Without You, There Is No Us

My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite

By: Suki Kim

Narrated by: Janet Song

Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

A haunting memoir of teaching English to the sons of North Korea's ruling class during the last six months of Kim Jong-il's reign

Every day, three times a day, the students march in two straight lines, singing praises to Kim Jong-il and North Korea: Without you, there is no motherland. Without you, there is no us. It is a chilling scene, but gradually Suki Kim, too, learns the tune and, without noticing, begins to hum it. It is 2011, and all universities in North Korea have been shut down for an entire year, the students sent to construction fields - except for the 270 students at the all-male Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), a walled compound where portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il look on impassively from the walls of every room, and where Suki has accepted a job teaching English. Over the next six months, she will eat three meals a day with her young charges and struggle to teach them to write, all under the watchful eye of the regime.

Life at PUST is lonely and claustrophobic, especially for Suki, whose letters are read by censors and who must hide her notes and photographs not only from her minders but from her colleagues - evangelical Christian missionaries who don't know or choose to ignore that Suki doesn't share their faith. As the weeks pass, she is mystified by how easily her students lie, unnerved by their obedience to the regime. At the same time, they offer Suki tantalizing glimpses of their private selves - their boyish enthusiasm, their eagerness to please, the flashes of curiosity that have not yet been extinguished. She in turn begins to hint at the existence of a world beyond their own - at such exotic activities as surfing the Internet or traveling freely and, more dangerously, at electoral democracy and other ideas forbidden in a country where defectors risk torture and execution. But when Kim Jong-il dies, and the boys she has come to love appear devastated, she wonders whether the gulf between her world and theirs can ever be bridged.

©2014 Suki Kim (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"[An] extraordinary and troubling portrait of life under severe repression…[Kim's] account is both perplexing and deeply stirring." ( Publishers Weekly)

"A rare and nuanced look at North Korean culture, and an uncommon addition to the 'inspirational-teacher' genre." ( Booklist)

Wonderful read!

Through the whole book I felt like I was a tiny listening device secretly smuggled in and hidden somewhere on Ms. Kim's person. Right next to her tightly kept, secret flash drives. Each day listening to and absorbing every word. Leaving my imagination hungry for more examples of life on what seemed to be a distant planet people actually lived on. Her bravery alone is something to be commended. Loved this book! Eye opening for sure.

Interesting, to say the least.

This is an interesting view into a side of North Korea I knew nothing about. I've read The Aquariums of Pyonyang, and other such books of tragedy, but had never heard of a story about the people at the top of the food chain in North Korea.

Unbelievable

I thank the author for telling her story.
I pray for the natives and the soldiers
that remain living and keeping the peace.

Bad narration

I could not stand the narrator. Terrible voice and inflection. I think I would have liked the story more and have a better connection to the story if it had been read by someone else.

Personal and political

This is an intimate experience and it is told as such. The author gives a view into the lives of college students and the people working at the institution within a complex environment. It is done in a way that foster both empathy and interest, abd delivers even frustrating details with care so that it does not disparage the people referenced. This is an interesting story of the writer's experience, kept personal while exposing truths one may never otherwise be able to imagine.

A rare insight into North Korea?

This rare insight into North Korea is an eye-opener. The writer style makes you feel that you are there enduring every moment.

North Korea meets Dead Poets Society

What true undercover journalistic endeavor! The closeness Suki felt was so heartfelt! The same for the students! The secrets kept by all were mind bending!

Fascinating story!

This is a fascinating extension to my existing knowledge of North Korea. It gives me first-hand experience on the lives of these elite students as well as ordinary North Koreans. Aside from the amazing story, I thank the author for her braveness to endure the harshness of life in order to bring back rare moments of humanity.

Transporting and with Real heart.

The story takes you on a journey of self and search. You feel a real heart strumming for the writer to find her voice and tell her story.
I listen to many audiobooks because I cannot see letters. So, audiobooks take words off the page and I hear them as pictures. "Without You, There's No Us" I heard my life's story put more elegantly then I could put into words.
I have shared this audiobook with my mom ,who knows me. And My mom said, "this book is beautiful."
I cried when listening. You can hear the conflict of the writer's heart that you empathize with. If you travel and feel somewhere and nowhere all at once. Then wonder if you are lost. This book is for you.
note: to get this work out of North Korea is a work of a journalistic spy.

Absolutely outstanding

While the narrators reading leaves a little to be desired as far as her emotional range, the story itself is just beautiful. If you read or listen to one story about DPRK, make it this one.