Hardcover, 443 pages
English language
Published Jan. 8, 2012 by Random House.
An epic novel and a thrilling literary discovery, The Orphan Master's Son follows a young man's journey through the icy waters, dark tunnels, and eerie spy chambers of the world's most mysterious dictatorship, North Korea.
Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother - a singer "stolen" to Pyongyang - and an influential father who runs Long Tomorrows, a work camp for orphans. There the boy is given his first taste of power, picking which orphans eat first and which will be lent out for manual labor. Recognized for his loyalty and keen instincts, Jun Do comes to the attention of superiors in the state, rises in the ranks, and starts on a road from which there will be no return.
Considering himself "a humble citizen of the greatest nation in the world," Jun Do becomes a professional kidnapper who must navigate the shifting rules, arbitrary violence, …
An epic novel and a thrilling literary discovery, The Orphan Master's Son follows a young man's journey through the icy waters, dark tunnels, and eerie spy chambers of the world's most mysterious dictatorship, North Korea.
Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother - a singer "stolen" to Pyongyang - and an influential father who runs Long Tomorrows, a work camp for orphans. There the boy is given his first taste of power, picking which orphans eat first and which will be lent out for manual labor. Recognized for his loyalty and keen instincts, Jun Do comes to the attention of superiors in the state, rises in the ranks, and starts on a road from which there will be no return.
Considering himself "a humble citizen of the greatest nation in the world," Jun Do becomes a professional kidnapper who must navigate the shifting rules, arbitrary violence, and baffling demands of his Korean overlords in order to stay alive. Driven to the absolute limit of what any human being could endure, he boldly takes on the treacherous role of rival to Kim Jong Il in an attempt to save the woman he loves, Sun Moon, a legendary actress "so pure, she didn't know what starving people looked like."
Part breathless thriller, part story of innocence lost, part story of romantic love, The Orphan Master's Son is also a riveting portrait of a world heretofore hidden from view: a North Korea rife with hunger, corruption, and casual cruelty but also camaraderie, stolen moments of beauty, and love. A towering literary achievement, The Orphan Master's Son ushers Adam Johnson into the small group of today's greatest writers.
--jacket description
It was alright, but rather slow in the first half, and hard to engage with. The second half was mich better, but some of the narrative shifts threw me off at times.
This story was like a sneak attack on me; it took me awhile to get into it, but it eventually became more urgent, until I had to stay up too late to finish, to know what would become of this amazing character who was denied the most basic knowledge and humanity. He was never even given his real name.
"A name isn't a person,' Ga said. 'Don't ever remember someone by their name. To keep someone alive, you put them inside you, you put their face on your heart. Then, no matter where you are, they're always with you because they're a part of you.”
And now, I would like to watch Cassablanca again...
One really should not know too much about this story before beginning--let is do its own work!
Couldn't put it down. A well-written tale of life on the wrong side of the 38th parallel
This was a very good book but not an easy book to read. It is a book about loyalty and suffering. It is about the stories that make up a life, the stories that ultimately define us whether they're true or not. Set in North Korea, it is hard to come to terms with what at first seems like hyperbole, the sinking feeling that comes with the suspicion that maybe things really are that bad. It's about the human need for connection and love, and the ultimate sacrifice one can make for another.
Not a feel-good book. It started strong but took a left turn 40% of the way in that I couldn't ultimately accept. The character of the actress in particular really started to wear thin.
This book is amazing. The story is heartbreaking, but for a moment I want to talk about the structure of the book.
Adam Johnson shows he's a master formalist as well as a storyteller, and I could study what he's done here for a long time without fully understanding it. The first half of the book is a straightforward third-person novel. In between the first and second halves, something happens that shatters the protagonist's sense of self. He's not mentally ill, but he is different, and the boundaries he once knew are no longer there. At the same time, the book's second half is no longer a straightforward third-person novel, but is told from several different perspectives, some literal, some hallucinatory. The perspective of another character, and even of the state itself (CITIZENS!) is included in this second half. It is the perfect match between psychological state and literary form. …
This book is amazing. The story is heartbreaking, but for a moment I want to talk about the structure of the book.
Adam Johnson shows he's a master formalist as well as a storyteller, and I could study what he's done here for a long time without fully understanding it. The first half of the book is a straightforward third-person novel. In between the first and second halves, something happens that shatters the protagonist's sense of self. He's not mentally ill, but he is different, and the boundaries he once knew are no longer there. At the same time, the book's second half is no longer a straightforward third-person novel, but is told from several different perspectives, some literal, some hallucinatory. The perspective of another character, and even of the state itself (CITIZENS!) is included in this second half. It is the perfect match between psychological state and literary form.
The story ... if even a tenth of what's in The Orphan Master's Son is based on truth, then the already horrible picture I had in my mind of life in North Korea is the Disneyland, candy-ass version of what really happens there. This is the first book I've read in decades that gave me real nightmares, and is an authentically terrifying horror story for adults.
I voted this down the other day for some nagging suspicion that the North Korean setting was covering for some unrealistic plot twists. The further I get from it, though, the less that matters. I loved the main character, the writing, and structure. Great book!
Al zou maar de helft op de waarheid gebaseerd zijn, dan nog is het Noord Korea van Adam Johnson het meest dystopische land waar over ik gelezen heb en lijkt zo uit de boeken van o.a. Orwell en Atwood of Kafka gegrepen te zijn. Helaas schijnt het voor de Noord Koreanen al jaren lang de bittere werkelijkheid te zijn. Je kan je haast niet voorstellen dat het er werkelijk zo aan toe gaat, maar Adam Johnson lijkt gedegen research te hebben gedaan, door zowel met dissidenten gesproken te hebben als op studiereis naar Noord Korea te zijn gegaan
Maar ja, het zou natuurlijk ook simpelweg Amerikaans imperialistische propaganda kunnen zijn, met als doel The Democratic People's Republic of Korea en zijn Dierbare Leider te vernietigen!
En dit geeft aan hoe het verhaal opgebouwd is. Er wordt uit drie oogpunten verteld : Er is, zoals hierboven, de staatsversie, die uit alle …
Al zou maar de helft op de waarheid gebaseerd zijn, dan nog is het Noord Korea van Adam Johnson het meest dystopische land waar over ik gelezen heb en lijkt zo uit de boeken van o.a. Orwell en Atwood of Kafka gegrepen te zijn. Helaas schijnt het voor de Noord Koreanen al jaren lang de bittere werkelijkheid te zijn. Je kan je haast niet voorstellen dat het er werkelijk zo aan toe gaat, maar Adam Johnson lijkt gedegen research te hebben gedaan, door zowel met dissidenten gesproken te hebben als op studiereis naar Noord Korea te zijn gegaan
Maar ja, het zou natuurlijk ook simpelweg Amerikaans imperialistische propaganda kunnen zijn, met als doel The Democratic People's Republic of Korea en zijn Dierbare Leider te vernietigen!
En dit geeft aan hoe het verhaal opgebouwd is. Er wordt uit drie oogpunten verteld : Er is, zoals hierboven, de staatsversie, die uit alle luidspeakers schalt (vergelijkbaar met in 1984 van Orwell. Dan is er de, vermoedelijk, alwetende verteller en de laatste is “de ondervrager” die ook zo zijn visie op de werkelijkheid heeft. Maar ja, het blijft gissen over een land zoals Noord Korea, want zoals een van de personages in het boek zegt:
“Where we are from, stories are factual. If a farmer is declared a music virtuoso by the state, everyone had better start calling him maestro. And secretly, he’d be wise to start practicing the piano. For us, the story is more important than the person. If a man and his story are in conflict, it is the man who must change”
Hoe tragisch het verhaal soms is, dat absurde en surreële werkt op de lachspieren. Zoals wanner er een delegatie in Amerika ontvangen wordt op de rance van een senator. Er wordt genoten van de BBQ, maar thuis moet er een ander verhaal verteld worden: “Verschrikkelijke vernederingen, men werd gedwongen om buiten te eten, en werden vervoerd in afgedankte auto’s” ( in “de westerse werkelijkheid” mooie old-timers!)
Een deel van het verhaal speelt zich af in “Prison 33”. In The Guardian heb ik dit stukje gevonden over een van de “werkelijke” kampen in Noord Korea, Camp 22< / a>
Lees en huiver..
Hoe de werkelijkheid ook moge zijn, The Orphan master’s son is een waanzinnig verhaal! Soms lijkt het een spionage thriller, soms een liefdesverhaal of een Chinese opera. Hoe dan ook een aanrader
