Hyejin KimJia: A Novel of North Korea

I really enjoyed JIA, in fact I couldn't put it down. The characters were well developed and there was enough suspense mixed in with a lot of educational aspects of the reality of life in N. Korea. The author didn't minimize the difficulties that N. Koreans experience trying to cross into China. This story was heartfelt, heartbreaking but also a story of courage and redemption. I am very interested in reading about N. Korea and there are few novels that bring you close to what life is like there, not ignoring both the exceptional and the horrible. This is a must read for anyone intrigued by a country that tries to keep it's borders closed, where there is a huge divide between rich and poor and starvation is not unusual, and where the inhabitants have to be very careful and very dutiful if they want to survive.

Ms. Kim's JIA is based on a very original idea, a novel about life in North Korea and it attains the author's objective, to portray the people of that benighted land as real human beings. JIA is written in the first person so this limits Ms. Kim's portrayal of the other characters because they're seen only from the narrator's perspective and they cross the pages of this book without revealing much of themselves. The introduction early in the story of Jia's maternal grandparents, for instance, could have given the author a golden opportunity to present the lives and motivations of North Korea's privileged ruling class but she failed to exploit it. Only the most experienced writers can use the first-person narrative technique successfully. She has yet to develop this skill. While her view of life in North Korea is based on the real-life experiences of actual escapees and rings true to those narratives it lacks the brutal immediacy of memoirs such as Hyok Kang's THIS IS PARADISE! or Kang Chol-Hwan's THE AQUARIUMS OF PYONGYANG. The grinding misery and oppression of life in North Korea is also better described in Barbara Demick's poignant NOTHING TO ENVY, ORDINARY LIVES IN NORTH KOREA and Mike Kim's riveting ESCAPING NORTH KOREA. Compared to these books Ms. Kim's JIA comes through as a talented young writer's first novel, full of promise, distinguished by some brilliant writing (throwaway blurbs for her publisher), but ultimately boring.

I found this interesting, moderately well-written, and probably based on truth. As a novel, it was okay, good for simple reading; I enjoyed it as a story about someone overcoming hardships. My guess is that it is based on truth so that made it more interesting but great literature it isn't.

I think there is a lot to gain from this book, especially for somebody who would like to know about North Korea but would like the information presented in a story context. Personally, I think it could be an excellent introduction to young people who would like to know about North Korea.As a person who reads quite a bit about North Korea, I found this book to be somewhat pedantic. Everything that happened to the characters was taken straight out of human rights reports and recent nonfiction books.

I really enjoyed this book. It gave me a really good insight into what it is like to live in North Korea. I want to warn everyone though, this is not a happy type of book. Parts of it are very upsetting.

Jia brings to life an existence which is incomprehensible from anything I have known. More surprising is how contemporary it is. The characters are well written. A reader who enjoys expanding their understanding of our world will enjoy this book.

I had little knowledge of North/South Korea and this book was a great introduction. A little girl-to-grown woman story of struggles in a country where she seems eternally outcast. Worth a read

What a journey. From such a young age,Jia is so resilient. Her story is sad yet simply inspiring to everyone.