The Orphan Master's Son: A Novel of North Korea

This insanely unique novel is hard to describe. Its a literary thriller, a modern-day Casablanca, a character study and a unrelenting bleak and painful portrait of a Country (North Korea) where people are forced to live according to a script written by their sadistic leader, and one wrong word could land you in a prison camp. The pace doesn't let up for a moment as the author explores the effects of constant propaganda, deprivation, and the pain of having to hide your true self or risk torture or death. He weaves his story around a man who starts out in an orphanage, becomes a spy, a kidnapper, and ultimately, an imposter who takes on Kim Jong Il. It's beautifully written, brutally realistic and definitely not for the squeamish.

The tunnels, a key theme, sum up this story -- very dark, but occasional mysterious sounds and touches of humanity can propel even the most victimized onward in search of a bit of light. I put the book down a few times -- torture is just too hard to read -- but picked it right back up as I was haunted by the main character and vivid images -- men on a ship in complete darkness listening to a woman rowing across the ocean each night; Sun Moon crying over Casablana; the absurd so-scary-that-they-feel-possibly-real diplomatic exchanges (North Koreans trying on boots in Texas?!)...
I don't know a lot about North Korea, and hesitate to write this review given what more-informed readers have posted and the whiff Tom Clancy that I smell, but...this is definitely a well-crafted, unique story. And I'm going to read more about NK.

I've been an Audible subscriber since the beginning (1999). There are over 500 books in my library. This is the most compelling story I have ever heard. I seriously couldn't turn it off.

To say it is the journey of one man through the "Looking Glass" that is the People's Democratic Republic of Korea, doesn't do it justice. Johnson draws characters that make you feel the oppression of life under that regime. He's obviously done serious study of the North Korean people and culture. The people of this book will live in my thoughts for a long time.

And Johnson addresses this tale with a light touch. It's not maudlin or morose. But it is haunting.

The performances by the readers is equal to this work. The producers uses a very interesting switch at a critical point in this story that brings everything into focus. No spoiler - you'll know it when it happens. But the production makes this recording nothing short of brilliant.

Don't bother to hold the voting this year. I can tell you who wins the Audie.

A new favorite in my 200+ audiobook library. It is a moving epic story about life in North Korea. One of the best I've ever listened to, I can not say enough about how wonderful this book is. There is a section about half way through where a case of mistaken identity makes the book a little hard to follow, and a little bit tough to believe, but work through it and you will not be dissapointed at how it all comes together. An amazing experience, absolutely engrossing, this is one I will listen to again and again and again.

You are going on a journey; insert your ear buds, and be prepared to step into a vortex of imaginative chaos, oppression, corruption, cruelty--you will wonder if you need to check your navigation...is this Johnson's novel about No. Korea, or is this Orwell, Kafka, Murakami (Timothy Leary), that has hijacked your device and carried you into a surreal and convoluted parallel universe created by Phillip Dick?

The speakers blare out...The first blast of propaganda hints at Pak Jun Do's mother--a kidnapped opera singer, a *toy* of the Dear Leader. The father, it is assumed, is the Master of the orphanage. The story is told in 2 parts, the first section being about Jun Do and his upbringing --the dirty and horrific jobs he takes to survive. Here Johnson is at his best describing the tunnels and kidnappings, the rusting fishing boat and the voices that seem to come from nowhere through the ship's radio, the haul of Nike shoes fished up from the sea. The paranoia and oppression entrenched in the men is like the rust taking over the boat. Jun Do goes through several professions and levels of social standing, tunnel fighter, kidnapper, radio operator, then prisoner, hero, foreign dignitary, and eventually takes over an assumed identity, inheriting a wife, and finds love.

Johnson tells the story using several different methods; creative and clever, and at times even humorous, these many devices tell the horrors and atrocities almost like background music floating behind a scene: the propaganda speakers blare out the love the Dear Leader has for his people, while Jun Do travels through the country seeing his people eating grass or raising dogs for food; an interrogator thinks, "we ramp up the pain to inconceivable levels..in a few weeks he will be a contributing member of a rural farm collective" --the prisoner, a professor, was accused of playing pop music from South Korea to his students. The writing methods and devices are like passages to another place on the timeline of the story, adding a new dimension to reader participation, but just as easily can be confusing-- making this a read that requires real effort, but very worthwhile.

If you have ever used the aid of nitrous oxide at the dentist's office, you will relate: I started listening to this novel at the dentist's office (I was scheduled for a 3 hour fun-block). A new book, a fully charged ipod, and the gas mask firmly in place. After about 1 hour, I got a little break. I lifted the nitrous mask from my face, looked at my ipod and thought, "WTH?! Maybe I shouldn't be listening to this under the influence." When I got home, lungs full of oxygen, brain cleared out, I started over. I listened a while then thought, "WTH!?" Once you catch on to the methods, the story becomes clear and easily navigated. Johnson's novel is a piece of inspired literary construction with steps and passages, tunnels, holes, voices from nowhere... with writing that is just as alarmingly beautiful and incongruent. Parts seemed even beyond surreal to me and were not a good fit, thus my 4* rating. But, for all I know, behind that wall of secrecy, this could be complete reality with just a surreal and convoluted leader?

I bought this book because I have been fascinated by North Korea for some time now. Unfortunately, I found this book was WAY too confusing to follow. It jumped around so much that I could never figure out how characters wound up being getting a certain job and doing things... Perhaps if I had been able to get through the first few hours, I may have enjoyed this book, but I was so confused I Just couldn't continue.

I have not read the print version, but I believe having the voices doing a bit of accent / dialect make it much better than anything I could envision in my own mind.

This is like seeing Animal Farm or 1984 come alive. The sad part is that so much of it was based on research, that this could possibly be the life some people have to live, or at least an approximation of it, since it is fiction after all.

The intonation for the speaker announcements and the character voices were very colorful.

It is hard to pick any singular moment in the book. The main character is very touching, and it is difficult to stop listening, even though you know his life is essentially a long train wreck....the power of the story keeps you listening, and a curiousity about how this character can rise above everything that comes his way and yet continue to develop, and maintain his essential goodness and humanity in spite of it all.

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.

The characters drew me into a story of living in a grim place that I would not have wanted to hear about for hours and hours without the character involvement. I don't know much about North Korea but this story was very informative and though fantastical, believable.

I have to disagree with Tim ??? quite strongly actually.

This story comes together like a jigsaw puzzle. Different characters give us their (incomplete) part of the story so the reader/listener is left to figure out what is actually happening. The Korean names and dialogue made my understanding slower but after listening to it a couple of times, I can???t stop thinking about it. I think Mr. Johnson did a brilliant job of telling a complicated story.

The level of human misery, cruelty and pathological ideas depicted makes North Korea, in my opinion, the leader in long list of notorious practitioners. History books as well as novels are not shy about adding imaginative ways to hurt people and/or animals but the NK regime certainly beats them all in that respect. It is so hard to believe it has gone on for so long.

If a North Korean slipped through Alice???s looking glass, he/she would no doubt feel right at home in Wonderland ,, well , if you add lots of cruelty.

The book is well written and the narration is spot on.