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Summary: aquariums of pyongyang
Review: "Aquariums in Pyongyang" is an incredible story of survival and triumph over evil and hardship. Kang chol-Hawn was an upper middle class child of idealistic Koreans living in Japan when his parents returned to the North Korean "Workers Paradise" that was in the making of North Korea of the early 1960's. The reality of course, they soon discovered, was far from the communist propaganda that his mother was so taking in by. By the age of nine Kang was sent to a gulag and in it he endured all that one would expext from a communist gulag, beatings, starvation, hard labor, communist propaganda and brain washing. Not many people survived ten years in a North Korean gulag fewer still managed to later escape to the west or in Kang's case South Korea. None before have written a book about such experiences and that makes "Aquariums in Pyongyang" a unique book. One of the amazing things about this book aside from the story it's self is that Kang manages to not only detail the horror but also display quite a bit of humor albeit largely sacastic humor such as a chapter titled "ten years in the camp: thank you, Kim Il Sung" Another chapter entitled Biweekly Criticism and self-criticism is filled with sacastic humor that can make you laugh out loud even if you feel a little guilty doing so knowing the suffering of the gulags prisonors. Aquariums is a excellent book that will challage your views of North Korea no matter what your political views are. an excellent read definitly reccomended
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Summary: A Rare Survival Story from the Hermit Kingdom
Review: "The Aquariums of Pyongyang" by Kang Chol-Hwan is a great book even if you have no specific interest in Korea. The book's universal appeal is its story of a person who survives a disastrous early life to escape by guile and fortitude to a better world he wasn't even sure existed. Kang also provides a rare view inside the most secretive society of the contemporary era. He reveals a North Korea [DPRK] that is more accurately described as a criminal conspiracy rather than the most pure communist state in history. Communism serves as more a pseudo-religious enabling device for Kim Il-Song, his successor Kim Jong-Il, and their henchmen in this hyper-fascist state. To this end, communism worked better than the old style Hitler/Mussolini fascism if you were at the top. For the masses either system was a catastrophe. Kang provides vast evidence of this. Kang is also proof positive that the people of the North are not purely the brainwashed victims of communism that the rest of us have been led to believe. The DPRK will go down in history as serving no useful purpose other than as a warning of the depths of depravity people are capable of, [while most of the world looks the other way]. Other reviewers note similarities to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago" [a.k.a. the literary tombstone of the USSR] and I agree. I add, and recommend, "MiG Pilot" by John Barron & "Anthem" by Ayn Rand as related books. "MiG Pilot" tells the true story of another disenchanted communist, Viktor Belenko. "Anthem" is more a nightmare version of a pure-communist future society. The struggles and ultimate personal victories portrayed in "The Aquariums of Pyongyang" and "MiG Pilot" may prevent the rest of us from living in the world of "Anthem".
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Summary: aquariums of pyongyang
Review: "Aquariums in Pyongyang" is an incredible story of survival and triumph over evil and hardship. Kang chol-Hawn was an upper middle class child of idealistic Koreans living in Japan when his parents returned to the North Korean "Workers Paradise" that was in the making of North Korea of the early 1960's. The reality of course, they soon discovered, was far from the communist propaganda that his mother was so taking in by. By the age of nine Kang was sent to a gulag and in it he endured all that one would expext from a communist gulag, beatings, starvation, hard labor, communist propaganda and brain washing. Not many people survived ten years in a North Korean gulag fewer still managed to later escape to the west or in Kang's case South Korea. None before have written a book about such experiences and that makes "Aquariums in Pyongyang" a unique book. One of the amazing things about this book aside from the story it's self is that Kang manages to not only detail the horror but also display quite a bit of humor albeit largely sacastic humor such as a chapter titled "ten years in the camp: thank you, Kim Il Sung" Another chapter entitled Biweekly Criticism and self-criticism is filled with sacastic humor that can make you laugh out loud even if you feel a little guilty doing so knowing the suffering of the gulags prisonors. Aquariums is a excellent book that will challage your views of North Korea no matter what your political views are. an excellent read definitly reccomended
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Summary: must read
Review: A blood curldling tale of unbelievable human endurance in one of the worlds last communist strongholds. The family moved from Japan back to 'paradise'. The realised they were duped pretty quickly but unable to leave the patriarch continued on with a job in the communist party. Backstabbed by another party member they were thrown as a family into a concentration camp. You'll laugh and cry at stories of the Wild Boar until finally they escape. Excellent
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Summary: Excellent expose of this Orwellian nightmare society.
Review: As a recent amateur student of North Korea, I have read several of the popular autobiographies by people who have escaped this ultra-restrictive nation. "Aquariums" is an EXCELLENT book, reads easily and quickly, and conveys a considerable amount of background/history of the North Korean society. The parallels between this bizarre society and that portrayed in Orwell's "1984" are SOOOO pronounced as to be almost scary; it's almost as if Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il used it as a roadmap. This book should be required reading for every high school student. In our modern American culture where our freedoms are not only taken for granted but not even recognized for their uniqueness in the world, I suspect most readers would think "Aquariums" to be a work of fiction rather than chilling modern day experience. I encourage everyone to read this fine narrative.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent expose of this Orwellian nightmare society.
Review: As a recent amateur student of North Korea, I have read several of the popular autobiographies by people who have escaped this ultra-restrictive nation. "Aquariums" is an EXCELLENT book, reads easily and quickly, and conveys a considerable amount of background/history of the North Korean society. The parallels between this bizarre society and that portrayed in Orwell's "1984" are SOOOO pronounced as to be almost scary; it's almost as if Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il used it as a roadmap. This book should be required reading for every high school student. In our modern American culture where our freedoms are not only taken for granted but not even recognized for their uniqueness in the world, I suspect most readers would think "Aquariums" to be a work of fiction rather than chilling modern day experience. I encourage everyone to read this fine narrative.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent expose of this Orwellian nightmare society.
Review: As a recent amateur student of North Korea, I have read several of the popular autobiographies by people who have escaped this ultra-restrictive nation. "Aquariums" is an EXCELLENT book, reads easily and quickly, and conveys a considerable amount of background/history of the North Korean society. The parallels between this bizarre society and that portrayed in Orwell's "1984" are SOOOO pronounced as to be almost scary; it's almost as if Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il used it as a roadmap. This book should be required reading for every high school student. In our modern American culture where our freedoms are not only taken for granted but not even recognized for their uniqueness in the world, I suspect most readers would think "Aquariums" to be a work of fiction rather than chilling modern day experience. I encourage everyone to read this fine narrative.
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Summary: Cultural Insights into North Korea
Review: Back in graduate school now, my professor, a world-renowned international developmentalist, asked me to write a paper discussing how economic development changed the culture of Korea. My search for books that may give me "clues" to what current culture is like in North Korea led me to this book. North Korea is where my grand parents are from and where both my parents were born. My parents are both 61 years old. My grand parents left North Korea in 1953 and my parents left Korea in the in the early 1970s. If it weren't for my ancestors, I may have lived my life in Pyongyang instead of the previledged life I lead in the West. I am no culturalist but North Korea, as a corrupted Stalinist cum cultist state is now very much different from South Korea. In South Korea, previledged rich kids drive their own automobiles whereas in North Korea, the fields are tilled by ox-drawn carts. In South Korea, bottles of Western scotch is drunk in night clubs where tabs come up to hundreds of dollars a pop and designer wears are de rigour with young college kids who indulge in decadences such as elective plastic surgery. In North Korea, hundreds of thousands of kids are stunted from malnourishment. I can't think of two more diametric cultures that could have emerged amongest one group of people: abject poverty and outrageous decandence. I am not judging South Korea nor am sympathetic to the North, I am just pointing out the stark differences. Anyway, if you want to know more about North Korea, this is a first-person account of someone who lived in a Korean gulag from the 1980s to the 1990s. The person who lived this life, Kang Chol-Hwan, is only about 34 years old in 2002. To recap: In 2002, there are two Koreas, one the 7th largest economy in the world, the other where 2 to 3 million people are reported to have died of famine during 1995 to 1999: that's 10 percent of the population of North Korea. To wit, now there are two Koreas with two cultures. 50 years of separation and experiements in autarky vs. free-market economics (albeit, an Asian version) is the cause. This book gave me a first-hand account of what life is like in North Korea. It is reader friendly and informative. Along with USAID (US International Agency for Development) Director Andrew S. Natsios book called "The Great North Korean Famine," I got a some ideas about what is happening in North Korea in the late 1990s to the present. A good read if you are interested in what life is like for some North Koreans.
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Summary: surprisingly good! Nicely written
Review: I agree with the reviewer who said this book is somewhat poorly written (because of the translation from Korean to French to English), but in a sense that is the strength of the book. It gives it a raw, authentic feel. In a macabre way it is also humorous. Finally the short chapters make for good bedtime reading. Very nicely done book. It wets a perverse appetite to visit and see some of this for yourself.
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Summary: I agree. Required Reading
Review: I came across this book after reading Tears of My Soul. I have to say that this book is absolutely captivating. It is a very quick read, but the impact will last forever. With so little information coming out of N.Korea unfiltered, this book and its perspective is invaluable. I recommend this book to everyone, to the point that people must think I am the publisher. Excellent book.
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