The F-word discussion

We will be reading Yeonmi Park's In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom for the month of March.

Who will be joining us in this read this month? Has anyone already read this and want to share some thoughts?

I requested a copy from the library and got notification that it came in, so now all I have to do is pick it up (which is exactly where I have been failing lately on library orders, lol).

Excited about this book - have heard nothing but good things.

Same here, Kay. The few GR friends who have read this book have given it 5 stars.

If anyone is interested, the author talks about the book and her experience briefly (2 mins) here. I recommend taking a quick listen to it. Hearing her thoughts makes me want to read her book even more.

Thanks for the video, El!

... The video made me want to cry. .. How am I going to get through this book? Books about Asian women specifically - although now that I'm older any woman migrating for a better future can be included - really cut me deep in the feels because my mom came to America when she was in her mid twenties (after the Vietnam War which greatly affected her and her family in Thailand).

I always think of the strength it takes to decide to leave everything you know for the unknown. People say that the unknown is humankind's greatest fear. So what does your life have to be for you to walk into the unknown to escape it? alone, or with children who rely on you? I'm already emotionally invested in this story. which I Can't even start until I clean up my nightstand stack

Anita, I didn't realize this book would be one that spoke to you on such a personal level. I can imagine your mother's story is incredibly powerful.

I started reading this book last night and I have to say that it has been an eye-opening experience for me already. I admit to not knowing much about North Korea except for what I have seen on the news. But what I miss from that is how the people have lived for so long, the propaganda they have had forced on them for so long, the living conditions all around.

We are beginning the slow process of moving this weekend so I was not able to read as much as I would have liked. But I have been fascinated while I have read and her story is already sticking with me when I put the book down.

This is why I love good literature - it makes you think about other experiences and learn about other cultures and histories as well as it can express your own experience on the page.
Anita, I really hope you will be able to join the discussion. You are right - it takes a horrific experience to let you leave the known for something that could be worse...and it takes a certain type of person to make that leap especially when they have to take care of their family too.

Kay wrote: "This is why I love good literature - it makes you think about other experiences and learn about other cultures and histories as well as it can express your own experience on the page."

So true. And I want to return to this thought at the end of the month (if I remember) once people have had a chance to read and process this one. I hope more will share their thoughts as they read.

I'm about 40 pages from the end and fingers crossed I will be able to finish this tonight, even though I'm going to see Roxane Gay talk.

This book has brought up some eye-opening details about human trafficking, a modern-day form of slavery. I wasn't naive in thinking that it didn't still exist; but I also haven't read many contemporary authors who have experienced and written about it.

Someone I work with founded The Project to End Human Trafficking, which has also been an intense and interesting project that I have been learning more about over the past six months I've worked here. So glad to have these opportunities to learn more, though of course it's unfortunate the need for these sorts of projects and books even exist. Breaks my heart the amount of sadness and terror that exists throughout the world.

I thought I would share that there is a new book that just got smuggled out of North Korea, which also speaks to life under the regime - The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea. Have not read it yet, but from what I understand, it fictionalizes North Korean life quite well.

I really liked this book - I found the first part about life in North Korea - and the third part - adjusting to life in South Korea - the most illuminating. The smuggling part in China was terrifying but at the same time, I find it predictable and not that interesting, even though it broke my heart several times. I read the book expecting to learn a lot more about North Korea, but considering Park escapes at 13, it is understandable it wasn't as broad as I hoped. I wish her mother would write a book about their life under the Kim regime. All this being said, I found the book moving and the Parks' struggle both terrifying and inspiring.

So glad we had the opportunity to read this for group! This is an incredibly tough area to do activism is because human trafficking is very hidden from the public eye. One country thought that legalizing prostitution would lower the rate of women trafficked into that country but after years researchers have found that it had no affect. Women and girls continue to be trafficked.

I enjoyed this book, though there were several points where I questioned her narrative. It just seemed her story was not always congruent, though this could certainly have been an issue with translation. That being said, North Korea remains a country that hides itself and its citizens from the public eye, has brainwashed those that have remained, and human trafficking and exploitation of women and children is a worldwide problem.

Candace wrote: "I enjoyed this book, though there were several points where I questioned her narrative."

So glad you brought that up. Earlier in this thread I mentioned that I'd return with some thoughts by the end of the month but didn't want to mention it too early on in case it colored how anyone read the book. But that's exactly what I was referring to, so thanks for sharing that thought.

I've read some reviews and at least one article that talk about some of Park's inconsistencies. This really affected how some people read the book, and I would say normally it would change my feelings for a book as well.

But ultimately I decided that, like Candace said, there's a whole lotta stuff going on in North Korea that many of us aren't aware of. And no matter what, there is a major human trafficking and exploitation problem worldwide, and if Park's book helps bring that issue to light then I find the book a success and one I would continue to recommend to others.

I also really "enjoyed" reading this book. Couldn't put it down, reading it like a thriller, I had to remind myself that this wasn't fiction this was the reality for Park. How strong she must be to tell about her life and about the history of her family and the North Korean people. For me this book was an eye opener. Even weeks after reading this book I'm discussing and thinking about how and who will free the North Korean people. Why hasn't it happened yet?

I think because of the Kim regime, E. They have some scary-ass things they wave around on a good day; not sure I would trust them to behave calmly if anyone went in to try to free the people.

Also, to be honest, the safety of women and girls, especially POC, is usually on the lower end of most priority lists. Of course boys are involved in human trafficking as well, but I think people just don't really know or understand the extent of human trafficking.

On a cynical note, perhaps because the people who could actually go in and save anyone are the ones who benefit from human trafficking, so there is little financial incentive for them to get involved.

:/

El wrote: "I think because of the Kim regime, E. They have some scary-ass things they wave around on a good day; not sure I would trust them to behave calmly if anyone went in to try to free the people.

Also..."

It should be noted that at one point in time during our previous president's term, the US was going to impose sanctions against China and Russia because of their deplorable score in the 2013 report on Trafficking in Persons (TIP).

We appear to have be having a change in our relations with certain other countries, and how we treat those countries that knowingly abet human trafficking will be something to watch for.

Not trying to spark a political debate here, just throwing out some extra information related to our book of the month!