The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee

Do you ever wonder what life's like in North Korea?

Having previously read "Without You, There is No Us" by Suki Kim, this firsthand account of a defector  further piqued my interest of the unfamiliar. 

The book starts slowly of Lee as a young girl growing up under the DPRK regime recounting her childhood experiences under the pretense of normalcy. This provides context to the later events unravelling in her adulthood.

Interestingly enough, Lee's hometown is located in Hyesan situated across Changbai, China and separated by its ancient border, the Yalu River, providing geographical advantage for escape and cross border smuggling.

Suspenseful and riveting, the book follows Lee spending a decade in China, eluding arrest and repatriation thus the seven names.

The next section of the book details her extraordinary return, leading her own family to freedom by taking them on a perilous journey across the borders of China and Laos, where defectors struggle with bureaucracy and coercion on their way to seeking asylum. 

Lee reveals absurd facts of brainwashing, delusion and the occult of personality that the ruling Kim's have perpetuated by fear among her own people. For instance, she shares that the lines blur between the oppressor and the oppressed, with the inconceivable concept of human rights in the repressive state.

"To know that your rights are being abused, or that you are abusing someone else's, you first have to know that you have them, and what they are. But with no comparative information about societies elsewhere in the world, such awareness in North Korea cannot exist."

Lee  also provides insightful thoughts of defectors' life after escape - their assimilation to the competitive, ultra-modern South Korean society whilst coping with their new identity.

All I can say is that I admire Lee's resilience amid adversity, which reminds me of the quote:

"Courage is not the absence of fear but the acquired ability to move beyond fear" 

To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey

 

It's 1885, Col. Allen Forrester embarks on a reconnaissance up the uncharted Wolverine River in Alaska, leaving his young wife Sophie in the Vancouver army barracks as he makes his journey. This novel will take you on a sojourn across inhospitable terrain and improbable encounters in spirited native lands. It is told in the genre of magic realism that first captivated me with the author's Pulitzer Prize nominated debut novel, The Snow Child. More than a story of discovery is the Col. and Sophie's enduring love and faith that transcends geography and time.

This epistolary novel contains interesting references to the 19th century replete with news clippings, photographs and maps. The correspondence format is a refreshing approach to intimately immerse into the characters and their nuances.

The vast Alaskan landscape and its mythical elements all come alive in the beauty of Ivey's atmospheric writing and imagery. In its quiet unassuming moments created a compelling tale that soared. Surreal to say the least. What's your first read this 2017?

P.S: I haven't read books that thoroughly mention the Native American experience, somehow it piqued my interest on their diverse tradition and how their culture were altered under colonial influence, specially in the wake of the Colonel's navigation where this fictional story is inspired.

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly

One can never read too much WWII literature to fully grasp its painful memories.  

Come Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly, I momentarily have to set this book down to reflect on the horrors of this period. The writing is raw, rich and compelling that it hurts to revel over an engrossing read knowing these actually happened in history. Told in three alternating perspective, it is a fictional account of three women loosely based on real figures, whose lives are intertwined at the event of the war. Later in the novel all the characters and the narrative will come in a satisfying full circle. 

Caroline Ferriday a New York socialite and liason to the French consulate, Herta Oberheuser an ambition driven doctor who worked at Ravensbruck, the notorious all female Nazi concentration camp and Kaisa a teenager imprisoned in Ravensbruck. Until reading this book I have not known about Ravensbruck, where political prisoners from Hitler's occupied countries, whom he considers sub human are kept for “re-education."

A thoroughly researched book, the author goes into great detail of the brutal camp life specially led  by the vile female overseers, who at that time were even barely out of their teens, were capable of inflicting torment on female prisoners. They may be less known by their male SS counterparts but nonetheless brutal and aptly described as the personification of the devil himself. It is true that any ordinary individual can yield evil when given the authority. 

After reading the book I went into full research mode of how much is known about Ravensbruck and I can't help but feel disturbed about the medical experimentation done on the women. It's unbelievable how humanity is capable of such atrocities. 

Nevertheless, I am grateful for having picked up this gem otherwise I would not have known about the Rabbits and the heroic deeds of Caroline Ferriday. Over seventy years have passed since but these kind of stories encompass generations and needs to be told time and time again so we don't forget.

Until the next read!