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Under the same sky : from starvation in North Korea to salvation in America / Joseph Kim ; with Stephan Talty.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015Description: xi, 274 pages ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 0544373170
  • 9780544373174
Subject(s): Genre/Form: DDC classification:
  • 362.87092 B 23
Summary: "A searing story of starvation and survival in North Korea, followed by a dramatic escape, rescue by activists and Christian missionaries, and success in the United States thanks to newfound faith and courage. Inside the hidden and mysterious world of North Korea, Joseph Kim lived a young boy's normal life until he was five. Then disaster struck: the first wave of the Great Famine, a long, terrible ordeal that killed millions, including his father, and sent others, like his mother and only sister, on desperate escape routes into China. Alone on the streets, Joseph learned to beg and steal. He had nothing but a street-hardened survival instinct. Finally, in desperation, he too crossed a frozen river to escape to China. There a kindly Christian woman took him in, kept him hidden from the authorities, and gave him hope. Soon, through an underground network of activists, he was spirited to the American consulate, and became one of just a handful of North Koreans to be brought to the U.S. as refugees. Joseph knew no English and had never been a good student. Yet the kindness of his foster family changed his life. He turned a new leaf, became a dedicated student, mastered English, and made it to college, where he is now thriving thanks to his faith and inner strength. Under the Same Sky is an unforgettable story of suffering and redemption"-- Provided by publisher.
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Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Book Book Bedford Public Library Biography Biography BIO KIM KIM Available 32500001681478
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Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A searing story of starvation and survival in North Korea, followed by a dramatic escape, rescue by activists and Christian missionaries, and success in the United States thanks to newfound faith and courage



Inside the hidden and mysterious world of North Korea, Joseph Kim lived a young boy's normal life until he was five. Then disaster struck: the first wave of the Great Famine, a long, terrible ordeal that killed millions, including his father, and sent others, like his mother and only sister, on desperate escape routes into China. Alone on the streets, Joseph learned to beg and steal. He had nothing but a street-hardened survival instinct. Finally, in desperation, he too crossed a frozen river to escape to China.



There a kindly Christian woman took him in, kept him hidden from the authorities, and gave him hope. Soon, through an underground network of activists, he was spirited to the American consulate, and became one of just a handful of North Koreans to be brought to the U.S. as refugees. Joseph knew no English and had never been a good student. Yet the kindness of his foster family changed his life. He turned a new leaf, became a dedicated student, mastered English, and made it to college, where he is now thriving thanks to his faith and inner strength. Under the Same Sky is an unforgettable story of suffering and redemption.

"A searing story of starvation and survival in North Korea, followed by a dramatic escape, rescue by activists and Christian missionaries, and success in the United States thanks to newfound faith and courage. Inside the hidden and mysterious world of North Korea, Joseph Kim lived a young boy's normal life until he was five. Then disaster struck: the first wave of the Great Famine, a long, terrible ordeal that killed millions, including his father, and sent others, like his mother and only sister, on desperate escape routes into China. Alone on the streets, Joseph learned to beg and steal. He had nothing but a street-hardened survival instinct. Finally, in desperation, he too crossed a frozen river to escape to China. There a kindly Christian woman took him in, kept him hidden from the authorities, and gave him hope. Soon, through an underground network of activists, he was spirited to the American consulate, and became one of just a handful of North Koreans to be brought to the U.S. as refugees. Joseph knew no English and had never been a good student. Yet the kindness of his foster family changed his life. He turned a new leaf, became a dedicated student, mastered English, and made it to college, where he is now thriving thanks to his faith and inner strength. Under the Same Sky is an unforgettable story of suffering and redemption"-- Provided by publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

The United States harbors a fascination with North Korea that was rekindled with the change of leadership in late 2011; the death of Kim Jong-il and the ascension of his son Kim Jong-un resulted in extensive media attention. Joseph Kim's Under the Same Sky and Eunsun Kim's A Thousand Miles to Freedom (no relation between the authors) add to this wave of recent consideration by detailing the complexities of life as North Korean defectors. Both authors enjoyed their early childhoods in North Korea and reminisce frequently about school and memories of treats such as ice cream and candy. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, however, both writers faced difficult times, eventually sneaking across the guarded North Korean border into China, where they hid from authorities before traveling to the United States and South Korea, respectively. In spite of the similar story lines, the memoirs are substantially different. A Thousand Miles to Freedom speaks out against the North Korean regime and is interspersed with political commentary. As an abundance of writings on this topic currently exist, Eunsun Kim's observations add little to the conversation and occasionally distract from the actual story, which vividly depicts family life in the region and is unique in its detailing of existing as a refugee in China, where Eunsun's mother was essentially sold to a farmer with whom the family was sent to live. The descriptions of time spent in China, the escape to Mongolia, and subsequent move to South Korea are fascinating and will certainly interest many readers. Under the Same Sky's subtitle may mislead readers into assuming this narrative is anti-North Korea; however, Joseph Kim primarily focuses on his family, experience on the streets surviving as a thief, and subsequent time spent in jail. The cultural insights, such as mentions of Kim's favorite foods, school, dating, and burial rites, make the book enjoyable to read. This account differentiates itself by focusing on the author's private life, not the government. VERDICT Both volumes put a human face to an often misunderstood country and will appeal to a wide range of readers. [See Prepub Alert, 1/25/15.]-Casey Watters, Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ. (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

In this powerful account of a nightmarish struggle for survival, Kim relives his childhood in North Korea and the horrors experienced by the country during the Great Famine that began in 1995, when he was five. Kim doesn't hold anything back as he details how millions of people slowly descended into a neverending battle to stay alive, doing whatever it took to stave off starvation. He describes his father's death, his mother's imprisonment, his sister being sold into marriage in China, and his own years as one of the homeless kotjebi, or street children. Against all odds, he lives long enough to escape to China, where he's able to start a new life, which ultimately brings him to America. There's something riveting about his honesty; he portrays the bleak conditions, dwindling resources, eternal uncertainty, and loss of dignity with an unashamed matter-of-factness almost at odds with the desperate circumstances: "I noticed something in the toddler's hands: corn chips... Instantly I felt a wild desire to steal the treats out of the baby's hands and devour them. Hunger is humiliation. But hunger is also evil." Kim's tale is a vital insight into a little-understood country and a modern-day tragedy. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Kim escaped from North Korea to China by walking across a barely frozen river in broad daylight, to the cheers of passersby unable to believe what they were seeing. But this moment was preceded by years of nearly unbearable struggle. Part of a family of four, with one older sister, Kim saw his once-proud father deteriorate as famine hit North Korea, and his government pay, often consisting of food, declined and then disappeared. And when the Great Leader Kim Il-sung died in 1994, the situation grew dire, with young Kim and his family facing starvation, as did many of their countrymen. Even better-off family members turned them away, and Kim watched his family disintegrate while he learned to live on the streets, first as a beggar and then as a thief. Once in China, Kim is eventually helped by Christians to America. Today he is earning a college degree and living in New York. This short, brutish book with chapter-ending cliff-hangers presaging the next hard twist will enlighten readers as to the devastating hardships facing those living in North Korea during the great famine. --Kinney, Eloise Copyright 2015 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A college student tells the story of how he survived an unimaginably difficult childhood and adolescence growing up in North Korea.Until he was 5 years old, Kim lived happily with his parents and beloved older sister, Bong Sook, in Hoeryong, a city famous for "its white apricots, its beautiful women, and for having the best pottery clay in North Korea." But when a devastating famine arrived in 1995, everything changed. Kim's family became one of millions reduced to abject poverty. Like so many others, they were forced to beg for food from strangers or from relatives who barely had enough for themselves. His mother was the first to feel the effects of the famine, and the "dark energy" that sometimes emanated from her even during the best of times returned. Kim's cheerful father also fell victim to despair, lingering illness, and eventually death. Desperate for money, Kim's mother took his sister to China, where she made illegal deals and sold her into domestic slavery. Kim ended up on the street, a homeless boy fighting to survive on whatever he could beg or steal from others who were suffering almost as much as he was. Eventually, he was captured by authorities and placed in a detention center for homeless children that doubled as a forced labor camp. Constantly in search of stability and food, the now-teenage Kim left the camp and went in search of his mother and other relatives. Unable to endure his nightmarish existence, he crossed into China, where an elderly Christian woman helped him find the path that led him to a fresh start in the United States. Told with poise and dignity, Kim's story, co-authored by Talty (Hangman, 2014, etc.), provides vivid documentation of a remarkable life. It also offers an important account of atrocities committed within North Korea that have been hidden from the Westand indeed, most of the rest of the world. A courageous and inspiring memoir. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

JOSEPH KIM was born in North Korean in 1990. In 2007 he came to the United States, where he completed high school and went to college in New York City. STEPHAN TALTY is the award-winning author of Agent Garbo, Empire of Blue Water, and other best-selling works of narrative nonfiction. His books have been made into two films, the Oscar-winning Captain Phillips and Only the Brave. He is also the author of two psychological thrillers, including the New York Times bestseller Black Irish, set in his hometown of Buffalo. He has written for the New York Times Magazine, GQ, and many other publications. Talty now lives outside New York City with his family.
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