This book deserves that National Book Award Finalist accolade. Nothing to Envy is my book club's read for May, but with the North Korean Summit last week, I decided to read it now. I knew very little about North Korea other than news reports of a man with funny hair (Kim Jong-il) and his young son who took over and likes to do nuclear testing (Kim Jong-un). I also knew something about this regime because of the tragic story of Otto Warmbier (who was the same age as my youngest son). This book goes back to North Korea after World War II and Kim Il-sung coming into power. This is the only communist regime that has stayed in the same family. WOW! I heartily recommend this book. The author is a journalist and takes personal stories of North Korean defectors and weaves it together with the history of this awful regime. I could not put it down. It is written so well.
I happened upon the National Geographic Documentary called Inside North Korea's Dynasty at the same time. It is a perfect complement to this book because it gives the history of the three rulers of North Korea. (It sickens me to think Kim Jong-Il was eating caviar and suchi and drinking cognac every night as his people were dying from starvation in the streets.) I watched this through Xfinity On-Demand, but Amazon Prime has it for rent. My library does not have it, but I may request they buy it. It is that good. I heartily recommend this documentary to go with the book.
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