It's rare that I'd suggest that everyone needs to read a particular book, but I'm doing it with this one, because it is just SO important.
In 2018 I made my reading much more diverse, not only in terms of genre and the age of the book, but also in terms of authors from diverse backgrounds (working class/female/LGBT/non-English nationalities and races, as well as your 'typical' cis-white male author). It's something that I feel very passionately about (you need to put your money where your mouth is to encourage diverse publishing), and that I'm hoping to expand upon in 2019.
A River in Darkness is so important because the author completely put his life at risk by publishing the book, which is his tale of escape from North Korea. Masaji Ishikawa was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Korean father. Growing up in the last 1940s and early 1950s, Ishikawa and his family (his three sisters and parents) were treated as lower class citizens because of their dual race. With an unhappy home life, Masaji's father believes the propaganda being spread by Kim Il-Sun (the leader of North Korea at that time), that returning to (North) Korea would mark a return to paradise.
Having been promised that they will be treated as a higher class of citizen, the family are shocked when they arrive to a muddy, old-fashioned village. Ishikawa's mother is treated as the lowest citizen, and is not allowed to speak Japanese. His father is forced to become a manual labourer, and Ishikawa is bullied at school for his race. Forced to learn Korean rapidly, the family struggle to fit in.
The story goes on to talk of Ishikawa's hardships that lead well into his adulthood in North Korea, and of the extreme state that the country was in at the time. Ultimately he successfully escapes, risking everything in a time of desperation. The book is a cry for help to change the state of the country, and for Masaji to be reunited with his children, and I hope that one day he'll get his wish.
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