Daniel TudorCríticas

Clearly written, even if it's not linear or logical in its composition. The author freely moves between history, religion, morals, politics, culture. Wide ranging so perfect for someone like me who didn't know anything about Korea. It's also quite personal, including author's musical tastes and personal opinions on ethics but this doesn't distract too much.

Some Insights into Daily Life

EDIT: Below is my original review, which I gave 2/5 stars. On reflection, I think that is far too negative. Despite the repetition in substance, this book can serve as a good starting point for readers of North Korea.

"Ask A North Korean: Defectors Talk About Their Lives Inside The World's Most Secretive Nation" is a quick and interesting read. As the publisher, the compiler, and the writer of the forward say several times, it seeks to fill a void of literature on North Korea, a country about whom there are many books regarding the Kim family and defectors, but few books about daily life. "Ask A North Korean" takes questions from readers of website and asks a North Korean defector to answer each question.

However, there are books about many of the themes touched on in this book, particularly the differences between Pyongyang and the rest of the country, the military, the Kim family, defectors, student life, and market liberalization. The compiler of this book, Daniel Tudor, even has another book that touches on these topics, "North Korea Confidential."

A casual reader can easily pick up this book and put it down for a break or read large sections at a time. The chapters on religion, fun and leisure, and relationships provide a beginning look at personal lives in the country. These are the sections where readers need more information. Unfortunately, what is provided is a scant survey. A future book could certainly flesh out these areas and provide tremendous insight into life in North Korea.

There are several frustrations. First, the compiler interjects before every question is answered. He provides his own thesis and then a summary of what the North Korean defector will write. This interrupts the flow of narratives. Because the North Korean defector is only given a few paragraphs to one or two pages for a response, the force of their personal remarks are lessened by Tudor's succinct summaries.

An additional complaint is that there is no index for "Ask a North Korean." This makes the book a poor resource for libraries, students, and academics.

All in all, this book is a light read about a horrible regime. It mentions some of the depravities, but aims not to dwell on them. It touches briefly on a few topics about daily lives but not enough to give a whole picture.

An Englishman's Anglocentric view of an Eastern country. Gets two stars because there we some nice nuggets, genuine enthusiasm, and because I don't the huge bias was intentional. Nonetheless, throughout the book, things that were closer to the way they are done in England were described as "the real deal" (music) and superior to the Korean way. Best to learn about this interesting country elsewhere I think.

Nice insight to get to know a culture beyond their Kdrama/Kpop and technology; though it did help with some cultural actions(?) in the dramas and films.

The attraction of this book is that Daniel Tudor covers all the bases in explaining modern South Korea. He evaluates all aspects of Korean history and society regardless of whether they conflict with preconceived ideas about "Asian values" , "Asian inscrutability" etc.

The book is a genuine exploration of Korean society and provides a rather surprising picture of an "Over the Top" attitude permeating the whole country, with the many examples including the following:

Extremist education with students working the longest hours in the world combined with a hyper-competitive examination system. The result is a very educated population in technical subjects, a degree of youth alienation, a high youth suicide rate, high status teachers, a high financial burden on families and a surprisingly low return (productivity) for the effort expended.

The desire for physical perfection resulting in cosmetic surgery being desirable for all ages, and even going as far as tongue surgery to supposedly enable the better pronunciation of English words.

The cult of the new (Neophilia - Love of the new) whereby perfectly good equipment is dumped in favour of a new model. South Korea is the country where mostly only foreigners drive older cars and where product cycles have become maniacally short, with anything new automatically being viewed as superior.

Obligatory high level English language learning although only a minority will ever require it. This ties in with entrance to Seoul's four prestigious universities where candidate levels are so high that fluency in English becomes an added factor.

Extreme emotions, Han & Heung. So much for inscrutable Orientals! The author shows that Korean wear their hearts on their sleeve and revel in extremes of sadness and joy as reflected in their films and music that has a big following throughout Asia (Korean popular singers and actors regarded the most attractive in Asia).

Extreme nationalism that is rooted in Korea's history of subjugation by the Japanese and Chinese. Korean society is unified as probably no other and can undertake large scale projects with astounding determination, regardless of whether they are launched at a national level by a dictator such as Park Chung-hee or at a company level by for example Samsung. He doesn't make the point, but the contrast with US is remarkable (see "The Big Sort" by Bill Bishop).

The list continues and even includes their social binge drinking and their extreme spicy food (pickled vegetables with pepper and garlic - Kimchi, that apparently accompany everything - even pizza.

In the last chapters, the author show that things are changing at the margin, with some degree of openness to multiculturalism, gay rights and women's rights but that these issues in no way define society as they do in the United States.

In my opinion this is a great book and the author suggests that South Koreans try and relax and enjoy themselves by following the advice of Soyeon Yi (2008 Korean "Woman of the Year" and first Korean in space), when she says, "Korean are very good at being unsatisfied. Sometimes we need to have a break, and some champagne to cheer us up".

Aren't they drinking enough soju already?

maybe