Suki Kim's In-Depth Look at North Korea's Elite: An Investigative Report

Discover the untold stories of North Korea's elite in Suki Kim's Without You, There Is No Us. This best-selling Asian history book presents an in-depth look into the lives of the sons of North Korea's ruling class. With its high-quality binding and pages, this book is easy to read and understand, and offers an overall satisfying experience. Uncover the truth about one of the world's most mysterious and secretive countries with Without You, There Is No Us.

Key Features:

"Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite" is an eye-opening book that provides an intimate look at the lives of North Korea's privileged youth. Author Suki Kim spent six months undercover as an English teacher at the all-male Pyongyang University of Science and Technology and reveals the students' struggles to understand the outside world and their dreams of a better future. Through this powerful narrative, Kim provides an unprecedented glimpse into the lives of North Korea's privileged young men and their future.
75
B2B Rating
17 reviews

Review rating details

Value for money
71
Overall satisfaction
73
Genre
74
Easy to understand
73
Easy to read
75
Binding and pages quality
68

Details of Suki Kim's In-Depth Look at North Korea's Elite: An Investigative Report

  • ISBN-13 ‏ ‎: 978-0307720665
  • Memoirs (Books): Memoirs
  • Dimensions ‏ ‎: 5.15 x 0.66 x 8 inches
  • Language ‏ ‎: English
  • North Korean History: North Korean History
  • ISBN-10 ‏ ‎: 0307720667
  • Asian Politics: Asian Politics
  • Best Sellers Rank: #27 in North Korean History#221 in Asian Politics#7,234 in Memoirs
  • Item Weight ‏ ‎: 8 ounces
  • Customer Reviews: 4.2/5 stars of 4,116 ratings
  • Paperback ‏ ‎: 320 pages
  • Publisher ‏ ‎: Crown; Illustrated edition

Comments

Kaustav: If you are looking for gory behind the scenes documentation of North Korea’s dictatorship, this is not the book for you. However, if you truly enjoy good literature, you should definitely give this book a read. It not only shows the beautiful relationships that can be forged between the most unlikely groups of people, but also shows the daily internal struggles that Suki Kim went through just to be able to bring this story out. There’s poetry even in the way she narrates some of the most heart wrenching anecdotes. I’d suggest this not only to those who want to know more about this forbidden nation, but also to those who want to read about how beautiful relationships are formed in the most unlikely of places.

India on May 21, 2022

Berenice: Interesante libro para quien tenga curiosidad de cómo es Corea del Norte y cómo
También incluso a la élite estudiantil tienen también restricciones.

Mexico on Jan 24, 2021

Kindle Customer: This book sweetly describes the life of some innocent students and how they slowly become acknowledged with the western world. Loved the emotion of the teacher and the details about the boys.

Netherlands on Feb 05, 2020

Lisa: This is an excellent and unique perspective on North Korea. The author, Kim, is an American woman of Korean descent who, despite being non-religious, joins a Christian-run university on the outskirts of Pyongyang -- the only foreign-run university in North Korea, and works as a teacher of English there.
I appreciate that this book does not delve too deeply into well-known facts about North Korea, but rather provides fresh new insights into an admittedly narrow slice of the population : the sons of the elite. Kim maintains a level head, neither glamorizing nor belittling her charges, but portraying them as the complex individuals they are. The reader begins to feel the same affection and concern for the students as Kim did.

Her experience is also enriched by being a woman of Korean descent, who speaks Korean fluently. This is incredibly rare among novels about North Korea written in English (except those written by defectors, which then suffer from translation issues as they are nearly always written in Korean first). As a genuine native speaker of both Korean and English, Kim's novel is both an enjoyable read and also provides important cultural context, clearly...

United States on Jan 18, 2019

Victor Oliveira Tomanik: Achei bem interessante o livro, dá uma visão nova sobre o macabro dia a dia dentro do regime.
Eu achei que algumas passadas a autora fez algumas deduções desnecessárias sobre os acontecimentos que passou, tentando sempre alfinetar/criticar.
Recomendo para todos

Brazil on Mar 12, 2018

Theodoros Goumas: I bought this book at a time I was living in China and was thinking about going on holidays in North Korea. I had met a Chinese student who did her Erasmus in North Korea and her stories raised my interest even more. This book tells the story of a teacher, my friend told me the story as a student. There are many things in common. Also, having lived in Saudi and China myself, I could relate to many things Kim Suki talks about.
North Korea must be a very bizarre place worth visiting, even though as a tourist/visitor/exchange student/employee, you will hardly see anything of the real every day life.
A well written book that makes you visualise the story being told.

Germany on Jan 20, 2018

Arthur Reber: I posted this review on my website. It can be accessed here: http://arthurreber.com/home/suki-kims-book-on-teaching-in-north-korea.html along with views on a host of topics.
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The book chronicles her months teaching at a college in North Korea run (and financed) by fundamentalist Christians. While this seems wildly implausible there’s a strange logic behind it. Their church paid for the construction of the campus and provides the operating budget, the equipment and the teachers. They do not proselytize (or they would be quickly removed). They teach. They believe that North Korea is the next country that God plans to free from state-imposed atheism and they want to be there to be ready to spread the word of Jesus when this happens. They run a similar school in China. They are patient. Kim was hired to teach English by gently disguising her agnosticism.

The title is from a song sung repeatedly by her students, the “You” is the Great Leader Kim Jong-Il and the “Us” is the North Korean people.

Kim gives a remarkable, chilling insight into the black collectivist pit that is...

United States on Feb 19, 2015



Suki Kim's In-Depth Look at North Korea's Elite: An Investigative Report In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom and a New Life "In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom" - A Memoir of Survival and Hope
Suki Kim's In-Depth Look at North Korea's Elite: An Investigative Report In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom and a New Life "In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom" - A Memoir of Survival and Hope
B2B Rating
75
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Total Reviews 17 reviews 993 reviews 993 reviews
ISBN-13 ‏ ‎ 978-0307720665 978-0143109747 978-1594206795
Memoirs (Books) Memoirs Memoirs Memoirs
Dimensions ‏ ‎ 5.15 x 0.66 x 8 inches 5.5 x 0.75 x 8.3 inches 6.35 x 1 x 9.64 inches
Language ‏ ‎ English English English
North Korean History North Korean History North Korean History North Korean History
ISBN-10 ‏ ‎ 0307720667 014310974X 1594206791
Asian Politics Asian Politics
Best Sellers Rank #27 in North Korean History#221 in Asian Politics#7,234 in Memoirs #1 in North Korean History#1 in South Korean History#141 in Memoirs #7 in North Korean History#85 in Women in History#1,419 in Memoirs
Item Weight ‏ ‎ 8 ounces 10.4 ounces 1.22 pounds
Customer Reviews 4.2/5 stars of 4,116 ratings 4.8/5 stars of 26,557 ratings 4.8/5 stars of 26,557 ratings
Paperback ‏ ‎ 320 pages 288 pages
Publisher ‏ ‎ Crown; Illustrated edition Penguin Books; Reprint edition Penguin Press; First Edition
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