The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag
Product Details | Similar Products | Customer Reviews | Author: Chol-hwan Kang, Pierre Rigoulot List Price: $16.95 Our Price: $11.53 You Save: $5.42 (32%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours  |
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 | Product Details: Paperback 272 pages Release Date: 24 August 2005 Publisher: Basic Books ISBN: 0465011047 Rating:   Sales Rank: 27343 | | Look for similar books by subject: | | Customers who bought this item also bought:
| | Customer Reviews: Unforgettable (05 September 2010)I purchased this book nearly two years ago and found the story so compelling and so moving that I've recommended it to many friends and coworkers. The fact that this story is true and that these types of atrocities continue make the book unforgettable. You don't have to have an interest in communism, human rights, or even North Korea to connect to this book and to its author. It's simply a story of incredible sorrow and survival - but it will definitely open your eyes to the lives of North Koreans. It's a book that will stay with you long after the last page has been read. Shocking very dark reality (05 August 2010)What a messed up, bizarrely horrific leadership which attempts to run that country! It's amazing the people of North Korea accept this rule which is beyond evil. Truly eye opening, more people need to be informed what is going on in North Korea. Something I Knew But Never Realized Until... (29 July 2010)Kang Chol-hwan's The Aquariums of Pyongyang takes the reader into one of North Korea's most infamous concentration camps, Yodok or No. 15. I always was aware that North Koreans suffered from political oppression and various hardships, but this book brings light to a very dark place. Kang details his family's background into Korea, which eventually links to their transportation to the Yodok camp. Starting the story from the eyes of a child exposes how disruptive and uncaring the government is towards the innocence of the convicts and their families. As we learn about the life (or rather lack-thereof) Kang was given in Yodak, we experience the horrific, desensitizing events that all the prisoners are forced to embrace. It seems unreal and I, myself would have short nightmares after a night's read. After his eventual release from prison, we are exposed to the corruption in the government. Almost any government worker can be bribed to turn their back or provide a service. It is eventually because of this corruption that Kang and his friend are able to escape North Korea. This book puts insight where it has been missing, and possibly, will inspire you to advocate a free North Korea. Afterthoughts... I wonder what happened to that elder woman that was picked up along the way to the camp? Maybe it's better not to know. The only negative feeling I have toward the book is how it uses labyrinthine wording (heh, I'm funny). It felt like I had to at least look up a word or two on every other page. The wording was precise, but I had never heard many of them before (or seen them used in the form they were used). After awhile I just simply ignored those words and the story flowed uninterrupted. I recommend this book to others. The World Must Know (18 May 2010)It's happening again. The world sat by and watched Hitler slaughter 6 million Jews and did little to help or stop it. Now the government, run by the ungodly and evil Kim Jong Il, is slaughtering its own people by the millions, and who is speaking out or doing anything to stop it? This brave man is one who was there, endured near starvation, beatings, atrocities, and is speaking out for the world to hear. You owe it to yourself to buy and read this book and not be one who tried to say "I didn't know" and did nothing. UNBELIEVABLE. (14 May 2010)It is hard to belevie how this people en North Korea, live, a better word would be SURVIVE.... and such a horrible place.... everybody should read this book and thank God for our fredom... | |
