Barbara Demick

[pesahson]

Barbara Demick is an American journalist. She was a correspondent for the Philadelphia Inquirer in Eastern Europe from 1993 to 1997. From 1997 to 2001 she worked in the Middle East. After that she became Los Angeles Times’ correspondent in Korea. She moved to Beijing to work as the bureau chief of Los Angeles Times.

She published two books:
Logavina Street: Life and Death in a Sarajevo Neighborhood (1996)

(I found it was also published under the title Besieged: Life Under Fire on a Sarejevo Street)

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (2009)

Recently I finished the latter one and I wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s based on interviews with refugees from the town of Chongjin. Six people and their stories are the backbone of the book and it’s a fascinating read. They talk about what their live looked like before and after the death of Kim Il Sung, the famine of 1990, the gradual disillusionment, what pushed them to finally leave, little moments of disenchantment, the runaway, their new life in South Korea. It’s written with empathy and great journalistic craft.

 

[Sagredo]

I read "Nothing to Envy" as well, and recommend it as well. It was a great read, and a fascinating look into North Korea. I also found it quite sad, to read about their lives, although there was lots of hope in it, too (if I recall correctly, friends or even lovers, meeting after dark, after the lights went out).

There's several other North Korea related books I want to read; one of them is "The impossible state" by Victor Cha, which is on my pile already. Another one is by an escaped prisoner, called "Escape from Camp 14"(?).

 

[pesahson]

The "Escape from Camp 14" book at first glance looks terrifying. I'm not sure that's what I want to read right now even though after Demick I'm more interested in this part of the world.