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A review by stlpapercrafts
Star of the North by D.B. John, Linda Park
4.0
Star of the North took me about a week to read, but I’m glad I stuck with it! It is a historical fiction novel set in North Korea. The events in the book are based on true stories from people who have escaped.
Jenna believed that her twin sister drowned while on a trip to the beach in South Korea. When Jenna is recruited into the CIA and discovers her sister may have been abducted and living in North Korea all these years, she does everything she can to gain intelligence and try to locate her sister.
Colonel Cho is in the upper class of the North Korean regime. He believes in the Dear Leader and all he has been taught. His brother receives a great promotion which involves a deeper background check, not just into their adoptive parents backgrounds, but their birth parents they know nothing about. Cho soon worries about being punished for his ancestors wrongdoings.
Mrs. Moon is an elderly woman in the lower class and works on a farm. Having enough food and money to survive is always a struggle. She spies a balloon coming down from the sky that contains a package of cookies, a few other little items and a note from the people of South Korea stating they are with them and encouraging them to rise up against Kim Jong-il. This little package flips her life upside down - she trades the items to gain supplies and eventually opens a little restaurant stall at the market. She works in little and big ways to be subversive and quickly becomes a leader among the women at the market.
I’ve read a little about North Korea, but this was a good way to get information in more of a narrative setting. I was really interested in the authors note at the end which explains the inspiration for the book and how much of it was based on fact.
Jenna believed that her twin sister drowned while on a trip to the beach in South Korea. When Jenna is recruited into the CIA and discovers her sister may have been abducted and living in North Korea all these years, she does everything she can to gain intelligence and try to locate her sister.
Colonel Cho is in the upper class of the North Korean regime. He believes in the Dear Leader and all he has been taught. His brother receives a great promotion which involves a deeper background check, not just into their adoptive parents backgrounds, but their birth parents they know nothing about. Cho soon worries about being punished for his ancestors wrongdoings.
Mrs. Moon is an elderly woman in the lower class and works on a farm. Having enough food and money to survive is always a struggle. She spies a balloon coming down from the sky that contains a package of cookies, a few other little items and a note from the people of South Korea stating they are with them and encouraging them to rise up against Kim Jong-il. This little package flips her life upside down - she trades the items to gain supplies and eventually opens a little restaurant stall at the market. She works in little and big ways to be subversive and quickly becomes a leader among the women at the market.
I’ve read a little about North Korea, but this was a good way to get information in more of a narrative setting. I was really interested in the authors note at the end which explains the inspiration for the book and how much of it was based on fact.