Identify Books In Favor Of The Orphan Master's Son
| Original Title: | The Orphan Master's Son |
| ISBN: | 0812992792 (ISBN13: 9780812992793) |
| Edition Language: | English URL http://www.randomhouse.com/highschool/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780812992793 |
| Setting: | Korea, Democratic People's Republic of North Korea(Korea, Democratic People's Republic of) Pyongyang(Korea, Democratic People's Republic of) |
| Literary Awards: | Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (2013), California Book Award for Fiction (Gold) (2012), Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction (2013), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Fiction (2012), Andrew Carnegie Medal Nominee for Fiction (2013) Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fiction (2012), The Rooster -- The Morning News Tournament of Books (2013) |
Adam Johnson
Hardcover | Pages: 443 pages Rating: 4.07 | 82509 Users | 9742 Reviews
Mention Based On Books The Orphan Master's Son
| Title | : | The Orphan Master's Son |
| Author | : | Adam Johnson |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 443 pages |
| Published | : | January 10th 2012 by Random House |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction. Cultural. Asia |
Commentary In Pursuance Of Books The Orphan Master's Son
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. --jacket descriptionRating Based On Books The Orphan Master's Son
Ratings: 4.07 From 82509 Users | 9742 ReviewsJudgment Based On Books The Orphan Master's Son
This is not an easy book to read. It preys on the minds of readers, on the fears and hopes that stem from our deeply ingrained cultural concepts, our habitual comfortable worldview. It takes you to the place where you can no longer be sure what is based in reality and what is the result of an absurdist deeply satirical interpretation of it.This is a book that's set in North Korea, and its protagonist is cleverly - perhaps overly so - named Jun Do (that is, 'John Doe', the North Korean everyman,That helpful widget tells me that I've read 27%. I think I've given Mr Johnson a fair chance so I have no compunction in bailing out of this one. I'm old enough to be conscious of my own mortality. The unread books I already own could probably keep me going until the Grim Reaper passes this way (which doesn't prevent me from adding to them, you know, he may not come for a while, I've certainly not invited him, and nor would I welcome him). Nearly 600 pages is a commitment I'll make if I feel
Don't Give Up, You're Not Beaten YetAfter buying this book, I read 75 pages and gave up, thinking it was too dark and foreign for me to like. Some time after the novel won the Pulitzer Price in Fiction for 2013, I decided to start over and nearly gave up again around the same point, but decided to keep reading to page 100. Somewhere around page 85, I was intrigued, and by page 100, I could not put the book down.Now, I cannot laud The Orphan Master's Son highly enough to do it justice. Its
Just starting this--so far it's absolutely ripping. Saw Johnson on a panel, talking about 9/11, Ten Years After, with Steve Erickson and Dana Goodyear and LA Times book critic David Ulin--and he held his own with that stellar company, and then some. Funny, when I saw him before the panel, I didn't know who he was, thought he was somebody's friend, maybe a bouncer at some kind of rough nightspot or someone who worked with prison youth-- until he sat down at the table, and started talking.
It is just possible that I've found the novel that come next December I'll be listing as my favorite book of the year. Go ahead -- scoff or do the eyeroll if you so choose, but this book has just set the bar for my reading year. With this novel, the prose, the characters, the story and the author's imagining of life under totalitarian rule in North Korea all combine to produce the literary equivalent of the perfect storm in my reading universe. While getting my thoughts together and perusing the
I'll preface this review by saying that, in many ways, this is an excellent novel. It's intelligent, rich in symbolism and metaphor, and takes place in one of the most interesting contemporary settings an author could choose. It has many moments of terrific insight regarding one of the strangest and most tragic places on Earth. I can see why it's getting so much attention.All of that aside, this book did not work for me. It doesn't read like a book that was so good that they had to award it the
If Mike Reynolds hadn't raved about this book I probably wouldn't have read it. Here's his review:http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...I'm glad I read The Orphan Master's Son, however, so thanks, Mike.Why wouldn't I have read this novel without Mike's recommendation? Well, I'm leery of any book about another culture that hints of an uplifting, inspirational tale about overcoming obstacles or whatever. I hate that shit. It's not that I hate feeling uplifted but those stories, in my eyes, tend
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