One thing I do vividly recall about this book is staying in a state of semi-confusion for at least half, and perhaps up to three quarters of the book. Having said that, it would be easy to conclude that I would not recommend this book to anyone else. That would be a wrong conclusion to make. Confusing? Yes. Meandering? Yes. Yet, in a strange compelling way that state of confusion is what drove me to hang in there and follow the story through to the end. It was not as though it was hard to follow. It was more about trying to discern the reliability of the narrator. There is a sense that you aren’t suppose to believe all the events that are presented.
The setting for the story is North Korea. The book is actually divided into two parts. In Part One we are introduced to Pak Jun Do, who is the Orphan Master’s son. We follow along his journey through various dangerous assigned work positions. Though much of the work he has to do pains his conscience, he always follows through with the orders he is given. Because of this loyalty to the job at hand he is eventually sent to language school to learn English. It is his assignment to a fishing vessel working to intercept and translate radio communications that sets him on a path for a major transformation in his life further on.
In Part Two of the book we encounter an un-named interrogator and his involvement with interrogating a man named Commander Ga who is under suspicion of murdering his wife and children. As this section moves between two separate timelines of the past and present, secrets are revealed and a strange and complex love story unfolds. Here, too, in this section we are bombarded, as are the citizens, with a fictionalized hyped-up version of propaganda telling a different story than the one otherwise being shared.
Admittedly, I am not an expert on North Korea. However, the horrific images of violence, subjugation, and coercion forced upon some of the characters does seem to be to an extent a plausible scenario of life in that country. This is most definitely not a book that is a pleasure to read in that there are few, if any, feel-good moments depicted. But, it does serve as a catalyst to stir quite a few questions. Such as, what is reality vs. fiction? How far would one go for their own personal survival? How far would one go for the survival of those they love?
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Notes from a Book Nerd 