Trust & Obey

What would you do to survive? To escape a country where you have no future? What would you do to gain freedom? For Yeonmi Park, she would do anything to survive, to escape, to gain freedom.

In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park is a memoir of a little thirteen-year-old who escaped from North Korea. She and her mother braved starvation, brutal treatment, being sold into trafficking, and the Gobi Desert all with the hope of being free.

May I just say, this was an incredible autobiography. I cannot recommend this enough to anyone who is interested in learning about the culture of North Korea. That’s why I picked up this book. I have a deep interest in any and all cultures. To me, North Korea has been shrouded in mystery and I thought of it as this evil place with a silly dictator named Kim Jong Un. This gave me a whole new understanding of what the North is like and how detrimental its systems are for its citizens. The North brainwashes its citizens with propoganda in school, entertainment, literally everything. You are trained to believe the Kim family are gods and they are watching you twenty-four seven. This suffocating climate destroys every facet of each person’s life. North Koreans cannot love anyone but the Kims, dream of anything but the country’s success, or go beyond the status they were born with. These people are trapped and Eunmi- Yeonmi Park’s sister- was done. When given the chance, Eunmi left for China and her sister and mother followed after her.

My comment on this book is solely a warning for young readers. I would suggest this for high school and up because you need a firm understanding of what socialism and government control are. Having a grasp on what government overreach looks like is critical when hearing Park’s story. It makes you know why she needed to get out. There was no future for her, for her children, or for any future generations. Yeomni and her children would be nothing but slaves to the Kims and their government. The second part of my warning is in regards to Park’s journey through sex trafficking. This is so critical to understand and learn about. North Korean women are how Chinese men carry on their family names. So women like Yeonmi are in high demand. Why is that? The One-Child Policy. Everyone wants a boy, so China is overpopulated with men and they need women. This makes sex trafficking rampant in China. It’s so disheartening to hear about thirteen-year-old Yeonmi being a mistress and I think it could be tough on younger readers. It was rough for me at times.

In Order to Live has to be my favorite autobiography of all time. I am usually bored by memoirs but this one hit so hard. It almost feels fake it’s so foreign to me. I breezed through the two hundred and sixty-eight pages in a couple days I was disappointed when it was over. I may just read it one more time this year if I have the time. Even though The Cellar was a bust, In Order to Live did not disappoint.