who am I to give thoughts on someone's life and experiences - particularly when they are as harrowing as this? Nobody should ever have to experience any of what Yeonmi Park had to endure and this book sheds so much light on what an oppressive country North Korea actually is. I feel like many people, myself included before reading In Order to Live, have the complete wrong end of the stick when thinking about North Korea and I am so grateful that this book was able to dispel my ignorance and really open my eyes to the horrors and heartbreak going on in that horrible country.
In Order to Live should be required reading. For everybody. It's raw, heart-breaking and inspiring all at once. Yeonmi Park has packed a huge (and traumatic) period of her life into less than 300 heart-wrenching pages and I truly believe that nothing anyone can say about this book will do it the justice it deserves. You just need to read it and experience for yourself. This is a memoir that will stick with me forever and one I will recommend to everyone.
Please check the trigger warnings before reading this book.