Nothing to Envy – Real Lives in North Korea.

‘In the futuristic dystopia imagined in 1984, George Orwell wrote of a world where the only color to be found was in the propaganda posters. Such is the case in North Korea.’

The book that led me towards Barbara Demick’s ‘Nothing to Envy’, was Jung Chang’s ‘Wild Swans’. Jung Chang’s document explicitly revealed the realities of Mao’s China, and the atrocities that took place during his dictatorship. The novel not only dealt with the political impact of Mao’s idea of communism brilliantly, but also the humanitarian impact in a way that is yet to be matched. The book’s success was astonishing.

Demick’s account approaches Il-Sung and Jong-Ils North Korea in a similar way; using personal accounts of refugees she has met during her life in South Korea, and from regular (and closely guided) visits to North Korea. Her vast knowledge of the Korean peninsular and the conviction of her accounts make for just as astonishing a read as ‘Wild Swans’, and could be the considered the first book to come close to Chang’s bestseller in terms of the portrayal of far-east totalitarianism and the impact it has on the people.

What it lacked in plausibility at times, (in contrast to Chang’s book, Demick used sources accounts instead of experience), it made up for in the sheer depth of the research and constant presentation of evidence that added weight to the claims. The use of personal stories so as to demonstrate the impact of Il-Sung and Jong-Ils reign on a wide-variety of people was a wonderful way to approach the book. In under 300 pages she fits in the life stories of six people. Her accounts are brilliantly poised before each continuation of another, and the whole book reads like a complex novel the plays out the lives of six people that connect in some way. Unfortunately, her sources connect through the turmoil of the totalitarian society they were born in, and the shared desire they all acted upon in escaping from their homeland.

Sometimes, it begs the question as to whether the sources may hold an underlying grudge against their country that have induced a certain degree of exaggeration, but I personally believe that even the most skeptical reader will be astonished by the accounts of these peoples lives. It’s a fascinating book that will surely have resonance when the inevitable happens in the near future and the North Korea ceases to exist under its current rule. (It only seems to be a matter of time.)

I recommend this book to everyone as it is a wonderful piece of journalism about the world’s most secretive country.