Non-Fiction Pick of the Week: Nothing to Envy

Nothing to Envy: ordinary lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick 2009


Award-winning journalist Demick offers a never-before seen view of a country mostly unknown to the rest of the world. She based the book on interviews with the defectors from the city of Chong jin.

The book is about the lives of real six people who have families and try to make a living in a country with a totalitarian regime. The human rights issues and daily life in North Korea is a tragedy that is taking place out of Western public view, while the news headlines focus on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
Demick says at the end that the defectors find it hard to settle in South Korea. They are overwhelmed by the choices facing them. Many feel guilty about leaving family members behind and would like to return home.

The stories are moving and disturbing and tell us more about North Korean lives than the staged tourists visits to the capital city. The title is from a song the North Korean children are taught to sing: “Nothing to envy in the world” - this while struggling to survive and slowly dying of starvation.