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)

An American writer captures North Korea

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Most good books have a few quotable lines that reach deep into your soul and connect with a life situation or tragedy or joy that you have felt attaching you to the truth. This book is a journey of truths. Each page an oyster bearing pearls from characters steeped in the fire of an unholy dictatorship.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jun Do cracks open and delivers many of the oyster's pearls of wisdom as he faces a life dictated by the danger that comes from the great leader of North Korea and his forces. Travel writer Jamaica Kincaid wrote that writers often, "begin with a broken heart sometimes, a tender heart fractured, its sweet matter bejeweled with the sharp slivers of a special pain." If Adam Johnson did not have a broken heart when he began to write perhaps he tapped into the heart of every North Korean who suffers abuse and delivered to us a hero named Jun Do.

Any additional comments?

If you connected with Stieg Larsson's, Lisbeth Salander in his trilogy The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo you are certainly ripe for the beauty that is Jun Do and his plight of a tragic yet victorious life.

Even better the second time

This is my second time listening to this book. It's very well written and very well perform I enjoyed it the first time and will continue to enjoy it for many more years to come. The only thing I have to say on a sad note is there are no other books by this author.

Un pais zombi bajo el yugo de un tirano

escalofriante relato de como extirpar lo que nos hace diferente a los demas seres vivos

Truth verses freedom

This book gives you a perspective on what truly is freedom. And how we see truth ...what truth really is.

It Went From Well Written To Pulitzer Prize Worthy

At first, I was impressed with this story. It began compelling and interesting. Then approximately 1/3 - 1/2 into the book, it really took a jump from well written to Pulitzer Prize-deserving. From that point, the story earned its place atop my five-star shelf.

For those who have spent time interested in, or as students of North Korea, this will be particularly thrilling for you. The nature of the story seems so realistic against the true life stories shared by defectors from the DPRK.

What's more, this novel was released two years prior to the release of "Dear Leader" which convincingly (a true story) bears the realities of the Kim dynasty in North Korea and the mannerisms of Kim Jung-il. How Johnson came to personify Kim Jung-il with the realism he was able, verified by the Poet-Laureate of the DPRK is fabulous.

The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson!

The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson!
I read a lot. I read a diverse cross-section of fiction. And I am telling you that I have NEVER read anything like Adam Johnson's novel, The Orphan Master's Son. And I'll cut to the chase here and tell you that it knocked my socks right off!

The novel is the story of Pak Jun Do, the eponymous orphan master's son. Jun Do spends the novel explaining to people that despite his orphan's name and upbringing in an orphanage, that he is not an orphan. Although he is not parented well, or for long. "All orphans are destined for the Army eventually. But this was how Jun Do, at fourteen, became a tunnel soldier, trained in the art of zero-light combat."

More, more, more, PLEASE!!!!!!

Buy this book. I dont normally read fiction but this book was top notch. North Korea is such a great topic setting for a book. I LOVED IT.

Captivating and considered

The audio in this book is flawless. The readers draw you in with their subtly and nuance.
While the story takes a turn after the Texan event that initially seems implausible, the last third of the book makes it all unfold so well that you are left thinking about the amazing complexity of Kim Jung Il as a person who propagates such a society, eve if most of it is fiction.

The story has set me on a path to read/listen to more books about North Korea so I can garner a greater appreciation of this mysterious country.

A must...

Awesome book!

The narration, hands down, is outstanding. It adds so much to the book.

As much as others have reviewed this book as being about the horrors of North Korea, to me, at its core is a love story. The interregator's love for his parents...and a man's love for "his" wife and children... And the lengths they will go to for that love. What would you do in a land of no hope and oppression for the ones you love?

This is one of the few books that I have listened to that I would enjoy listening to again to enjoy all of the literary nuances one more time.

THE Most Important Fiction You will EVER Read!

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

Yes. Absolutely. It's important to remember that evil is dangerous and does exist in humans and their governments; those who believe that "making nice" with evil will bring the world to peace are naive, and perhaps equally as dangerous.

What other book might you compare The Orphan Master's Son to and why?

The Gulag Archipelago was arguably as important, but the Orphan Master's Son is much more engaging and easily read. Read it as non-fiction. Then think twice about chemical weapons.

Which scene was your favorite?

The scenes portraying the families' fear of each other within the family. The scenes of North Koreans holding themselves as superior to all others and stealing citizens of other countries. These are not folk tales.
My own father told me these stories in the mid-1970s as an explanation as to why we should NEVER have a treaty with North Korea. I was a naive "Peace-nic" and thought he must be exaggerating.
He was an intelligence officer (translate: spy) who won metals for discovering the very secret tunnels used as described in this book.

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

The Other Reality. Yes, they really do believe that all other countries are evil and inferior. They also have no qualms about destroying each and every one of us.

Any additional comments?

Please know that I was tear-gassed during Viet-Nam war protests and do not regret it. That said, this book should be read by every American and citizen of the free world. These people are dangerous. Adam Johnson has an important message for us and we should take it very seriously.
This book deserves the awards it received!