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While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector's Search for Freedom in America
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
The North Korean defector, human rights advocate, and bestselling author of In Order to Live sounds the alarm on the culture wars, identity politics, and authoritarian tendencies tearing America apart.
After defecting from North Korea, Yeonmi Park found liberty and freedom in America. But she also found a chilling crackdown on self-expression and thought that reminded her of the brutal regime she risked her life to escape. When she spoke out about the mass political indoctrination she saw around her in the United States, Park faced censorship and even death threats.
In While Time Remains , Park highlights the dangerous hypocrisies, mob tactics, and authoritarian tendencies that speak in the name of wokeness and social justice. No one is spared in her eye-opening account, including the elites who claim to care for the poor and working classes but turn their backs on anyone who dares to think independently.
Park arrived in America eight years ago with no preconceptions, no political aims, and no partisan agenda. With urgency and unique insight, the bestselling author and human rights activist reminds us of the fragility of freedom, and what we must do to preserve it.
The North Korean defector, human rights advocate, and bestselling author of In Order to Live sounds the alarm on the culture wars, identity politics, and authoritarian tendencies tearing America apart.
After defecting from North Korea, Yeonmi Park found liberty and freedom in America. But she also found a chilling crackdown on self-expression and thought that reminded her of the brutal regime she risked her life to escape. When she spoke out about the mass political indoctrination she saw around her in the United States, Park faced censorship and even death threats.
In While Time Remains , Park highlights the dangerous hypocrisies, mob tactics, and authoritarian tendencies that speak in the name of wokeness and social justice. No one is spared in her eye-opening account, including the elites who claim to care for the poor and working classes but turn their backs on anyone who dares to think independently.
Park arrived in America eight years ago with no preconceptions, no political aims, and no partisan agenda. With urgency and unique insight, the bestselling author and human rights activist reminds us of the fragility of freedom, and what we must do to preserve it.
224 pages, Paperback
First published February 14, 2023
695 people are currently reading
10481 people want to read
About the author
Yeonmi Park
3Ìýbooks1,309ÌýfollowersPark Yeon-mi (Korean: ë°•ì—°ë¯�) is a North Korean defector and human rights activist who escaped from North Korea to China in 2007 and settled in South Korea in 2009, before moving to the United States in 2014. She came from an educated, politically connected family that turned to black market trading during North Korea's economic collapse in the 1990s. After her father was sent to a labor camp for smuggling, her family faced starvation. They fled to China, where Park and her mother fell into the hands of human traffickers and was sold into slavery before escaping to Mongolia. She is now an advocate for victims of human trafficking in China and works to promote human rights in North Korea and around the globe.
Park rose to global prominence after she delivered a speech at the One Young World 2014 Summit in Dublin, Ireland � an annual summit that gathers young people from around the world to develop solutions to global problems. Her speech, about her experience escaping from North Korea, received 50 million views in two days on YouTube and social media, with a current total of more than 80 million. Her memoir In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom was published in September 2015.
from Wikipedia
Park rose to global prominence after she delivered a speech at the One Young World 2014 Summit in Dublin, Ireland � an annual summit that gathers young people from around the world to develop solutions to global problems. Her speech, about her experience escaping from North Korea, received 50 million views in two days on YouTube and social media, with a current total of more than 80 million. Her memoir In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom was published in September 2015.
from Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 668 reviews
March 8, 2023
I was extremely eager to read this book -- so much that I pre-ordered it, believing it would be the next chapter of Ms. Park's memoirs, which began with her book, In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom. Her bravery and fortitude in that first book, recounting her escape from North Korea in the face of impossible obstacles, was inspiring and eye-opening. Not so with this book. The foreword was my first inkling that this book has a political agenda. I was hopeful from her Introduction that Ms. Park would provide a more balanced and objective telling of her story. She starts with a summary of her life up through her move to America. But from there, the book veers into wild territory. She compares her experience at Columbia University to North Korea indoctrination, and then extends this critique to all liberal persons, media and higher learning institutions. Although she distinguishes between leftism and liberalism, Ms. Park takes aim at all people and organizations that do not support nationalist ideas, claiming to "illuminate, not exaggerate" attacks on American freedoms. She uses small anecdotes to paint broad strokes to bash the far-right's favorite targets. She also seems bitter because people she expected to support her efforts to help North Korean women did not do so in the ways she expected. That doesn't make them hypocrites, despite Ms. Park's perceptions. But she is determined to prove otherwise, throwing them into the so-called "ruling elites" group that she claims is actually oppressive. It's like she has latched on to all of the divisive rhetoric between the two political parties in the U.S. and thrown it into her book. I finished the book, trying to keep an open mind and learn what I could from her experiences. I appreciate her efforts to call out the freedoms that make the United States and its citizens unique. As with her first book, Ms. Park has insights that are thought-provoking. Overall, though, because of the insistence on an "us vs. them" viewpoint, where one side is perceived as all right and the other as all wrong, I'm very disappointed by this book.
February 17, 2023
The ghostwriter here inserts their own woke propaganda into the book, not sure if Yeonmi agrees or even knows this happened. For example, the word "Black" is always capitalized and the word "white" is always lower case, to demonstrate that black people are inherently better and more equal than white people. Also, the book tells the explicit lie that George Floyd was an innocent person who did nothing wrong, which isn't true. Again, these were likely slipped in by the woke publisher and ghostwriter but it's important to understand that they blemish a near-perfect book.
It obviously gets 5 stars because it tells objective truths about how Chinese-style communists like the Democrat Party and North Korea (two indistinguishable terrorist organizations) and does so with a compelling personal narrative of strife, hardship, and the will to live on. And, because someone who isn't a Chinese bot needs to offset the review-bombing funded by Amazon.
It obviously gets 5 stars because it tells objective truths about how Chinese-style communists like the Democrat Party and North Korea (two indistinguishable terrorist organizations) and does so with a compelling personal narrative of strife, hardship, and the will to live on. And, because someone who isn't a Chinese bot needs to offset the review-bombing funded by Amazon.
March 17, 2023
A book written by Jordan Peterson, edited by Ben Shapiro with the final amendments from Douglas Murray. This is pure right wing propaganda and While time remains, it should be exposed as such. It is divisive, polarizing and shows very limited understanding on anything.
Really, I have all the respect for this lady, this is why I read her book. I myself grew up (until 10) in a dictatorship and I am most grateful for being able to live in a democracy. I myself am an immigrant. I saw how damaged a society can be after 50 years in a dictatorship. I am no genius who managed to cover in 18 months the academic knowledge of 18 years in one of the most competitive educational systems like Mrs Park, and I am still painfully learning the intricacies of capitalism and markets and justice and freedom. She seems to have already acquired all the knowledge she needs to ring the alarm bells and explain all kinds of none sense about the dangers of woke culture and the goodness of Friedman (and, astonishingly, there are good parts in Friedman too).
No one in his right mind will consider that censuring free thought and critical thinking is good. If this is what happens in Colombia then it is good to speak up. No one in his right mind will think that the only way to pursue a relationship is by being gay and gender fluid and polyamory and so forth and that this is imposed by I don’t know who.
It is good to speak up about the dangers to freedom, but it is better to at least try to understand what you are talking about before crying wolf on the roofs.
I will go to her first book where she explains better her life story as I find that there she has things to say. If I want to know more on the War on West, I’ll go to Douglas Murray.
Really, I have all the respect for this lady, this is why I read her book. I myself grew up (until 10) in a dictatorship and I am most grateful for being able to live in a democracy. I myself am an immigrant. I saw how damaged a society can be after 50 years in a dictatorship. I am no genius who managed to cover in 18 months the academic knowledge of 18 years in one of the most competitive educational systems like Mrs Park, and I am still painfully learning the intricacies of capitalism and markets and justice and freedom. She seems to have already acquired all the knowledge she needs to ring the alarm bells and explain all kinds of none sense about the dangers of woke culture and the goodness of Friedman (and, astonishingly, there are good parts in Friedman too).
No one in his right mind will consider that censuring free thought and critical thinking is good. If this is what happens in Colombia then it is good to speak up. No one in his right mind will think that the only way to pursue a relationship is by being gay and gender fluid and polyamory and so forth and that this is imposed by I don’t know who.
It is good to speak up about the dangers to freedom, but it is better to at least try to understand what you are talking about before crying wolf on the roofs.
I will go to her first book where she explains better her life story as I find that there she has things to say. If I want to know more on the War on West, I’ll go to Douglas Murray.
June 10, 2023
Not at all what I was expecting to read. While I sympathize with everything that the author has experienced and endured, this was a very political book that showed clear bias one way while the author herself claims to be apolitical.
I think she does make some great points especially when discussing performative activism on the side of the left; however, I take issue with the fact that although the same issues can be said of the right, she only draws from examples from the left and compares “woke culture� to the North Korean regime.
For example, she talks about how many people in the helping professions I.e teachers tend to lean left and through this kids are being indoctrinated in schools . Nowhere does she bring up book bans, whitewashed history, and other means of suppression that comes from the right. There are many more example such as this though the book.
Even with that being said, I’m not upset that I read this book as I think the author offers a unique perspective; however, I think the book could have been more balanced, and offered more facts as opposed to anecdotal evidence when explaining key points.
I think she does make some great points especially when discussing performative activism on the side of the left; however, I take issue with the fact that although the same issues can be said of the right, she only draws from examples from the left and compares “woke culture� to the North Korean regime.
For example, she talks about how many people in the helping professions I.e teachers tend to lean left and through this kids are being indoctrinated in schools . Nowhere does she bring up book bans, whitewashed history, and other means of suppression that comes from the right. There are many more example such as this though the book.
Even with that being said, I’m not upset that I read this book as I think the author offers a unique perspective; however, I think the book could have been more balanced, and offered more facts as opposed to anecdotal evidence when explaining key points.
February 16, 2023
An amazing book. Not exactly joyful, but despite all the horror, there is hope to be found. There is much to be said of the complicity of China in supporting North Korea’s “modern day Holocaust� and the willful blindness of the American elite to continue relationships in all respects, for you guessed it, $$$. The hope to be found� personal responsibility and getting involved at the local level and of course to spread awareness of the human rights violations. She makes many comparisons of communist/socialist regimes to America. Yikes! Big oof. And they are not easy to digest, so brace yourself for the truth, it’ll hurt.
September 9, 2023
I don’t think I’ll be writing a review of this book but I do have to say that I picked this up knowing that I was going to disagree with her. And that’s fine. Here’s what’s not fine:
- Saying Black people in the US have no claim in standing up over how they have been and are mistreated just because �70% of crime in the US is committed by Black people.� And then adding Latinos into the mix. Many things she said about the Black community in the US made me very uncomfortable.
- Making generalizations about gender and motherhood.
- Making claims about North Korea in the present tense and speaking about some things that have no evidence at all. I am sure her heart is in the right place and ‘all attention is good attention� may get money for NK human rights. But I am morally not okay with the claims and big statements she makes.
- The same thing about misinformation in the US.
- Some of the comparisons she makes are a bit difficult to grasp. She makes rapid-fire statements with little argumentation. Like when she compares anti-racism with Juche. Like, I’m sorry, just� how. Can we get an explanation? I find it easy to compare Trump’s MAGA with Juche, but� anti-racism? There were many other comparisons that were made the same way and I just can’t avoid assuming she knows most of her readers won’t know anything about North Korea but I just couldn’t make sense of a lot of things.
- Praising Harvey Weinstein for his attitude in life on one page and then blaming China for allowing the human trafficking of Korean women. Maybe China has the same attitude in politics as this man you're applauding, idk.
- Mocking people who go running or go to the gym and then making fun of fit people for crying/having emotions (and mentioning that some people get emotional about colonialism while we’re at it).
- Stating that Twitter shadow-banned her and YouTube demonized her specifically. 1) She was not shadow-banned (the many people I know who sent me screenshots of her tweets prove that she wasn’t difficult to find) (disclaimer that people send me screenshots of her stuff because I don't have Twitter I guess). 2) YouTube demonetized you for saying certain keywords. She keeps saying the word ‘rape�, so that gets you demonetized. Leave the China conspiracy and start saying ‘SA,� this is what YouTubers use when they want to talk about rape without being demonetized.
- Saying Black people in the US have no claim in standing up over how they have been and are mistreated just because �70% of crime in the US is committed by Black people.� And then adding Latinos into the mix. Many things she said about the Black community in the US made me very uncomfortable.
- Making generalizations about gender and motherhood.
- Making claims about North Korea in the present tense and speaking about some things that have no evidence at all. I am sure her heart is in the right place and ‘all attention is good attention� may get money for NK human rights. But I am morally not okay with the claims and big statements she makes.
- The same thing about misinformation in the US.
- Some of the comparisons she makes are a bit difficult to grasp. She makes rapid-fire statements with little argumentation. Like when she compares anti-racism with Juche. Like, I’m sorry, just� how. Can we get an explanation? I find it easy to compare Trump’s MAGA with Juche, but� anti-racism? There were many other comparisons that were made the same way and I just can’t avoid assuming she knows most of her readers won’t know anything about North Korea but I just couldn’t make sense of a lot of things.
- Praising Harvey Weinstein for his attitude in life on one page and then blaming China for allowing the human trafficking of Korean women. Maybe China has the same attitude in politics as this man you're applauding, idk.
- Mocking people who go running or go to the gym and then making fun of fit people for crying/having emotions (and mentioning that some people get emotional about colonialism while we’re at it).
- Stating that Twitter shadow-banned her and YouTube demonized her specifically. 1) She was not shadow-banned (the many people I know who sent me screenshots of her tweets prove that she wasn’t difficult to find) (disclaimer that people send me screenshots of her stuff because I don't have Twitter I guess). 2) YouTube demonetized you for saying certain keywords. She keeps saying the word ‘rape�, so that gets you demonetized. Leave the China conspiracy and start saying ‘SA,� this is what YouTubers use when they want to talk about rape without being demonetized.
April 15, 2023
Memorable Quote:
"When people become untethered from history, when they become unshackled from reality, when they lose the ability to understand cause and effect, they become ripe for exploitation from those who hold real power." ~Yeonmi Park
"When people become untethered from history, when they become unshackled from reality, when they lose the ability to understand cause and effect, they become ripe for exploitation from those who hold real power." ~Yeonmi Park
April 20, 2023
I read Park’s first book and was in awe of her bravery. Being an escapee from North Korea is something many try and unfortunately do not live to tell about. For Park she has told about it and is now telling us more in her latest book.
Park is a human rights advocate spreading information on what really happens in North Korea. However, I did not enjoy this book for several reasons. Not to diminish what Park has gone through and wants to bring awareness about but Park sounded like a snob in this book. Being in America has turned her into an elitist. I felt she wanted to boast about who she has come into contact with by name dropping every other page. (Bragging about being on Harvey Weinsten’s private jet was not in good taste) Congrats to Park for marrying a man with wealth that provides her with more money that she could have dreamed of but while she is busy shaming others for ignoring the concerns of what is happening in North Korea, she is doing the same.
Park is a human rights advocate spreading information on what really happens in North Korea. However, I did not enjoy this book for several reasons. Not to diminish what Park has gone through and wants to bring awareness about but Park sounded like a snob in this book. Being in America has turned her into an elitist. I felt she wanted to boast about who she has come into contact with by name dropping every other page. (Bragging about being on Harvey Weinsten’s private jet was not in good taste) Congrats to Park for marrying a man with wealth that provides her with more money that she could have dreamed of but while she is busy shaming others for ignoring the concerns of what is happening in North Korea, she is doing the same.
March 20, 2023
This was such a downgrade compared to her first book ....It gave off the impression that this was merely a part of a political agenda of some sorts....
June 14, 2023
I first heard of Yeonmi Park, the North Korean defector, as many others did on the Joe Rogan podcast. Her story was horrifying and shocking, so when I saw that she'd published a book (her second, I later learned) I flipped through it and was immediately intrigued.
First of all, I don't agree with many of Park's points of view, I feel like she makes caricatures of people on the Left and overtly praises capitalism. That being said, even as a Liberal myself, I could not disagree with many of her critiques about the Left in America, especially from having conversations with people my own age. How many people see the US as overtly imperialist, racist, and xenophobic (despite it being one of the least imperialist superpowers to ever exist, one of the most diverse places in the world and the country that issues the highest amount of green cards in the world). How white men are evil and the only way for men to stop being toxic is for them to give up their masculinity and embrace femininity, and that college (and sometimes high school) classrooms, once the place of conversing and debating ideas has been lowered to a place where people censor their thoughts for fear of cancelation and ostracization by ones classmates.
Park comes at these issues from (the Right, sure but more uniquely) from the perspective of someone who grew up in one of the most horrendous places, under one of the heinous regimes in the history of mankind, who lived through unspeakable horrors in China as a sex slave and is now a Columbia educated activist in the public sphere advocating for human rights and individual liberties. I have no patience for Ben Shapiros or Candace Owens but I had to hear this lady out.
What she writes about is the trajectory she sees the US heading一one that limits freedom of speech, cancels and bans dissidents, ignores teaching critical thinking in favor of memorization, and absolves itself from individual responsibility一is very similar to what led North Koreans (and other societies) to give up their freedoms in favor of charismatic leaders who later revealed themselves to be villains.
What's unique about this book is the love you can tell this woman has for America, the same way so many immigrants do. This place for her is not an expensive and oppressive prison, but a place unique in the world for the oppurtunities it provides.
Like I said I don't typically read "conservative" authors, but I understand why it's important. Like Uncle Iroh said, "It is important to draw wisdom from different places. If you take it from only one place it becomes rigid and stale." I believe we are in late stage capitalism, I believe in the power of social programs and labor unions, but if that's all I read, I forget that nothing is perfect and that even those things I believe in are flawed. Park makes very strong and legitimate arguments for the faults of socialism and the great aspects of capitalism. She acknowledges it's not perfect and should be replaced if something better comes up, but very strongly urges the reader to resist the urge to be drawn towards socialism and it's "baseless promises of Utopia" as so many have before, because she's seen what a world under that can look like. I really enjoyed the short book and highly recommend it.
First of all, I don't agree with many of Park's points of view, I feel like she makes caricatures of people on the Left and overtly praises capitalism. That being said, even as a Liberal myself, I could not disagree with many of her critiques about the Left in America, especially from having conversations with people my own age. How many people see the US as overtly imperialist, racist, and xenophobic (despite it being one of the least imperialist superpowers to ever exist, one of the most diverse places in the world and the country that issues the highest amount of green cards in the world). How white men are evil and the only way for men to stop being toxic is for them to give up their masculinity and embrace femininity, and that college (and sometimes high school) classrooms, once the place of conversing and debating ideas has been lowered to a place where people censor their thoughts for fear of cancelation and ostracization by ones classmates.
Park comes at these issues from (the Right, sure but more uniquely) from the perspective of someone who grew up in one of the most horrendous places, under one of the heinous regimes in the history of mankind, who lived through unspeakable horrors in China as a sex slave and is now a Columbia educated activist in the public sphere advocating for human rights and individual liberties. I have no patience for Ben Shapiros or Candace Owens but I had to hear this lady out.
What she writes about is the trajectory she sees the US heading一one that limits freedom of speech, cancels and bans dissidents, ignores teaching critical thinking in favor of memorization, and absolves itself from individual responsibility一is very similar to what led North Koreans (and other societies) to give up their freedoms in favor of charismatic leaders who later revealed themselves to be villains.
What's unique about this book is the love you can tell this woman has for America, the same way so many immigrants do. This place for her is not an expensive and oppressive prison, but a place unique in the world for the oppurtunities it provides.
Like I said I don't typically read "conservative" authors, but I understand why it's important. Like Uncle Iroh said, "It is important to draw wisdom from different places. If you take it from only one place it becomes rigid and stale." I believe we are in late stage capitalism, I believe in the power of social programs and labor unions, but if that's all I read, I forget that nothing is perfect and that even those things I believe in are flawed. Park makes very strong and legitimate arguments for the faults of socialism and the great aspects of capitalism. She acknowledges it's not perfect and should be replaced if something better comes up, but very strongly urges the reader to resist the urge to be drawn towards socialism and it's "baseless promises of Utopia" as so many have before, because she's seen what a world under that can look like. I really enjoyed the short book and highly recommend it.
March 7, 2023
Should be required reading! A timely reminder that we are STILL the land of OPPORTUNITY. Not the land of guaranteed outcomes. That equity and equality are not the same. That saying 'oppressed' here and 'oppressed' in 2/3 of the rest of the world doesn't mean what you think it means.
April 4, 2023
This is right winged propaganda. Her hero’s are joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, and Candice Owens.
She afraid for her son to grow up in the United States, because “he’s a pillar of races people blame for their problems� as he is white and Asian
In this book, she says that she chooses to write this book because two black women mugged her, and stole her purse.
She is anti-black and trans phobic.
I listened to this books on audible, and kept having to remind myself this wasn’t satire.
She afraid for her son to grow up in the United States, because “he’s a pillar of races people blame for their problems� as he is white and Asian
In this book, she says that she chooses to write this book because two black women mugged her, and stole her purse.
She is anti-black and trans phobic.
I listened to this books on audible, and kept having to remind myself this wasn’t satire.
May 8, 2023
I was expecting this book to be more of a straightforward follow up to the author's powerful memoir 'In Order to Live', but from the foreward, by none other than Jordan Peterson, it became pretty clear as to what this book is going for. Regardless, I decided to proceed, as I think the author has a valuable perspective that should be listened to.
I think she makes some salient points about cancel culture and performative activism among the left. However, those same discussions around cancel culture and cult of personality among the left read as somewhat foolish when no mention is made of right wing suppression of books, history, and science and the overall idolization of Donald Trump (not to mention his on again off again relationship with both the North Korean and Chinese rulers). Further, she is concerned that embracing "woke' ideologies and socialist politics will erode American democracy while again making no mention of a literal right wing insurrection and active voter suppression. She also relies largely on anecdotes to make her points rather than any real evidence or data.
She claims to be somewhat apolitical, but by the end of this book it is clear that is not the case. That is fine, we can all believe whatever we like and support whatever politicians we want to. However, this book is being presented as a call to action to protect the US democracy and preserve 'logic and truth'. That is my main issue with it: the information she is presenting as 'logical and true' and in need of activism is at best incomplete and in the larger context just false.
I think she makes some salient points about cancel culture and performative activism among the left. However, those same discussions around cancel culture and cult of personality among the left read as somewhat foolish when no mention is made of right wing suppression of books, history, and science and the overall idolization of Donald Trump (not to mention his on again off again relationship with both the North Korean and Chinese rulers). Further, she is concerned that embracing "woke' ideologies and socialist politics will erode American democracy while again making no mention of a literal right wing insurrection and active voter suppression. She also relies largely on anecdotes to make her points rather than any real evidence or data.
She claims to be somewhat apolitical, but by the end of this book it is clear that is not the case. That is fine, we can all believe whatever we like and support whatever politicians we want to. However, this book is being presented as a call to action to protect the US democracy and preserve 'logic and truth'. That is my main issue with it: the information she is presenting as 'logical and true' and in need of activism is at best incomplete and in the larger context just false.
March 1, 2023
This is the kind of book I get excited about to one day share with my children. This is the kind of book that should make it’s way into the hands of every entitled, wanna-be oppressed, chronically complaining American who needs a wake up call as to what exactly they have; the privilege of being a citizen of one of the greatest countries in the world. Yeonmi’s tale of personal hardship and perseverance to make it to America is incredible and impressive. Her examples of the glaring similarities between what The North Korean propaganda spreads to its citizens and the nonsense espoused by a specific group of people in our country are jarring and should be taken seriously. Her book is a warning to us all that if we don’t fight for the values that make our country great we will lose it to those who are happily watching it crumble and benefiting from its destruction.
June 6, 2023
Read for a book club - I feel like I read the wrong book...?
I assumed this would be about her defection from North Korea, but that was apparently all covered in her first book (which I haven't read). While I appreciate all she has been through, this book is like getting stuck at a party listening to a self-important acquaintance in their 20s rant about where the U.S. is headed. It is clear that she believes her experiences in North Korea / China allow her to have opinions on U.S. politics that are more sophisticated than the average U.S. citizen, but it all comes across as incredibly naive and her opinions are constantly in contradiction. If you're interested in her story, I'd def skip this one and just stick to her first book.
I assumed this would be about her defection from North Korea, but that was apparently all covered in her first book (which I haven't read). While I appreciate all she has been through, this book is like getting stuck at a party listening to a self-important acquaintance in their 20s rant about where the U.S. is headed. It is clear that she believes her experiences in North Korea / China allow her to have opinions on U.S. politics that are more sophisticated than the average U.S. citizen, but it all comes across as incredibly naive and her opinions are constantly in contradiction. If you're interested in her story, I'd def skip this one and just stick to her first book.
July 28, 2023
I mean it’s an easy to read book with hard truths in it that just make me love America more and scared for the country that I love and what could happen to it. Currently living overseas, I feel like I can even understand this book from a different perspective idk if I would have seen if I was in America.
I wish everyone would read this. It’s offensive to those who lean far left and so the people who should read it probably won’t but I think Yeonmi is great at making truths known in a way that’s easier to understand and she just gets straight to the point of the matter and still gives us hope in the end. I wasn’t just learning about the situation at hand but about her perspective and how she has handled this life.
I’m encouraged. 5 stars.
I wish everyone would read this. It’s offensive to those who lean far left and so the people who should read it probably won’t but I think Yeonmi is great at making truths known in a way that’s easier to understand and she just gets straight to the point of the matter and still gives us hope in the end. I wasn’t just learning about the situation at hand but about her perspective and how she has handled this life.
I’m encouraged. 5 stars.
April 24, 2023
Horrible book & not well written.
It is a tirade of her complaints about the United States.
The book was her being mad at people when they don’t live up to her expectations. Then complaining about Columbia, that gave her a free ride scholarship, because they teach that our founding fathers weren’t perfect & we have flaws !
It is VERY clear, from the writing, she has fallen into the far right of politics, with her not so subtle remarks on groups she doesn’t like - while railing against Americans who don’t like her.
It is a tirade of her complaints about the United States.
The book was her being mad at people when they don’t live up to her expectations. Then complaining about Columbia, that gave her a free ride scholarship, because they teach that our founding fathers weren’t perfect & we have flaws !
It is VERY clear, from the writing, she has fallen into the far right of politics, with her not so subtle remarks on groups she doesn’t like - while railing against Americans who don’t like her.
March 31, 2023
Hmmmm. I can't really say much about this, honestly, cause it'll just mean I'm a part of cancel culture. And I think she has every right to say what she thinks even if it is very... ehm, comical.
Summary: America good. Capitalism good. Leftists bad. Socialism bad. Racism has re-emerged recently. Racism was overcome during the Civil rights movements.
I had no idea about that. It's pretty much the exact opposite of every book I read for Black history month. Oh well.
I'm gonna go read something light now. Cause my head hurts from this.
Summary: America good. Capitalism good. Leftists bad. Socialism bad. Racism has re-emerged recently. Racism was overcome during the Civil rights movements.
I had no idea about that. It's pretty much the exact opposite of every book I read for Black history month. Oh well.
I'm gonna go read something light now. Cause my head hurts from this.
Want to read
February 27, 2023Adding this book to my to-read shelf after watching this clip.
September 9, 2023
This was an interesting read for sure. Many of the things she talks about do make you think.
There were many times that it seemed like she was repeating herself in her memoir. Whether it be what her mother or her endured and such. But it wasn't the end of all things.
Good insightful read.
There were many times that it seemed like she was repeating herself in her memoir. Whether it be what her mother or her endured and such. But it wasn't the end of all things.
Good insightful read.
June 16, 2023
Excellent book by Yeonmi Park. Park describes her life history, growing up in communist North Korea, escaping to China, and then to South Korea, eventually making her way to the United States. She describes in detail the horrors of living under the current regimes in North Korea and China, and the joys of living in a free society such as the United States. However she also draws parallels to how those countries became the communist societies they are today, and to the things that are currently going on in the United States that are leading us down the same path. It is very interesting, but very scary. Hopefully the people in the United States will wake up before it is too late.
April 21, 2023
This is a short book by a North Korean refugee which makes parallels between the tyranny in totalitarian places like her home country and some trends in the US. It is a harrowing story of how this young woman escaped from her homeland through China and then to S. Korea and then to the US. I am sure some of her characterizations would anger some readers but I think her story is a compelling one and should get some to think about the core values that she seems to have so well understood about her adopted new homeland.
January 31, 2024
I loved her first book, but the second one� It starts promising but after she made a summary of her life moving to America, the book continues with a wild theory of political history which she extend over the face of every American that she deals with. Even she reveals some of the true cruelty situations we are dealing with in our own lives, the book made me feel a little anxious when it goes too far into ideas of indoctrination and propaganda.
May 16, 2023
I picked up this book wondering where the next step on Yeonmi Park’s amazing journey took her. I can’t believe the direction she’s chosen to follow. I literally reread passages thinking I must have initially misread or understood what she was saying. I felt disappointed to find her entrenched in many right wing arguments against the elitist left. I didn’t agree with most of this and part of me wanted to put it down. I stuck with it to try and understand her perspective. I don’t.
March 2, 2023
4.5/5
's previous book, In Order to Live was one of my favourite North Korean memoirs that I've read (which I've reviewed here).
While In Order to Live was about Park's escape from North Korea, being a victim of human trafficking in China, and learning how to adapt in South Korea, this second book,While Time Remains, focuses on a completely different journey - adapting to life in America.
Since the publishing of her first book, Park has immigrated to the USA, graduated from Columbia University with a degree in economics, started a YouTube channel, and gave birth to a son. While it seems like she has completely integrated into 'normal' society, it is not without its challenges.
Park's experience in America is not dissimilar from that of other conservative Asian immigrants but this was still a very interesting memoir as it details how Park's life in America is both completely different and yet strangely similar, to life in North Korea. She offers a no holds barred critique of the USA (particularly the dangers of woke/cancel culture that seems to be on the rise), from the viewpoint of both an immigrant and a North Korean refugee.
I don't agree with all of the opinions that she's presented in this book but she brings up a lot of great points and offers a lot of food for thought. Also, the comparisons that she was able to draw between woke/cancel culture and North Korean dictatorship and propaganda were very interesting.
Audiobook Comments:
I personally would have preferred if the audiobook was narrated by Park herself (I find her Korean accent charming) but suspect I that the editors opted for a narrator with an American accent to make the audiobook more palatable to the general population.
's previous book, In Order to Live was one of my favourite North Korean memoirs that I've read (which I've reviewed here).
While In Order to Live was about Park's escape from North Korea, being a victim of human trafficking in China, and learning how to adapt in South Korea, this second book,While Time Remains, focuses on a completely different journey - adapting to life in America.
Since the publishing of her first book, Park has immigrated to the USA, graduated from Columbia University with a degree in economics, started a YouTube channel, and gave birth to a son. While it seems like she has completely integrated into 'normal' society, it is not without its challenges.
Park's experience in America is not dissimilar from that of other conservative Asian immigrants but this was still a very interesting memoir as it details how Park's life in America is both completely different and yet strangely similar, to life in North Korea. She offers a no holds barred critique of the USA (particularly the dangers of woke/cancel culture that seems to be on the rise), from the viewpoint of both an immigrant and a North Korean refugee.
I don't agree with all of the opinions that she's presented in this book but she brings up a lot of great points and offers a lot of food for thought. Also, the comparisons that she was able to draw between woke/cancel culture and North Korean dictatorship and propaganda were very interesting.
Audiobook Comments:
I personally would have preferred if the audiobook was narrated by Park herself (I find her Korean accent charming) but suspect I that the editors opted for a narrator with an American accent to make the audiobook more palatable to the general population.
February 26, 2023
This book brought up many emotions. Fear, anger, frustration, and some hope. The hope comes from hearing others of many ages expressing their frustration. Carrying on from her previous book Yeonmi Park finds herself in America at last enjoying the freedom she never dared dream of in North Korea. But that joy was short lived. With each speech she delivers she's met first with people wanting to help only to be shut down when told they have to go against China, a big no no among western elites. Starting school was a a frustrating and horrifying experience too. Books like Jane Austen as white supremacist propaganda and show white male privilege, she is berated for calling someone by the wrong pronoun even though she is a new arrival to the country and not a native English speaker I mean I speak English and I still can't figure out the pronoun thing. The book is written as a plea from someone who has actually lived in a dictatorship and seen what the loss of freedom is actually like. While people from everywhere do have struggles I would think that someone being called the wrong pronoun or being offended by everything is not as bad as being trafficked in China, or living in fear that anyone could report on you and have you sent to a camp or worse. Or living in a war zone. We have it easy here by comparison and this book illustrates that we would all be better to acknowledge just how comfortable and free our lives truly are.
March 20, 2023
A real disappointment compared to her 1st book
I loved her first book (In order to live) and gave it a 5-star rating.
I found this book to be quite repetitive drawing on many sections from the 1st book.
I’m not clear whether she thinks proponents of fake news bear any responsibility when the lies they promote lead to harmful consequences.
I like the section on the ties between North Korea and China but wish she explored these connections much more.
The move to limit student reading choices and curriculum topics covered in school seems to be applicable to both sides of the political spectrum but she only
talks about the activism from one side.
Hopefully her next book will return to the excellent quality standard of her first book.
I loved her first book (In order to live) and gave it a 5-star rating.
I found this book to be quite repetitive drawing on many sections from the 1st book.
I’m not clear whether she thinks proponents of fake news bear any responsibility when the lies they promote lead to harmful consequences.
I like the section on the ties between North Korea and China but wish she explored these connections much more.
The move to limit student reading choices and curriculum topics covered in school seems to be applicable to both sides of the political spectrum but she only
talks about the activism from one side.
Hopefully her next book will return to the excellent quality standard of her first book.
May 4, 2023
I loved this author's first book so much that I didn't even look into this before I put it on hold from the library and started reading. As soon as I read the forward by Jordan Peterson I got a sinking feeling in my stomach and after reading the first few chapters, I feel so, so, disappointed.
March 5, 2023
First off I do think this is an important read. I think hearing Yeommi's perspective is valuable and, as this book is short, its an easy thing to do. That said this book did not flow as easily as her first one. It's obvious she isn't a native English speaker and you do miss her co-author from the first book.
She also disses on problems like sexism and the meat industry in the US, saying they aren't big problems. When compared against human trafficking I agree that that is the bigger problem, but I think she is wrong to act as if these other things aren't also issues.
That said she does have some good points and sheds light on her perspective on American politics, which I do think is valuable.
She also disses on problems like sexism and the meat industry in the US, saying they aren't big problems. When compared against human trafficking I agree that that is the bigger problem, but I think she is wrong to act as if these other things aren't also issues.
That said she does have some good points and sheds light on her perspective on American politics, which I do think is valuable.
February 18, 2023
Just as great as her first book - exceptionally thoughtful woman. The audio book should have been read by Ms Park - not as impactful with a Native American speaker
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