In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom
Yeonmi Park
Born and raised in North Korea, Yeonmi was brainwashed to believe the Benevolent Dictator Family could read her mind and that poverty was normal. As a woman, she needed to escape North Korea in order to survive, which included passing through China as a human slave and a number of other atrocities.
Some lines were truly funny, and required sharing with my partner, my workmates, the wider world! But others were thought-provoking and hard to take in. It reminded me in some way of Max – dictators being able to brainwash people into believing anything, including that they are immortal and that they can see inside sinners’ heads. This is a wholly true story though, and that makes it both harder and easier to accept that some people actually are evil.
I am not surprised about the human trafficking aspect, and that Park wanted to hide it from others even as she was being the poster child of successful escape. It’s something that creates shame, even if it is not the woman’s fault. Human trafficking is still slavery, and it’s something that has been around for too long before it started. The Purveyor was my first foray into this, and In Order to Live won’t be my last.
I’ve been enjoying non-fiction biographies/autobiographies quite a lot lately. I had just read a fantastic book before this one, and I couldn’t think about jumping into another fantasy book. This hit the spot for something a bit different to refresh me. I couldn’t put it down.
I could hardly put this novel down, which was surprising because its basically a memoir. I’ve never heard of her though, so it was all new to me. I did enjoy the ‘journey’ right from the beginning of her life.
Most of us want to hope that we won’t fall for a Con. Who would get into a pyramid scheme? Hell, I was almost pulled into one as a kid, but it didn’t work in Australia because we don’t have $1 notes to post. The deal was that you post $1 to each person on the list, then you add your name to the bottom of the list. Then the more people you send it to, the more you make back. Now it costs a $1 to send the damn letter, so you wouldn’t even break even!
This was impressive because Petraitis had obviously done her work well (as she has in her other books, which I now want to get my hands on), and she places the emphasis on the human touch. Humans are fallible, and criminal ones even more so. The book also highlighted the impact on police officers’ family lives in the days after a crime.
It could be quite a heavy book but Lal makes an effort to keep the action moving and to always have a bit of humour. If not, there was a profound insight being shared, or expanded upon. I particularly enjoyed the notes from her brother’s journal.
I’ve never really thought about prison settings, not since my review of 
I’m not quite sure what I expected out of this book. I guess I was hoping for some general money rules that could apply globally. There are some here, but don’t be mistaken – this is a very American based set of suggestions.
You get some freedom here, and I think this book is designed for bright colours. Not all of the images are right there for you to colour – you might need to draw lines, or decide on a numbered colour scheme. Others are the traditional different coloured animals fitted into each other which you shade from one side to the other.