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librarymouse 's review for:
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
medium-paced
Suki Kim is a gifted story teller and personalized the students she worked with to her readers expertly. The lives of the elite children of North Korea aren't something outsiders have access to, and they feel dystopian in a way that's unfamiliar to a western audience. Despite the unfamiliarity, there is a through line of familiar discontentment. They lack the vocabulary to express their sorrows, fears, and desires in a way that is hard to fathom. I hope that some day the cognitive dissonance that's foundational to the continued survival of the North Korean regime falls to revolution.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Genocide, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Classism
Moderate: Religious bigotry
Minor: Infidelity, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail