The Orphan Master's Son
November Book Selection--Discussion Monday, November 17, 2014
2012 Pulitzer Prize Winner
Part breathless thriller, part story of innocence lost, part story
of romantic love, The Orphan Master's Son is also a riveting
portrait of a world heretofore hidden from view: a North Korea
rife with hunger, corruption, and casual cruelty but also
camaraderie, stolen moments of beauty, and love. A towering
literary achievement, The Orphan Master's Son ushers
Adam Johnson into the small group of today's greatest writers.
-- Random House
by Adam Johnson
Book Reviews
A North Korean Soldier Finds his 'Casablanca'
The Washington Post Book Review
The New Yorker: Dear Leader-A Novel of Life in North Korea
The Washington Post: 'The cruelest psychological experiment ever cooked up’: Author Adam Johnson
Discussion Questions
Lit Lovers Discussion Questions
Book Club Discussion Questions
Related Information
National Review: Witness From Hell
Learn the History of North Korea
Holocaust Now: Looking Down Into Hell at Camp 22
5 Strange Things You Did Not Know About Kim Jung-II
Brief Introductions
Adam Johnson, who has spent years in research, started writing about North Korea because of a fascination with propaganda and the way it prescribes an official narrative to an entire people.
Recommended, Related Read:
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick, which explores the lives of six North Koreans over a period of fifteen years.
Other Related Reads:
Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by Blaine Harden
Aquariums of Pyongyang: 10 Years in a North Korean Gulag by Kang Chol-hwan and Pierre Rigoulot