Opening Closed Doors

Nothing to Envy
by Barbara Demick

One of the things I take into consideration when selecting travel literature is whether or not I will ever travel to the location in question.  In the case of Nothing to Envy, the chances of me doing that are pretty much non-existent.  North Korea is the most closed country in the world and is, needless to say, not a place for a relaxing vacation.

Oddly, I have read a story about travel in North Korea before.  It was a chapter in Bad Lands by Tony Wheeler.  In that book he traveled to some of the most dangerous places on earth including North Korea, Libya, and Iraq.  While none of the stories in that book were especially gripping and thought provoking, each did provide a window into a place that I will never see.  In the case of Nothing to Envy, however, it isn't just the window.  No, the door to North Korea is thrown wide open as Demick relates the lives of those who survived the famine of the 1990's and managed to defect to South Korea.  The lives are those of ordinary people and the stories of those ordinary lives are absolutely heart breaking and yet utterly absorbing.

Demick does an excellent job keeping a neutral stance as she lets the defectors tell the story of their life.  She doesn't provide analysis of how the government manages to hold power and the apparent devotion of its citizens.  Instead each defector relates how they felt and how those feelings slowly changed in the face of total economic collapse and widespread famine.  It is difficult for the western reader to fully understand the total lack of choice and appreciate the situation of each of these ordinary people and I very much appreciated Demick letting me do it myself. I truly found myself transported into their lives.

The journey here is a bleak one, but eye opening.  To me, it truly demonstrates how important travel can be.  Who is to say you know the true story of a place and a people until you have seen it for yourself.  It also demonstrates the gift of freedom, a word which has been much abused in our society of late.  Maybe to truly know freedom, we need to experience a total absence of freedom?  All I know is that I don't want to ever go to North Korea, but I would like the citizens to be able to come here.