The Orphan Master's Son

This book gets my ringing endorsement. I, we, my family have been doing a crash course in reading on Korea, primarily because my daughter is living there now, on Jeju Island. "Jeju Jenna" has written this review that will appear in the next addition of the Jeju Weekly, the local ex-pat weekly paper, so she gets credit for the review - when was the last time you read a novel that was based in North Korea?

“The Orphan Master’s Son: A Novel” follows the story of North Korean orphan, Jun Do, as
he grows up and navigates the precarious political environment in his native country. Through
this one character, Johnson takes his reader on a journey through life in a communist country:
from an orphanage, to a soldier and DMZ tunnel inspector, to a government kidnapper, to a
radio transmission translator, to a prison camp, to an assumed member of the elite in Pyongyang.
Johnson expertly mixes the genres of fiction and magical realism to paint a very realistic and
bleak picture of life in North Korea.

In the spirit of the hyperbolic propaganda of the North Korean government, Johnson expertly
convinces his readers to believe the unbelievable. Born in an orphanage, among the lowest rungs
of society, Jun Do is subject to the whims of the government and he is transferred from one
dangerous job to another.

“’Where we are from…stories are factual. If a farmer is declared a music virtuoso by the state,
everyone had better start calling him maestro. And secretly, he’d be wise to start practicing the
piano. For us, the story is more important than the person. If a man and his story are in conflict, it
is the man who must change.’”

Over time, Jun Do begins to learn and understand the North Korean art of manipulation and uses
it to manipulate the Dear Leader himself, Kim Jung Il.

Johnson skillfully combines the unrealistic and realistic components of his story. Although this
is a work of fiction, Johnson’s beautifully haunting descriptions describe the culture of North
Korea better than any history book.

“No nation sleeps as North Korea sleeps. After lights-out, there is a collective exhale as heads his
pillows across a million households. When the tireless generations wind down for the night and
their red-hot turbines begin to cool, no lights glare on alone, no refrigerator buzzes dully through
the dark. There’s just eye-closing satisfaction and then deep, powerful dreams of work quotas
fulfilled and the embrace of reunification.”

Most illuminating are the comparisons and comments made about Korea’s greatest enemy,
America. Johnson employs his North Korean characters to look at America through their eyes, a
new perspective for the Western reader indeed.

Sun Moon, the national actress of North Korea, says to an American captive, “How does
a society without a fatherly leader work? How can a citizen know what is best without a
benevolent hand to shepherd her? Isn’t that endurance, learning how to navigate such a realm
alone-isn’t that survival?”

A typical propaganda story rings out over the loudspeakers espousing the virtues of virginity
and the evils of America, “Being the only animal with eyes sharp enough tosspot virginity,
witness our crow circle a Juche Youth Troop, and nod in approval as this lustrous avian performs
an aerial inspection of the reproductive purity. [The crow] won’t let ours become a nation
where people give names to canines, oppress others because of the color of their skin, and eat
pharmaceutically sweetened pills to abort their babies.”

“The Orphan Master’s Son” is an ambitious and insightful story. The protagonist, Jun Do is a
classic underdog the reader finds themselves routing for and forgiving him his slightly immoral
acts and character flaws. Johnson not only illuminates the nightmarish and illusive North Korea
but also explores the very meaning of love, sacrifice, truth and fiction, and glory.