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.
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[What do I remember of that night? The night I escaped from North Korea? There are so many things that I don't remember, that I've put out of my mind forever... But I'll tell you what I do recall]***
(AmazonCrossing, 1 January 2018, ebook, Kindle First)
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I know almost nothing about North Korea except snippets gleamed from occasional items on the news. What I have learned does not create a good impression of the country. I wanted to read this book to learn about a culture completely alien to my own experiences.
A River in Darkness is the most gut-wrenching, heart-breaking book I've read in a long time. The last time a book affected me so much was Freedom in Exile by The Dali Lama.
I was horrified to read about Ishikawa and his family's experiences in North Korea. I cannot believe that such a country exists, thrives. I assume the way of life has not changed since he escaped. People starving. People beaten and locked up for thinking. People treated like scum because they are married to Japanese women. In the 30-odd years he lived there he did not have a decent meal. His family were virtually penniless. When he escaped he was on the verge of dying from starvation. WTF?
I hoped A River in Darkness would have a good ending. Surely some ray of hope would persevere? The ending is even more heart-breaking that the rest of the memoir. I'm a wreck writing this, hardly able to see through my tears.
A River in Darkness humbled me. I realise just how good my life is.
