![]() Straightforward prose prevents this harrowing tale from overwhelming readers, but at times it may emotionally distance them. Teaming up with several friends, Lee travels the country-stealing in markets fighting other gangs for territory smoking, drinking, and using opium getting arrested and imprisoned finding clients for a madam’s “nightflowers” and losing two of his friends in brutal attacks. The mid-1990s famine that eventually killed over 1 million North Koreans soon takes its toll, as each of his parents leaves in search of food and does not return. Sungju Lee’s carefree life, playing with his rare pedigreed dog and watching cartoons, comes to an abrupt end at age 11 when his family is banished to a remote seaside town after his army officer father transgresses in unspecified ways. A pampered son of the elite survives a nightmarish ordeal in this page-turner of a memoir. ![]()
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