The Orphan Master's Son

A Novel

By: Adam Johnson

Narrated by: Tim Kang, Josiah D. Lee, James Kyson Lee, Adam Johnson

Length: 19 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize, Fiction, 2013

An epic novel and a thrilling literary discovery, The Orphan Master’s Son follows a young man’s journey through the icy waters, dark tunnels, and eerie spy chambers of the world’s most mysterious dictatorship, North Korea.

Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother - a singer “stolen” to Pyongyang - and an influential father who runs Long Tomorrows, a work camp for orphans. There the boy is given his first taste of power, picking which orphans eat first and which will be lent out for manual labor. Recognized for his loyalty and keen instincts, Jun Do comes to the attention of superiors in the state, rises in the ranks, and starts on a road from which there will be no return.

Considering himself “a humble citizen of the greatest nation in the world,” Jun Do becomes a professional kidnapper who must navigate the shifting rules, arbitrary violence, and baffling demands of his Korean overlords in order to stay alive. Driven to the absolute limit of what any human being could endure, he boldly takes on the treacherous role of rival to Kim Jong Il in an attempt to save the woman he loves, Sun Moon, a legendary actress “so pure, she didn’t know what starving people looked like.”

Part breathless thriller, part story of innocence lost, part story of romantic love, The Orphan Master’s Son is also a riveting portrait of a world heretofore hidden from view: a North Korea rife with hunger, corruption, and casual cruelty but also camaraderie, stolen moments of beauty, and love. A towering literary achievement, The Orphan Master’s Son ushers Adam Johnson into the small group of today’s greatest writers.

From the Hardcover edition.

©2011 Adam Johnson (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

• Winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

“An addictive novel of daring ingenuity, a study of sacrifice and freedom in a citizen-eating dynasty, and a timely reminder that anonymous victims of oppression are also human beings who love - The Orphan Master’s Son is a brave and impressive book.” (David Mitchell, author of The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet)

“I’ve never read anything like it. This is truly an amazing reading experience, a tremendous accomplishment. I could spend days talking about how much I love this book. It sounds like overstatement, but no. The Orphan Master’s Son is a masterpiece.” (Charles Bock, author of Beautiful Children)

“Adam Johnson has pulled off literary alchemy, first by setting his novel in North Korea, a country that few of us can imagine, then by producing such compelling characters, whose lives unfold at breakneck speed. I was engrossed right to the amazing conclusion. The result is pure gold, a terrific novel.” (Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone)

Through the looking glass into North Korea

Adam Johnson set the bar high for himself in writing a novel set in a country hidden behind a wall of totalitarianism and rumor. But I thought that the Orphan Master’s Son rose to the challenge and deserves its hype. Johnson seems to accept that he can’t fill in all the details of a place largely blacked out to American eyes, so he relies on a light touch and a writer’s sense of lyricism to impart truth through story and character, rather than facts alone. The real North Korea is simply a jumping off point into Big Brother dystopia as an idea.

Because what defines life in such places, as Johnson seems to see it, are not facts or people, but narratives. And, here, all narratives are subsumed and rewritten by an all-pervading, state-created fiction. If the state decides that a citizen is to have have a new job, name, husband, or identity, then the citizen does. If the state finds that a citizen’s existence no longer fits the official narrative, the citizen ceases to be. Yet, the state's power contains a flaw: sometimes the narratives it creates for its citizens give them just a little power to resist it.

Enter Pak Jun Do, a non-orphan who, by various turns of events, becomes recast as an orphan, then as a tunnel soldier trained to fight in the darkness, then as a kidnapper, then as an intelligence officer installed on a fishing boat, then as an agent sent on an absurd mission to Texas. Initially an anonymous, dutiful North Korean subject, opaque to the reader, Jun Do gradually becomes someone, both in terms of his official status and his own inner life. Until, suddenly, we are introduced to another viewpoint on all that’s taken place. At that point, the plot becomes non-linear and a little meta, but it kept me guessing and I never had trouble making sense of what happens. Of course, there’s a love story that comes into play, through a strange twist of fate and a daring act of defiance.

What lifts this book above the ordinary is Johnson’s skill at enlisting small details and images and making them resonate through the story. The tattoos of their wives that fisherman put on their chests, fragmentary artifacts that drift in from the outside world (on the ocean or through radio), human connections to plants and animals, the use of martyrs names for orphans, the outlandish self-parodying pronouncements of state propaganda broadcasts -- all acquire a meaning beyond themselves. He also shows us human beings being complicated, with all the fear, absurdity, poignancy, boredom, rationalization, darkness, and hope that attends life in an oppressive place. We see how an idealistic state interrogator might compartmentalize his work life and his personal one, his ambitions and his own fears. Or the layers of deception navigated by a character trying to manipulate the deluded, yet shrewd Dear Leader, who is running his own manipulation of the same character. Or how a wary trophy wife, freer than most, but far from free, might respond to being issued a "replacement husband" at the pleasure of Kim Jong Il. I can see why David Mitchell (a favorite writer of mine) made a point of praising this book. It's just as about using a postmodern lens to view the world as his own works are.

On the subject of postmodernism, the book does have a few weakness. The different substories are a little awkwardly joined. The use of the aforementioned propaganda broadcasts to tell part of the story is a clever device, but gets a little exhausting later in the book. Also, a number of the scenes involving Americans come across as a little forced. Much of the problem, I think, was that any scene in which the Yankees talk yanked me right out of Jun Do's mind -- he couldn't have understood them as I did. Readers who prefer strict realism over literary creation might be frustrated with aspects of the story.

I was glad Johnson took the dare, though. If it has its rough spots, The Orphan Master's Son is still a stunning accomplishment, and I'm looking forward to seeing where else he might go in his career.

The audiobook narrators do a fine job, capturing (among other voices) the interrogator’s youthful sense of mission, the stern, moralizing tone of the broadcasts, and the creepy, vapid jocularity of Kim Jong Il.

I think this book would be better in print

I finished the book, although I was tempted to stop a few times. Like many, I found the narration grating and I thought it added little to the story. So I wonder if I would have liked the print edition of this book better.

In general, when it was interesting, it was very interesting, but then there would be long periods where the story was going over the same ground and got tedious. It was also very confusing to follow at times. By the end, I was clear on who was who, but it was not always so as I was listening.

There are such impassioned reviews on here and I went into the book wanting to feel the same way, but the narration and the jumping about in the story made it a bit of a slog for me, I'm afraid.

Add this book to Greatest Books Ever Written

This book has a wonderful story to tell but the time and narrative shift adds an element suspense which I didn't see the next turn in the plot. I've read 1984, All Quiet on the Western Front, Lord of Flies, Lolita, War & Peace and numerous others and this book has the right to be considered part of that list.

Dark, deep and disturbing.

Would you listen to The Orphan Master's Son again? Why?

Yes, it has images and pictoids in words that I would like to savour time after time.

What did you like best about this story?

The authenticity is unparalleled, the author captured the spirit and hearts of the people he wrote about.Ringing true and incredibly heart breaking , I found myself looking inwards to the deep reaches of my soul, throughout this book.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

If I had just read this book, the words would not have flowed in the cascading stream they became when I listened.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes, I was deeply disturbed by the character of the young interrogator, who himself is searching for his own soul.

Any additional comments?

This book is a classic work of fiction that will become the authoritative simile of North Korea, The book itself defies description, as a work of art, the story told is the life that One feels is the truth about the cultural psychology of a true dictatorship.

A nightmarish world.

With its varying protagonists , shifting tenses and non linear timeline this wasn't the easiest read. Not having visited North Korea i cant say for sure but it seems to me that Adam Johnson did a good job of depicting life there. I felt chilled and disorientated many times. It was a compelling but nightmarish read. I'm glad to leave that world.

Fuck. Everyone needs to listen to this.

The performance is 10/10

The story is 10/10

This book is amazing.

It will probably make you cry tho.

A gripping story masterfully written and read.

Would you listen to The Orphan Master's Son again? Why?

The readers are professionals and change their voices so I always knew who was speaking. The story is gripping and complex.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The movie star Sun Moon was my favorite character as she seemed authentic and elicited empathy and sympathy. The interrogator was also very believable and we'll-depicted.

Which scene was your favorite?

I was captivated by the scene in which the interrogator went him to feed his parents canned peaches.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

If the situations depicted are close to reality in the PDPK, it makes me very sad to contemplate the citizens/ many hardships.

Any additional comments?

Johnson has expertly woven a complex tale and captivated our attention to each aspect of it.

Not a light read.

I found the book hard to follow at times . If I happened to not be paying attention for 2 minutes, I would miss a key part and would need to go back. Over all I found the story sad and oppressive but I believe that's the point, right?

Very interesting, a bit jumbled

Any additional comments?

With little information about North Korea, I was enthralled to delve into the lives of the different characters. While the book played to my interest in this unknown nation, I felt that the story itself was a little jumbled. It constantly flipped between past, present and future, often with little warning. I am curious if the story would have felt more cohesive if I had read the book instead of listened to it. While the different time periods sometimes made the story feel dense, overall it was a good book that I would recommend to those interested in the culture and individuals of North Korea.

Moving and memorable experience

Would you listen to The Orphan Master's Son again? Why?

I would listen to it again. A first-rate story with excellent vocal performances by the narrators.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Orphan Master's Son?

Many; I enjoyed the scenes aboard the fishing boat, and the scene in Texas.

Which scene was your favorite?

Probably the scene in Texas or those with 'Dear Leader'

If you could rename The Orphan Master's Son, what would you call it?

Pyongyang Blues?

Any additional comments?

So: This has become one of my favorite books of all time - definitely a top 15 of anything I've read. Excellent, fitting vocal performances made the listening experience absorbing and thrilling.