The Orphan Master's Son
by Adam Johnson
The tale of Jun Do, the story's main character, is harrowing and haunting, something that stays with you when you have to put the book down to head back to your everyday life.
A mixture of pure fiction and unbelievable actual history, the book kept me interested in the story of Jun from beginning to end. Witnessing the roller coaster that is his life in North Korea, it's hard to imagine existing in such a place on a day to day basis.
This story spans from horrifying... something straight out of an Orwellian novel, to strangely whimsical... in a sort of German Fairytale way. There is always that undercurrent of threat, that hard edge that waits behind every moment of Jun Do's life, and it keeps the reader constantly wondering just what is, and isn't possible in this world created by both Johnson's imagination and historical fact.
A mixture of pure fiction and unbelievable actual history, the book kept me interested in the story of Jun from beginning to end. Witnessing the roller coaster that is his life in North Korea, it's hard to imagine existing in such a place on a day to day basis.
This story spans from horrifying... something straight out of an Orwellian novel, to strangely whimsical... in a sort of German Fairytale way. There is always that undercurrent of threat, that hard edge that waits behind every moment of Jun Do's life, and it keeps the reader constantly wondering just what is, and isn't possible in this world created by both Johnson's imagination and historical fact.
Overall: Haunting, and more fairytale-esque than so many of the actual fairytale books I read... I highly recommend this one.
