The harrowing true story of a man's life in North Korea and his subsequent escape. Masaji Ishikawa, who is both Korean on his father's side and Japanese on his mother's side, has lived his entire life feeling like a man without a country. This feeling only deepened when his family moved from Japan to North Korea, when Ishikawa was only thirteen years old and unwillingly placed in the lowest social class. His father, a Korean, was lured to the new communist country with promises of work, an education for his children, and a high position in society. But the reality of their life was far from utopian. In this autobiography, Ishikawa candidly recounts his turbulent upbringing, the brutal thirty-six years he spent living under an overwhelming totalitarian regime, as well as the challenges he faced upon returning to Japan after narrowly escaping from North Korea. Not only is River in the Dark a shocking depiction of life in the country, but it is also a testament to the transcendence and indomitable nature of the human spirit.
Pages: 192
