NOTHING TO ENVY: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

NOTHING TO ENVY: Ordinary Lives in North Korea. By Barbara Demick. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2009. xii, 314 pp. (Maps, B&W photos.) US$26.00, cloth. ISBN 978-0-385-52390-5.

It is said that the devil is in the details, but there are plenty of angels in the details as well. It is the details that interest Barbara Demick, Beijing bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times, as she profiles personal triumph in the midst of the multiple tragedies that have engulfed the people of North Korea. Nothing to Envy reads like a novel, though Demick is a stickler for historical accuracy and has added chapter notes for academic interest.

Having interviewed a hundred North Korean "defectors" in South Korea and China, Demick selected an assortment who represented different social strata in the highly layered class system of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The author weaves a tapestry of contemporary history by means of the personal stories of six North Korean protagonists: a teacher, a doctor, a housewife, a broadcaster, a student and a homeless orphan.

Four of the six are women, giving Demick the opportunity to paint a multifaceted picture of the...