Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

HOW TO CHOOSE? I had to ask myself: Which selection offers me the most in-depth “feel” of a nation or a time in history, a family’s struggles and survival? What shows great courage in the midst of extreme hardship? What demands to be read NOW? To me, it is A RIVER IN DARKNESS. That metaphor is apt for the oppression faced by so many people in the last 40 years in North Korea. It deepens my understanding, sympathy and appreciation for freedom. A TOUGH MEMOIR. I’m sure it was not easy for the author, Masaji Ishikawa, to share his story with us. So much suffering, deprivation, and death from disease and starvation. So if you want a happy book, this is not it. It is a tough read, satisfying to my need to know and to share in the author’s life. But often I had to take a break from reading it in order to cope with the build-up of inner distress. STYLE—NOT FANCY BUT HONEST. “Truth is stranger than fiction.” If I read this as a novel, I would find much that's hard to believe. The hardest would be the loss of loved ones to starvation, loss of dignity, purpose, hope. But somehow the author clings to the hope of escape to freedom, to return to his homeland of Japan from which he was taken 39 years earlier. VIVID—I felt I was right there with Ishikawa, suffering and hoping with him, holding my breath as he tries to escape across the river to China. Always he faces the possibility of being sidetracked and captured even after he's in China. It's amazing how certain people come to his rescue, showing there is still good in the world. THE GREATEST RIGHT--STOLEN. Even though as a young man Ishikawa did well in a North Korean university, he was reduced to being a farmer; he was too educated for the repressive governing officials. I felt his sorrow when he stated: “I never could forgive Kim Il-sung for taking away our right to think.” Hopefully where you are, you have the right to express what you think. After reading this simple but disturbing book, I was left thinking far into the night. And this morning I'm so grateful for what I have in this land of freedom and much love.