It's a world that times seem have forgotten, or the Great Leader of North Korea have forgotten.
It is because of my fascination with North Korea that I picked up the book Without You, There is No Us by Suki Kim.
Suki is a journalist/writer based out of New York, who through timing and luck landed up being an English teacher at a Christian run university Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) in Pyongyang, N. Korea. Though she is not a Christian, luck has it that her application to teach at PUST was accepted. Thus begun her adventure of her relationships with her students (all male), who though held back by the censorship of N. Korea, begins to show them what life outside of North Korea is like.
It's a very gripping and fascinating tale of how she maintains her sanity in a country where everything you say, do, or don't do is being observed and scrutinized. I remember one line where she said that everyone at school was exhausted, not from physical exhaustion, but from the fact they have to self censor themselves all the time, even in the privacy of their own room.
I like this book, however, my only "gripe" is how she portrays Christians in this book. At times, she portrays her fellow teachers, who are all missionaries, as cultish like. Maybe she could have been more fair/open in her presentation of the missionaries.
Overall, I would recommend this book, it's a great read.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
