The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson

I just finished reading The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson after finding it at one of the neighborhood lending libraries / LittleFreeLibraries.

I love finding books this way and essentially going in blind. I knew it had won a Pulitzer for fiction, although (sorry) I don’t always give that a ton of weight. I’m not sure how I feel about it quite yet. Throughout the book, there would be sections that I really didn’t enjoy, but in hindsight I realize that I enjoyed quite a lot.

One thing that was on my mind throughout the novel was “how much of this really reflects life in Pyongyang or North Korea in general?”. I’m American and the way that North Korean propaganda is presented to us in the states is so extreme that it seems surreal, so it was hard at parts to cypher what was supposed to be a criticism of propaganda from the DPRK vs. what is criticism of the USA’s propaganda when it comes to DPRK.

I’d love to hear anybody else’s thoughts or experiences with this book!

What did you think of the story over all? How about the narrative structure of Part 2?

Thanks!