An absolute must read.The harrowing true story of one man’s life in—and subsequent escape from—North Korea, one of the world’s most brutal totalitarian regimes.Half-Korean, half-Japanese, Masaji Ishikawa has spent his whole life feeling like a man without a country.
It is not an easy read, but it is important to understand the level of complexity and the reality of the situation. He questions whether he made the right decision in the end as the consequences are revealed and the reader is left writhing in agony at his pain. The narrator defects at a much later stage in life, living around 30 years under the dictatorship, but leaving his family behind. But they soon face the truth and brutality of their circumstances. His father, an originally extremely violent man became pacified as he realised the perilous situation he bought his family into. His journey begins in Japan, the child of a Japanese mother and Korean father, he was forced at a young age to move to North Korea under the pretence of "returning" to his motherland, though he never believed so. Ishikawa describes his life under the North Korean regime as gruelling, horrifically terrifying, and there are some completely hopeless moments where you think why even bother anymore. Masaji Ishikawa's story is truly soul-crushing, the level of trauma is beyond comprehension, therefore read it with caution. 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.Īn utterly bleak story of an invisible man 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. But the reality of their new life was far from utopian.
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. 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. Half-Korean, half-Japanese, Masaji Ishikawa has spent his whole life feeling like a man without a country. The harrowing true story of one man’s life in - and subsequent escape from - North Korea, one of the world’s most brutal totalitarian regimes. A New York Times bestseller and Amazon Charts Most Read and Most Sold book.Ī Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Memoir & Autobiography.
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