Anna > Recent Status Updates

"It is mandatory from elementary school to attend public executions. Often classes would be cancelled so students could go." Oh. My. God.

Why does this book remind me so much about 'Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World'?? Help! I love it!

There are so many similarities between the North Korea and USSR it's crazy. Like this part from chapter 5, for example, "The Bowibu [secret police] didn’t watch from street corners or parked cars[..]The citizenry did all that for them. Neighbours could be relied upon to inform on neighbours; children to spy on children; workers to watch co-workers". The same air of distrust among people was ussr's weapon of control.

It is fascinating and terrifying how there are so many similarities between how the author describes her life in the North Korea as a child and what was happening in USSR under Stalin rule. Avoiding making close friends because you can be denounced, having a portrait of the leader at home you had to idolize and keep clean, etc.

I'm seriously considering dropping this narcissistic self-masturbatory rant. But I'm almost there, so let's see