An atmosphere of fear, loneliness and repression engulfed every aspect of life, and was stifling. Yet, at times, Ms. Kim was able to connect on a meaningful and emotional level with her students. These interactions made her observations all the more heartbreaking. Just before she flew back to the States in , Kim Jong-Il died, an event she uses as a framing device.
It could have represented a turning point for the country, but instead history has repeated itself with Kim Jong-un. Kim thus ends on a note of frustration: A rare glimpse into a country that carefully safeguards its secrets and masks its truth. See my full review at Nudge. Sep 23, Jaylia3 rated it it was amazing. She writes with the skill of an investigative journalist and the heart of someone recounting a heartbreaking story about relatives.
Though she moved to America as a child, Kim was born in South Korea and both her mother and father lost close family members to the North when Korea was partitioned, people they were never able to see or even hear from again. The North Korean government places rigid controls on the internal travels of its few foreign visitors--even the movements of its own citizens are highly restricted--so Kim spent most of her time on campus, jogging between buildings when she wanted some exercise. There were occasional arranged outings when she did sometimes catch glimpses of roadside workers so emaciated and malnourished it horrified her, but the subjugation of her elite and privileged college students was in its own way just as shocking because it showed that no one is exempt from government control.
Even when allowed to stay at school there were chores like all night guard duty to perform, and constant surveillance meant the students had to always guard their speech and curtail their activities to avoid punishment. As far as Kim could tell her students took great pride in their country and believed what they had been told--that North Korea is superior to and the envy of all nations and that their leaders are virtually infallible--but the students would get quiet and thoughtful when she gave them illicit sneak glimpses of the outside world and its relative freedoms by casually pulling out her Kindle or laptop, or mentioning her use of the internet or her global travel experiences.
Kim had different reasons and personal goals for working at the school. Her worry was that her words would just confuse and upset them or possibly lead them to actions that would bring on severe punishments. Review opinions are mine. Jul 06, Taryn Pierson rated it really liked it Shelves: Without You, There is No Us had been on my radar for a while thanks to my interest in the secretive, seemingly dystopian culture of North Korea, but what prodded me to move it up my burgeoning to-read list was a recent NPR interview with its author, Suki Kim, in which she claimed that her publisher disingenuously marketed it as a memoir instead of investigative journalism.
Some people might shrug at that—how big a difference can it be, really? But Kim argues that, while she respects the art of m Without You, There is No Us had been on my radar for a while thanks to my interest in the secretive, seemingly dystopian culture of North Korea, but what prodded me to move it up my burgeoning to-read list was a recent NPR interview with its author, Suki Kim, in which she claimed that her publisher disingenuously marketed it as a memoir instead of investigative journalism.
But Kim argues that, while she respects the art of memoir, classifying her book as such degrades its value, and by extension minimizes the risk and sacrifice she personally undertook to get the story. And after reading her book, I have to agree with her. She posed as a Christian missionary in order to secure a position as an English teacher at an elite university for young men. So Kim was not only undercover among her students, but also among her colleagues. And because she is a native Korean speaker, she was viewed differently by her students than the white American teachers were.
More book recommendations by me at www. Oct 29, Phil rated it did not like it Shelves: Do not waste the time or money on this one!. Suki Kim deceives a group of missionaries in accepting her as a Christian English teacher, willing to go to North Korea and teach English to North Korea's affluent's children. From midway through the book to the end of the book, all we get is page upon page of Kim's moaning and complaining about "her" circumstances in North Korea. She's depressed, she has no friends, her lover in NYC doesn't really love her, she can't find any good food to eat and on and on it goes for more than pages.
I have read 2 other books on life in North Korea, and. Each of them are much much better than this story. Dec 13, Kelly rated it liked it. It's hard to rate this book. As a memoir, I'd give it two stars. First off, no one is reading this book to hear about how she misses her non-boyfriend who lives in Brooklyn. We're reading it because we're interested in the DPRK.
Additionally, it doesn't come together as a narrative and none of the characters are fleshed out. While she tells some anecdotes about individual students, they are discrete one-offs, and not part of any coherent characterization. The Christian missionaries that she live It's hard to rate this book. The Christian missionaries that she lived with for months are similarly one-dimensional, as are the North Korean monitors. When she tries to be "fancy" with her writing, it comes across as forced.
She will use overblown figurative language from time to time, and then abandon it.
- Promoted Content.
- U2 > Discography > Lyrics > With Or Without You.
- Rádios que tocam Avicii!
When she tries to make comparisons or include symbolism to communicate her Deep Thoughts about Christianity, Juche, etc. Finally, her condescending attitude toward her Christian colleagues and lack of understanding of Christianity was a bit of a turn off. Since her social commentary about American Christianity seemed so superficial and "off," it made be skeptical of her ability to write a book on North Korean Culture.
Her description of what it was like to live under constant surveillance, and the way it impacted interpersonal relationships did ring true to me. As a former high school English teacher, I found the passages about teaching essay writing to oddly parallel my experiences teaching those concepts to students who were new to them. As a first hand account of life in Pyongyang, it is unique.
Without You (Badfinger song)
She wasn't able to travel much in the city, or around the country, and when she did it was planned and monitored, but by getting her students to open up, and living there herself, she got a pretty good idea of a slice of it at least. Kim is open about the fact that she went there intending to write a memoir.
Feb 16, Ms. Smartarse rated it it was amazing Shelves: The most memorable TED talk I watched last year, was a minute-long one by journalist Suki Kim, about her experience of teaching English at a private university in North Korea. Click on the picture to view the TED talk It's one of the more visually drab talks, but the atmosphere of it just got me hooked. At the time, I didn't know that said talk was based on a book i. Unlike other document The most memorable TED talk I watched last year, was a minute-long one by journalist Suki Kim, about her experience of teaching English at a private university in North Korea.
Unlike other documentaries and books that deal with the subject, Suki Kim's work presents the life of the elite North Korean youth, not the life of former defectors completely disenchanted with the regime. This book, is all about earnest young men eager to go to school and learn, and also I'm guessing most of us have probably come across one or two derisive meme about the North Korean regime's austerity measures. And if you fancy yourself in a particularly masochistic mood and read through some of the associated comments, you've probably seen enough reactions that call the memes gross exaggerations.
I was always inclined to take memes with a hefty pinch of salt. My parents had been brought up in a communist dictatorship, and yet are fully capable of independent and critical thought. So it kind of came as a surprise to find those very memes presented as facts in this book: A 7-year-old got three bull's eyes? Kim's constant attempts to tell the truth to her students. She wanted to let them know about Facebook, and other countries, the Arab Spring This seemed really irksome to me, as those poor students were unlikely to experience any of them first hand, or even be able to apply them in their own country.
It would just seem like yet another thing to boast about. On the other hand, having the correct information is always useful. So I'll just leave you with part of the author's closing speech from her TED talk: I don't want you to lead a revolution, let some other young person do it. The rest of the world might casually encourage or even expect some sort of North Korean spring.
But I don't want you to do anything risky, because I know in your world, someone is always watching.
HAWAII // Prequel - Without You by Lobster Theremin | Free Listening on SoundCloud
I don't want to imagine what might happen to you. If my attempts to reach you have inspired something new in you, I would rather you forget me. Become soldiers of your leader and live long, safe lives. Jan 24, Murtaza rated it it was amazing.
Without You Lyrics
While obviously controversial, this was an absolutely incredible memoir and piece of investigative journalism written from inside one of the most opaque societies on earth. Suki Kim went undercover as a missionary high-school teacher to provide a glimpse into the lives of the children of North Korea's elite. A journalist with deep history covering the country and the child of Korean immigrants herself, Kim has produced here a powerful and rare look at what life is like for a relatively privilege While obviously controversial, this was an absolutely incredible memoir and piece of investigative journalism written from inside one of the most opaque societies on earth.
A journalist with deep history covering the country and the child of Korean immigrants herself, Kim has produced here a powerful and rare look at what life is like for a relatively privileged segment ordinary people in the Hermit Kingdom. The book is beautifully written, weaving together history, personal reflections and investigative reporting.
As a whole, it helps shine a light on the ongoing tragedy of Korea's partition. There was a lot of backlash to this book over Kim's decision to falsely portray herself as a teacher in North Korea, as well as her decision weave her personal reflections into the story. I think this backlash is misplaced. First of all, almost all Western reporting on North Korea is the product of highly-scripted visits to the country by journalists who only see what the regime permits. For the purpose of understanding the country and its people, these pieces are effectively useless.
Kim's reporting here provides pretty much the only genuine, if limited, insight into North Korean society that we have received in years. There would have to be a price to accomplish that, and I fail to see how it could have been done in any way besides through undercover work. There was also criticism of her for incorporating her personal story into the narrative, with the suggestion being that this undermined her impartiality.
This criticism is even more off-base in my view. It is easy for those at a personal distance from events to look at global tragedies dispassionately; as though they are some kind of journalistic abstraction. But for people like Kim whose lives and identities are the product of these traumas, that's neither possible or desirable. This book is the product of an earnest, painful desire to somehow undo the horror of modern Korea history.
She writes with a clear love of its people because they are ultimately her people. There is no "objective" careerist journalist who would have taken such a risk, nor would they have been able to tell the full story in all its intimate dimensions. Without Kim's work our public knowledge of North Korea would almost be nil, just a collection of bizarre photographs its leaders and scattered testimonies from defectors. This inadequacy of information has made it easy to reduce North Korea's long-suffering people to something like a collective punchline.
We also would have little to no idea what its elites think, or how their worldview is formed from a young age. This is a priceless contribution. Overall, I was really moved by the beautiful writing, thoughtful reflections and great heroism of the author. North Korea is one of the most baffling and tragic places on earth. This book does an immense service by lifting the veil of secrecy on that country, even just a bit.
Listen to this article
It was a pleasure to read and definitely one of the best books of its genre that I have come across in a long time. Jun 22, Owen rated it it was amazing Shelves: After having loved The Interpreter, I was ecstatic when I found out Suki Kim was releasing another book that would be published this year. When I found out it was about North Korea, I was interested but unsure how it would compare to her debut novel. Having lived in America since the age of thirteen after being born in South Korea, she After having loved The Interpreter, I was ecstatic when I found out Suki Kim was releasing another book that would be published this year.
Having lived in America since the age of thirteen after being born in South Korea, she had experience with drastically different countries. Despite the fact that Kim speaks Korean, she was only allowed to communicate with her students in English. Although they were supposedly some of the smartest students in North Korea, their sense of the world was incredibly limited. The idea of blissful ignorance comes into mind, and granted, these students do have more cushioned lives, but we know that life in North Korea is anything but blissful.
The government aims to keep its people in a state of constant unawareness and blind dependence on the ruling party to prevent any protests or insurrections. I know this practice is common in many countries, even America to an extent, and it makes me so sad because I believe this is one of the greatest violations of human rights. Kim gives many examples of how the students believe everything they hear, probably because they have never been taught to question anything or because they know they could be punished for doubting what their government tells them.
Raised to despise countries such as the US, Japan, and South Korea to the point of wanting to kill their citizens, the students would tell Kim how evil certain American things were like McDonald's, even though they don't know what food McDonald's serves and will probably never try it. Other examples include things like them thinking kimchi is the world's most popular food and Korean is the most spoken language across the globe. I really liked the cultural insight Kim was able to provide, having come from not just America but also South Korea.
Obviously Americans are taught that North Korea is evil, but most don't know much about the conflict between North and South Korea. Kim's family experienced that, and it really added to the book. Who knows what will happen with North Korea in the future, or if it will open in my lifetime. With a new leader in the past few years, the idea of change is possible but unlikely.
After all, Kim Jong-Un is following in his father's and grandfather's footsteps, and little has changed in foreign relations in the last few decades. If we are able to sympathize with the North Korean people, I believe that more will be done to try to help them and work to create change with the North Korean government. Mar 04, Karatepop rated it it was ok Shelves: The subject and bits of the book were super interesting. The writing, not so much. I get that when every day is the same, when your freedom is so limited, when everyone is terrified to say anything out of line, that there may not be a great deal to write about.
But surely, when you're essentially undercover as a missionary undercover as a teacher, there must be more to write about than your "lover". The last quarter of the book, after the students had warmed up a bit, was so interesting! The very personal, emotional letters from her students were very touching and revealing, as were some of her last conversations with them.
I think parts of the book that were meant to explain just how isolating, depressing, bizarre, and scary the whole situation wound up sounding like "poor me". Like when she went back to New York and felt no one would understand what she had "endured". Obviously she was in danger - say anything out of line and you could be dead - and that kind of constant fear and paranoia, never being alone, having to pretend to be someone else, is exhausting and very difficult emotionally.
It just never came across to me the way it was intended. It sounded more like stereotypical teenage moping. She has an argument with a missionary, loses her cool, feels bad WHY?! This lover is brought up all the time , but despite completely over-sharing other parts of her life that are only tangentially related to anything at all, we know nothing about this person.
Except, every time she brings him up it sounds like she's pining away for someone who is mostly disinterested for her. That could be totally untrue, but we're given no information to demonstrate otherwise. She talks about her life as a Korean American, her family's connection to North Korea, their immigration story, all very interesting. I don't think all of her family stories are relevant, though. Some parts of the book don't seem to flow well, it seems kind of choppy and disconnected.
Much like this write-up of my thoughts. There was praise on the back that called this "investigative journalism", which I would dispute. It was her teaching in North Korea, asking no questions. There were some drivers who turned on Simon and Garfunkle, and she asked them not one question. Not if they like the music, not where they got it, nothing. I know that could be dangerous, but that would be actually investigative. There are some teachers there who are older and from North Korea, but they get one sentence.
She doesn't devote much time to the missionaries, except to make very juvenile-type comments about "their god" and irony and blah blah. I'm an atheist, but you really do not need the "funny how their god would let such and such happen if he didn't like it" after everything. It's not hard to figure out. I'm really annoyed by her regret and crying which also seems to happen a lot after confronting one of the missionaries - they say and do quite a few offensive things telling the boys that they can't use chopsticks to be "international gentlemen" , and are so fucking predatory to even be there.
Since the book is about her time with North Korea's ruling class, I guess I'll get to that.
- Without You.
- Captain Solomon Hardcastle.
- Search the Official Charts;
Student asks a question Almost every single interaction with the students goes that way. I didn't hate the book. The last bit was particularly interesting - excerpts from their letters, their interest in Harry Potter, their complete lack of knowledge about their area of study. Also that they didn't seem to know that adoption was a thing, as this came up in The Stars Between They could have been lying, but who knows.
I don't know how to explain. The entire subject of North Korea is both fascinating and incredibly sad, but most of this book was like biology textbook reading - interesting, but my eyes glazed over and my brain went into reading in monotone. Apr 29, Kavita rated it really liked it Shelves: While most memoirs I have read are about conditions in the camps or dealing with daily life for the poverty-stricken lower and middle classes, this one explores the lives of the rich and 'privileged' boys being groomed to take over the North Korean administration some day.
In the book, she exposes both the Kim regime's dictatorship in which even the elites are brainwashed and not given any freedom, and the missionaries who lie in wait like vultures waiting to pounce on the carrion the moment the country opens up. Kim's relationship with her students goes beyond the usual teacher - student relationships, partly because she is aware that their lives are restricted and feels for them, and partly because for the students, she is a major link to life on the outside.
Kim describes her time with the North Korean boys, effusing her narrative with emotions, both positive and negative. The boys are completely brainwashed to the extent that they believe that North Korea is the most advanced country in the world, where they have achieved miracles such as changing people's blood types!
They also believe that the axis of evil is USA, Japan and South Korea, and are forever prepared to wage war against their enemies. They are denied basic amenities like Google that we take for granted. They simply have no idea about the outside world, and one of the author's goals is to show them that there is a life outside NK and to get the boys start questioning their system. She does this by simple and sly techniques by obliquely mentioning some developments they were not privy to earlier, by keeping her Mac book in sight, and so on. If the North Korean regime blocks information to the students, restricts their lives and brainwashes them, the missionaries deny them simple and basic pleasures such as a screening of a Harry Potter movie, because it's not Christian.
We all know that the Kim regime is bad, but this was no less cruel in my view. They also insist on the students learning to eat with a fork, which makes no sense, since the food served is completely different. How are they going to eat soupy ramen with a knife and fork?! I found these people extremely annoying in every aspect.
The missionaries positioned in North Korea and China are doing a lot of harm. But when did they ever do anything else? I liked that the author does not spare them or see their work in NK as charity. She is well aware that their sole aim is to spread Christianity, and they don't care how they do it or about the consequences. I also liked that the author contributed some personal history in the form of reminiscences of her parents' lives during the war and how they had to flee at the time.
She also talked about her own memories, growing up as a child in South Korea and often makes a comparison between the north and south cultures, emphasising how far the two countries have grown apart in the past sixty years. While I found the book informative and enjoyable, there were some annoying elements. Kim's Americanism shows through when she keeps wondering about USA and how things are different here. Well, why wouldn't they be? US isn't a prototype for the rest of the world! Every place is different, and thrusting in America as the global standard really annoyed me. Another thing I found bizarre was that Kim would mention her lover consistently throughout the book, without us ever getting to actually know him.
He was irrelevant but she would bring him up at every opportunity. Even when discussing something as trivial as a textbook passage on New York, a mention of Brooklyn would bring out a couple of random sentences about her absent lover. I would make this a full five star, if this lover had been edited out completely.
View all 3 comments. Dec 13, Xueting rated it liked it Shelves: Lots of scenes are going to stay in my mind for a long time, I'm sure. I wish the author thought more about organising her book better though, by chapters or something else. She gave us so much detail and they were quite overwhelming at times when she just reported what happened and created a chilling hook, but went on almost immediately to another chilling occurrence. But I love her tone and perspective on North Korea - it's refreshing and so eye-opening to hear from a Sout Very harrowing book.
But I love her tone and perspective on North Korea - it's refreshing and so eye-opening to hear from a South Korean who spent so much time intimately with the people. The students were special. I felt her frustrations between loving and caring for them yet repelled by their very different way of life and thinking. Jun 13, Kimba Tichenor rated it liked it Shelves: This book does offer a fascinating glimpse into North Korean society; however the book itself at times seems to suffer from an identity crisis.
Mostly it reads like a memoir, in which the author has a personal vested interest in the story she is telling. As such, she introduces literary flourishes into her narrative. These literary flourishes work well in the context of a memoir. However, because there are points in the narrative where the author emphasizes her status as an investigative journal This book does offer a fascinating glimpse into North Korean society; however the book itself at times seems to suffer from an identity crisis. However, because there are points in the narrative where the author emphasizes her status as an investigative journalist, those literary flourishes become problematic at least for this reader.
I tend to evaluate a memoir and a piece of investigative journalism very differently. With the latter, I expect a higher degree of objectivity and a conscious effort to avoid ideologically charged language. Surely they could do better than that. Ham wrote the verse, Evans the chorus. The song was full of epic observations on the fragility of love.
The band performed the song with little sense of conviction or self-belief. It was buried, along with its tired, plodding arrangement, on the end of side one on their album No Dice. Nilsson got together with American producer Richard Perry and they transformed the song, which was a hit in early The fragility of love is given its appropriate arrangement. An orchestral backing is subtly hued, and the slide into the chorus tastefully negotiated.
It is the moment when resignation turns into something hotter and wilder. He turns the delicate song into what would later be known as a power ballad; except that he himself is powerless, vanquished by his dependency. The song was a massive hit all over the world. It became a standard, recorded by some artists and, of course a karaoke favourite, if you were really far gone. And then, in , it emerged again, this time from the formidable vocal cords of Mariah Carey.
Retrieved 29 April Retrieved 16 November Retrieved 21 December GfK Entertainment in German. Retrieved 17 February Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 22 January Retrieved 16 January Retrieved 12 January Sandro Cavazza in the field Interpret. Enter Without You in the field Titel.
Select single in the field Format. Retrieved May 8, Sandro Cavazza "Without You " ". Retrieved December 19, Retrieved 6 December Retrieved 4 January Sandro Cavazza — Without You" in Italian. Retrieved 21 May Retrieved 9 May Retrieved 6 April Select singles in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Discography Awards and nominations. Retrieved from " https: Views Read Edit View history. This page was last edited on 15 October , at