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A River in Darkness

One Man's Escape from North Korea

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A River in Darkness

By: Masaji Ishikawa, Risa Kobayashi - translator, Martin Brown - translator
Narrated by: Brian Nishii
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Summary

A New York Times bestseller and Amazon Charts Most Read and Most Sold book.

A Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Memoir & Autobiography.

The harrowing true story of one man’s life in - and subsequent escape from - North Korea, one of the world’s most brutal totalitarian regimes.

Half-Korean, half-Japanese, Masaji Ishikawa has spent his whole life feeling like a man without a country. This feeling only deepened when his family moved from Japan to North Korea when Ishikawa was just thirteen years old, and unwittingly became members of the lowest social caste. His father, himself a Korean national, was lured to the new Communist country by promises of abundant work, education for his children, and a higher station in society. But the reality of their new life was far from utopian.

In this memoir translated from the original Japanese, Ishikawa candidly recounts his tumultuous upbringing and the brutal thirty-six years he spent living under a crushing totalitarian regime, as well as the challenges he faced repatriating to Japan after barely escaping North Korea with his life. A River in Darkness is not only a shocking portrait of life inside the country but a testament to the dignity - and indomitable nature - of the human spirit.

©2000 by Masaji Ishikawa. (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Translation © 2017 by Risa Kobayashi and Martin Brown. Activists Cultural & Regional Politicians Politics & Activism Emotionally Gripping Thought-Provoking Heartfelt Inspiring China Memoir Imperial Japan Biography North Korea
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A life of such tragedy that it is incomprehensible most of us. The story is like that of a movie, only it is all too real for so many people, living through it day by day, right now. I don't know how he carried on in those moments of absolute torment and hardship. I also don't know how he continues to to this day, with all that history. I hope he is as well as he can be , thank you for telling your story

Tragic, heartbreaking, incomprehensible suffering

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A great audiobook. Don't let the escape in the title fool you though, this is heart wrenching, heart breaking tale from start to finish but told with such detail and narrative skill and an eye for evocative but not salacious detail.

heartbreaking read

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This is the most heartbreaking story I have ever heard or read… I hope he finds peace.

Cruel

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but informative and educational. If you ever think of your difficulties in life, you'll quickly forget them once you've read this book.
The best and the worst of humanity have been described here.

A difficult read

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This was a saddening, astonishing and eye opening account of one man and his family’s life in North Korea. I’ve been reading and listening to stuff about the dictatorship country. I knew some things but man this guys life….no wonder he thought about ending it all as I would’ve if I were in his position.

He tells us about his life in China and Japan before his father was lied too about what life would be like if they moved back to North Korea.

Everyone should listen or read this book as it’ll show you what you take for granted others would die for !

Saddening, Astonishing Account

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