A River in Darkness cover art

A River in Darkness

One Man's Escape from North Korea

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A River in Darkness

By: Masaji Ishikawa, Risa Kobayashi - translator, Martin Brown - translator
Narrated by: Brian Nishii
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About this listen

A New York Times bestseller and Amazon Charts Most Read and Most Sold book.

A Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Memoir & Autobiography.

The harrowing true story of one man’s life in - and subsequent escape from - North Korea, one of the world’s most brutal totalitarian regimes.

Half-Korean, half-Japanese, Masaji Ishikawa has spent his whole life feeling like a man without a country. This feeling only deepened when his family moved from Japan to North Korea when Ishikawa was just thirteen years old, and unwittingly became members of the lowest social caste. His father, himself a Korean national, was lured to the new Communist country by promises of abundant work, education for his children, and a higher station in society. But the reality of their new life was far from utopian.

In this memoir translated from the original Japanese, Ishikawa candidly recounts his tumultuous upbringing and the brutal thirty-six years he spent living under a crushing totalitarian regime, as well as the challenges he faced repatriating to Japan after barely escaping North Korea with his life. A River in Darkness is not only a shocking portrait of life inside the country but a testament to the dignity - and indomitable nature - of the human spirit.

©2000 by Masaji Ishikawa. (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Translation © 2017 by Risa Kobayashi and Martin Brown. Activists Cultural & Regional Politicians Politics & Activism Memoir Imperial Japan China Biography North Korea
All stars
Most relevant  
Sad, eye opening story which made me feel so sorry for the North Koreans desperate situation.

Shocking

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It is so sad what people will do to each other and what lengths the victims have to go to to survive.

Everyone should read this book and open their eyes to the truth.
We can only hope that, with enough good people in the world, humanity can turn itself around.

Definitely an eye opener.

This book should be publicly broadcast

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Never had the story of the plight of the average North Korean been more clear than what is told in this book. Masaji Ishikawa tells the story of his life in North Korea in detail. This is not a happy story nor would you expect it to be. But it does help you to understand the very horrors of North Korean life and the true feelings of those who were sold the lie of living in a Paradise on Earth.

Paradise on Earth

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Gripping, poignant and eye opening memoir!! Brian Nishii does a great job of narrating this. Highly recommend.

Amazing

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Great but sad story. It gives a lot of information on the daily life. Great performance.

What an immersive story!

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I liked hearing more about daily life and how things started to change (for the worse) when the first kim died. Such a sad story.

Interesting but sad

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How can people be suffering so much? It is incomprehensible to know and yet not be able to help.
Lord God in heaven, please grant an answer. Come in haste Lord Jesus, for relief of such families. Amen.

Too severe

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A truly harrowing story of despair and betrayal and mankind at its worst.

My heart breaks for Masaji Ishikawa and I pray that he will find peace and recognition for the heroic kind man that he is.

A River in Darkness

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a period of japanesekorean history that I knew little about. the story was told with such depth and gives an insight to the north Korea of today.

informative, terrible, loving

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Thank you Masaji. My heart goes out to you and I hope life can give you some happiness in the future.

Thank you for the memoir

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