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See You Again in Pyongyang
Audible Audiobook – UnabridgedTravis Jeppesen (Author), Will Collyer (Narrator), & 1 more
4.1 out of 5 stars 43 ratings
5 star 42%
4 star 36%
3 star 10%
2 star 7%
1 star 4%
Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2018
Format: HardcoverVine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )Verified Purchase
Most books available on North Korea (and I have read a few) are books with detailed information about the political structure and military in the North. Usually they are written by scholars of the North, or analysts associated with spy organizations, or even by defectors from the North. They do not portray what life is like in the North on a daily basis.
What is so great about this book is that it is written by someone who was there for a month, lived as a student, and got to mingle with people of the North on a daily basis. Obviously it touches on the politics of the North, as it would be incomplete if it didn't, but it looks at it more from the perspective of a tourist and from the people the author met on the streets.
In addition, you learn about what life is like for people in the North. You get a glimpse of what "tourist" attractions there are and what the North does to try to lure foreign tourists to the country. Even what life is like at the beach and at "resorts". The author does make the point, regularly, that the people at these attractions are fairly well to do by the standards of the North and not the everyday workers.
Overall, the book was excellent. The prospective was new and different and it was exceedingly well written. It is easy to read without getting tied up in complicated geo political information that most of us do not really care about. I highly recommend this book!
What is so great about this book is that it is written by someone who was there for a month, lived as a student, and got to mingle with people of the North on a daily basis. Obviously it touches on the politics of the North, as it would be incomplete if it didn't, but it looks at it more from the perspective of a tourist and from the people the author met on the streets.
In addition, you learn about what life is like for people in the North. You get a glimpse of what "tourist" attractions there are and what the North does to try to lure foreign tourists to the country. Even what life is like at the beach and at "resorts". The author does make the point, regularly, that the people at these attractions are fairly well to do by the standards of the North and not the everyday workers.
Overall, the book was excellent. The prospective was new and different and it was exceedingly well written. It is easy to read without getting tied up in complicated geo political information that most of us do not really care about. I highly recommend this book!
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2018
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
As an avid North Korea watcher and doctoral student of authoritarian regimes, if you want a concise review, this is it : *Don't buy this book.
Buy Demick's "Nothing to Envy", and read the Tongil Tours blog. However, if you already have many books on North Korea, the book is still worth picking up alongside the rest.*
Shortcomings of this book are as follows: It is equal parts travelogue of Kim Jong Un's DPRK, personal musings by the author, and overview of Korean history. For the latter point: those who are unfamiliar with the history of Korea (North or otherwise) would be better served by reading a history book. Anyone who is already familiar with the history of the Korean peninsula, the Korean war, and the Kim dynasty will find themselves skipping page after page of introductory information.
The musings of the author (his paranoia and feelings about being in North Korea) are blog-like and while interesting, are not worthy of paying money to read -- he should have written a blog, instead. Especially since the feelings of loneliness and realizing you understand very little about the place you've been living for weeks, are already well known to anyone who's lived not only in North Korea, but in any foreign country of a vastly different culture.
The travelogue aspect is the most interesting, and the reason why this book is still worth a read. Being published in 2018 on adventures that took place in 2016, the material is much more up to date than Demick's "Nothing to Envy", which is my go-to recommendation for people who want to understand daily life in North Korea. Where Jeppesen falls short, however, is that he arrives in North Korea speaking virtually no Korean. Despite heroic efforts to learn the language, 1 month is nowhere near enough time to really understand the country. I speak fluent Chinese and the difference between my first visits to the PRC, where I spoke almost no Chinese, and now, being fully fluent, are amazing -- without language proficiency, one simply doesn't realize what they are missing. Overheard conversations are missed, propaganda posters are ignored, and so on.
This is why I recommend the blog from Tongil Tours' Alek Sigley (who organized the trip Jeppesen went on) instead. He speaks the language nearly fluently and picks up much more minor details.
I commend Jeppesen on his efforts, and if he has the interest, I hope he continues learning Korean and makes another return visit (presumably after US-DPRK travel restrictions are lifted). He has a flair for writing, but simply doesn't have enough knowledge and experience to write a full book on his experiences, and the result is a book with much filler content. Perhaps his only crime as a novelist is that he doesn't follow up on a plot line where a character loses an important piece of technology.
This book fills one's craving for more recent information out of the DPRK similar to how a piece of toast with butter will fill one's craving for a meal: better than nothing, but not as good as one might hope.
Shortcomings of this book are as follows: It is equal parts travelogue of Kim Jong Un's DPRK, personal musings by the author, and overview of Korean history. For the latter point: those who are unfamiliar with the history of Korea (North or otherwise) would be better served by reading a history book. Anyone who is already familiar with the history of the Korean peninsula, the Korean war, and the Kim dynasty will find themselves skipping page after page of introductory information.
The musings of the author (his paranoia and feelings about being in North Korea) are blog-like and while interesting, are not worthy of paying money to read -- he should have written a blog, instead. Especially since the feelings of loneliness and realizing you understand very little about the place you've been living for weeks, are already well known to anyone who's lived not only in North Korea, but in any foreign country of a vastly different culture.
The travelogue aspect is the most interesting, and the reason why this book is still worth a read. Being published in 2018 on adventures that took place in 2016, the material is much more up to date than Demick's "Nothing to Envy", which is my go-to recommendation for people who want to understand daily life in North Korea. Where Jeppesen falls short, however, is that he arrives in North Korea speaking virtually no Korean. Despite heroic efforts to learn the language, 1 month is nowhere near enough time to really understand the country. I speak fluent Chinese and the difference between my first visits to the PRC, where I spoke almost no Chinese, and now, being fully fluent, are amazing -- without language proficiency, one simply doesn't realize what they are missing. Overheard conversations are missed, propaganda posters are ignored, and so on.
This is why I recommend the blog from Tongil Tours' Alek Sigley (who organized the trip Jeppesen went on) instead. He speaks the language nearly fluently and picks up much more minor details.
I commend Jeppesen on his efforts, and if he has the interest, I hope he continues learning Korean and makes another return visit (presumably after US-DPRK travel restrictions are lifted). He has a flair for writing, but simply doesn't have enough knowledge and experience to write a full book on his experiences, and the result is a book with much filler content. Perhaps his only crime as a novelist is that he doesn't follow up on a plot line where a character loses an important piece of technology.
This book fills one's craving for more recent information out of the DPRK similar to how a piece of toast with butter will fill one's craving for a meal: better than nothing, but not as good as one might hope.
4.0 out of 5 stars A month in North Korea: Long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2018
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
There is an odd fascination with North Korea (a fascination that I admit being guilty of having as well), likely due in large part to the country's "off limits" nature which of course inspires curiosity ... so, of course, a book like this that promises unique insights is of course like catnip for someone who is interested in learning a little bit more about what's going on in the country. That said, significant portions of the book do not necessarily offer anything 'new' ... the parts on the country's history are familiar to anyone who has read the more scholarly books or articles that exist on the topic, and despite encounters that have the chance for game-changing glimpses behind the curtain (a Chinese businessman here, an ambassador there) to me what was striking about the book is just how well the country's minders do at their job of keeping visitors like the author in a bubble. The most interesting moments of the experience for me were the little things--the author's discovery of semi-subversive works of art in a gallery in Wonsan, for instance, hinted at a diversity of thought and expression not totally subjugated by the party line. Also, I found the increasing consumerism interesting as it indicated cultural and technological changes not as frequently reported in the west, but which also represent a new source of uncertainty and danger--prestige, status, even one's life can be lost as easily as a misplaced SD card. All in all, while the account was fascinating to live through vicariously, the overall experience as lived by Jeppesen reminded me of the old adage about war: long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. When you consider that going to get a coffee or going on an unauthorized stroll is a highlight of the day, once you strip away the mystique, 'studying abroad' for a month in Pyongyang is much less exciting or meaningful than in most other places around the world--just think of all the things one could do, learn, and experience spending a month abroad in Seoul, just on the other side of the border!
As other reviews have discussed, the self-reflection or lack thereof is interesting as well. Jeppesen seems to have doubts creep in about his role in the North Korean propaganda machine and whether his presence (and money) are being used for nefarious purposes. While he certainly does criticize North Korea, his takes on more nuanced issues are often quite credulous with respect to the North Korean position, and in the times that his doubts and concerns reach critical levels he seems to fall back on a lot of whataboutisms and bothsidesisms which probably reveal more about the author than they do the actual situation (one can criticize the US or South Korea for many things, but come on ... this is North Korea we're talking about!). Perhaps one of the most jaw-dropping moments was when Jeppesen essentially says that North Korea's biggest problem is one of ... bad public relations! I wondered if this was due to genuine self-obfuscation, ideological conviction, pragmatism (I would imagine that if one wants to revisit North Korea after writing about it--and Jeppesen has visited multiple times--one must engage in some degree of self-censorship), or some combination of the above. The criticisms of North Korean defectors--profiting from their experiences, dramatizing events, borrowing others' experiences as their own--seemed especially tone deaf given that this is arguably exactly what Jeppesen himself is doing, and with the privilege of being able to choose to go to and from North Korea, rather than escape it as the defectors did at great risk to themselves and their families. Keep in mind that Jeppesen notes that this book combines and changes people and events and borrows from others' stories; after all, most of the people in the book would get in very serious trouble otherwise. But as a result, this work sits in a grey area between 'non-fiction' and 'fiction based on true stories', and unless he's donating the proceeds, he's certainly getting 'paid' to tell his story. At the same time, readers who get self-righteous should reflect on their role in the transaction--Jeppesen buys access to North Korea in order to write about and benefit from his experience, similarly the reader buys access to Jeppesen's experience through the purchase of the book ... as a reader, we would do well to reflect on the same accusations which are easy to hurl at the person whose experience we live through vicariously. Are we complicit as well?
Taken together, "See you again in Pyongyang" was an interesting read and one worthy of thought and reflection. For someone interested in the subject, a worthy read.
As other reviews have discussed, the self-reflection or lack thereof is interesting as well. Jeppesen seems to have doubts creep in about his role in the North Korean propaganda machine and whether his presence (and money) are being used for nefarious purposes. While he certainly does criticize North Korea, his takes on more nuanced issues are often quite credulous with respect to the North Korean position, and in the times that his doubts and concerns reach critical levels he seems to fall back on a lot of whataboutisms and bothsidesisms which probably reveal more about the author than they do the actual situation (one can criticize the US or South Korea for many things, but come on ... this is North Korea we're talking about!). Perhaps one of the most jaw-dropping moments was when Jeppesen essentially says that North Korea's biggest problem is one of ... bad public relations! I wondered if this was due to genuine self-obfuscation, ideological conviction, pragmatism (I would imagine that if one wants to revisit North Korea after writing about it--and Jeppesen has visited multiple times--one must engage in some degree of self-censorship), or some combination of the above. The criticisms of North Korean defectors--profiting from their experiences, dramatizing events, borrowing others' experiences as their own--seemed especially tone deaf given that this is arguably exactly what Jeppesen himself is doing, and with the privilege of being able to choose to go to and from North Korea, rather than escape it as the defectors did at great risk to themselves and their families. Keep in mind that Jeppesen notes that this book combines and changes people and events and borrows from others' stories; after all, most of the people in the book would get in very serious trouble otherwise. But as a result, this work sits in a grey area between 'non-fiction' and 'fiction based on true stories', and unless he's donating the proceeds, he's certainly getting 'paid' to tell his story. At the same time, readers who get self-righteous should reflect on their role in the transaction--Jeppesen buys access to North Korea in order to write about and benefit from his experience, similarly the reader buys access to Jeppesen's experience through the purchase of the book ... as a reader, we would do well to reflect on the same accusations which are easy to hurl at the person whose experience we live through vicariously. Are we complicit as well?
Taken together, "See you again in Pyongyang" was an interesting read and one worthy of thought and reflection. For someone interested in the subject, a worthy read.
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