The Girl with Seven Names

Author: Hyeonseo Lee

ISBN: 978-0007554850

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A riveting look deep inside North Korea combined with a harrowing tale of escape for the author. I started reading this on a Monday and finished the last 30% of the book the following Sunday. You will not be able to put it down for the last quarter of the book. While it is a true story, it reads like a novel.

My takeaways from this book:

  • It is remarkable the number of things which have to go right for someone to survive defecting from a closed country
  • The human capacity for imagination and quick thinking, even though this was all discouraged by the state, is nothing short of amazing
  • We, as the US, should do more to help with defections / asylum instead of closing our borders

Stunningly good book.