It’s
time to revisit Adam Johnson’s prophetic, Pulitzer Prize winning novel about
North Korea, The Orphan Master’s Son. It was nearly four years ago that I reviewed
it in my blog. I was stunned by the
novel and now, with the United States and North Korea marching to the drum beat
of conflict yet once again, with dire consequences of such a face off, this
novel is must reading. Unfortunately,
Donald Trump doesn’t read but instead relies on Fox and Twitter. If he read this novel, he’d understand why
withdrawing support for the National Endowment for the Humanities is a grave
error. From Johnson’s imagination
and research, there is probably a greater truth regarding the North Korean persona than most
government reports, not to mention TV coverage.
Here’s
how I began my review…
North Korea is
an enigma (to me at least). Only a few
months ago the young North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was saber rattling nuclear
missiles, threatening not only South Korea, but American bases in the Pacific as
well. Bizarrely, at about the same time,
basketball celebrity Dennis Rodman visited the country and the new leader
(apparently Kim Jong-un likes basketball).
Rodman thinks he played peacemaker.
How weird to see the heavily tattooed Rodman sitting side by side with
the young chubby cheeked dictator.
Did I really
want to know more about the circus-like-train-wreck of North Korea? However, the accolades for Adam Johnson’s The
Orphan Master’s Son were overwhelming, calling to me. So, I’ve read it and can
understand why it deservedly won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature last year.
This is a
compelling novel, such a good story, and so well written. But can life in North Korea really be as
Johnson writes? While no one can say
whether his depiction is accurate, it is fiction, and it succeeds as an
allegory of universal themes.
