A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea

I'm going to need a few days to process what I've just read.

We're often prone to looking upon North Korea through the lens of our perspective of Kim-Jong Un (i.e. a brat - albeit a dangerous one - with small man syndrome).

Not after this.

I knew that North Korea's citizens lived in poverty, but not like this.

Masaji Ishikawa's recounting of his daily toil is mentally exhausting. His bleak non-existence genuinely hurts to read. Death, starvation, brainwashing - it's desperately oppressive.

I hope, sincerely, that since writing this, he has been able to find some sort of peace.

I haven't felt this unsettled reading a book since Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure.

Here's the thing though. This isn't fiction.

I'm not sure I'll be able to bring myself to pick this one up again for a long time, but I'm tremendously glad that I did read it.

I can't give this less than 5 stars. It's an eye-opening account I'll never forget. Not necessarily for the right reasons, but I don't think Ishikawa would have it any other way.