A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea
Written by Masaji Ishikawa
Narrated by Brian Nishii
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
A New York Times bestseller and Amazon Charts Most Read and Most Sold book.
A Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Memoir & Autobiography.
The harrowing true story of one man’s life in—and subsequent escape from—North Korea, one of the world’s most brutal totalitarian regimes.
Half-Korean, half-Japanese, Masaji Ishikawa has spent his whole life feeling like a man without a country. This feeling only deepened when his family moved from Japan to North Korea when Ishikawa was just thirteen years old, and unwittingly became members of the lowest social caste. His father, himself a Korean national, was lured to the new Communist country by promises of abundant work, education for his children, and a higher station in society. But the reality of their new life was far from utopian.
In this memoir translated from the original Japanese, Ishikawa candidly recounts his tumultuous upbringing and the brutal thirty-six years he spent living under a crushing totalitarian regime, as well as the challenges he faced repatriating to Japan after barely escaping North Korea with his life. A River in Darkness is not only a shocking portrait of life inside the country but a testament to the dignity—and indomitable nature—of the human spirit.
Masaji Ishikawa
Born in 1947 in Kawasaki, Japan, Masaji Ishikawa moved with his parents and three sisters to North Korea in 1960 at the age of thirteen, where he lived until his escape in 1996. He currently resides in Japan.
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Reviews for A River in Darkness
638 ratings58 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What a great tragic story. My heart goes out to this family and everyone else who is suffering in this country.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5“A River in Darkness” is more than a memoir; it’s a wake-up call. It reminds us of the importance of freedom, compassion, and the resilience of the human soul. Ishikawa’s story will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As someone who lives in a post-communist country, I found this book fascinating. It masterfully weaves a narrative that is both eerily similar and yet distant, evoking memories of my parents' stories of living under communism.
Its ability to depict the human experience with such depth and authenticity makes it a great read. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Harrowing. Well written and loved the narrator, too. Difficult to believe this all happened only recently :/
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An important and gut-wrenching book. The experiences this man went through are so awful, and remind everyone of the evils of communism and the tragic state of affairs that is still current in global politics today.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5So sad and compelling. It makes me sick that idiots in my country think that Communism is a good idea.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5very moving and so very sad an account of oppression by a genocidal regime
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Incredible story. I wept, for Masaji and for humanity. Riveting.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5What a sad book. At 13, Ishikawa's stupid parents move to communist North Korea from Japan. He lives a life of unimaginable poverty and starvation. A repressed regime that apparently doesn't even know how to grow Rice, manage resources, inspire productivity or feed its people.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It doesn’t feel right to say I enjoyed listening to this story of betrayal and hardship but it was utterly engrossing and confronting. How can our world contain places of such misery and human rights abuse?
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow, what an incredible life struggle. If you want to know what is really like to live in a real life distopian society, this is your book.
I am not the same person I was before reading this true account of what it is to, unfortunately, live in North Korea or, should I say, in Inferno. Hell on Earth.
Shredded souls, constant starvation and abuse, just death and misery. All humanity and dignity taken out. Fear..fear everyday.
It's shocking that regimes like this are tolerated in the Planet. Economical embargos from other countries just make North Koreans suffer even more of starvation.
Where are the potent armies of the world? China? The Usa/South Korea? - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Captivating story. I wanted a happy ending, but even though I didn’t get one, I was riveted. Great reader, too.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If you want to know what it’s like to live in North Korea this is a wonderful book. Brutal
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Why in God's name would you hire someone with a lisp to narrate a book?
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great to know about the life in Hell. Save them god.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I am surprised at all the 5 star reviews. Miserable moaning man, nothing but complaints and excuses, and then ended up abandoning his family. There are many fantastic and inspiring books by North Korea defectors, this was not one of them.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good narration. I felt like the chapters could have been broken up a bit more. Most of them were 50+ minutes. I learned a lot about Japanese-Korean relations and about his story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I wish this were fiction. But I’m so appreciative to have heard the story. The despotism of North Korea is no secret to anyone today, but this book lays out the reality for the average citizen. And it’s more bleak than I could’ve imagined. Prior to this I was also totally ignorant of the plight of Koreans living in Japan after WW2, as well as the governmentally supported “repatriation” efforts to send them to North Korea. It’s a heartbreaking read but deserves to be heard.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent audiobook very well narrated. Gives an insight into living in a communist/socialist society is like. Ended wasn’t what I expected but it is a true story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What an incredible memoir. Short but so full of emotion. What can we do? How many people starve when I gorge on Christmas treats.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5absolutely heart-wrenching, when i thought it wouldnt get worsen was the moment it went bad and pierced my heart. truly a masterpiece.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Heart rending. Absolutely heart rending.
All those stories you hear about North Korea can’t prepare you for this first-hand account of life there. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Absolutely heart-wrenching...but we all must bear witness to his story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is probably the most real one I’ve ever read. Read it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I found this book very exciting. Recommend this book North Korean people.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The ending was depressing. This was a very interesting but tragic story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unbelievable what not one person but a whole nation experienced day after day during the North Korean famine. Unimaginable what a difference a border can make in the quality of life in regards to food, family, education, trust... Absolutely unfathomable what the human body and psyche can withstand.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It doesn't feel right to say I "enjoyed" this book/memoir, but it truly captivated me. The narration was stupendous and I highly recommend listening to Masaji Ishikawa's life story. It has made me so grateful for the plenty that I have in a way I've never been and I am amazed by the hardships humans can survive in extreme circumstances. Truly touching.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very interesting book. I'm so inspired by his strength and heartbroken by the evil at work in the world.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A heartbreaking story! This story clearly shows the truth about socialism!