The Girl with Seven Names Escape from North Korea by Hyeonseo Lee with David John

 

" I wanted to belong, like everyone else around me did, but there was no country I could say was mine. I had no one to tell me that many other people in the world have a fragmented identity; that it doesn't matter. That who we are as a person is what's important."

     -Hyeonseo Lee, from her memoir

This memoir was recommended by one of our Page Turners. It is an amazing survival story! And what an eye-opener! I knew North Korea was no friend of the U.S. and is seen as an international threat to many other countries, but I had no idea of the extreme propaganda and horrible conditions in which the common people live. Hyeonseo Lee describes her experience as a child and youth in North Korea quite vividly. She tells of how the people are watched by secret police and can be arrested for something as ridiculous as naming the rulers in the wrong way. Kim Il-sung, "the Great Leader," his son Kim Jong-il, "Dear Leader" are to be revered as God figures. People are encouraged to turn in neighbors for anything that might be anti-government. Even though Hyesonseo's stepfather served in the military for years he was arrested on a trumped-up charge and died before his release.

Hyeonseo decided to defect as a 17-year-old and when she gets to China, she discovers she can never go back without putting her mother and brother, as well as herself, in grave danger. The obstacles she faces as she tries to find safety, freedom and a place to belong (see quote) are incredibly difficult.  As she pursues her dreams, her name changes 7 times, thus the title. Sadly, she does not see her family for some 11 years.

The memoir is a page-turner with short chapters and frequent foreshadowing. Several pages of photos, both black and white and in color, make Hyesonseo's story even more personal. I have great admiration for this young woman---her determination, resilience and her courage to speak out against an evil regime in her home country---are exceptional! I will rate The Girl with Seven Names a 4. 

More after our group meets....

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Fifteen Page Turners met today to discuss the book. The group average rating was 4.1, heavily 4's and 5's. Some knew more about Asian cultures than others, but I believe we all felt we learned a great deal about what the citizens of North Korea must live through. We felt that Hyeonseo's intelligence and stubbornness served her well in surviving defection from her home country. Because of our own fond memories of the homes of our youths, we could understand a lasting affection for "home."  

I am attaching a video of a Ted Talk the author presented in 2015. Very compelling.