Somewhere Inside

Another book review. Man, my blog is starting to turn into a book report! EWWW What a nerd. I think I've read more books this year than I have in the past 5 years/ post-college graduation! Gosh, you know what's worse? When you start emailing your brother, while on vacation, to ask his help to borrow a book for you in the library! My brother emailed back and said, "dude, what's wrong with you?" hahaha I can't help it! I really want to read this book!!

The book that I'm currently reading is: Somewhere Inside by Lisa & Laura Ling.

Oh man, it's pretty intense and emotional. Laura was one of the girls that was detained in North Korea's prison for 5 months for crossing (more like briefly stepping over) the North Korean border. In this book, Laura provided a gripping account of the struggle she went through in the prison. How she curled up in the corner, how she would walk in circles inside her cell to "exercise", how she would be interrogated over the same questions for 15 hours each day, how she was not allowed to read ANY books that her family & friends had sent over...the investigator even said that he wanted her to "think until she goes mad" WTF?! Talk about cruelty. During the five months of imprisonment, Laura experience so many dark moments...but she is SO smart! I'm not sure if I would act the same way or ask the same questions if I was in the same situation. It was due to her efforts and persistence that she was able to write letters to her family and even make a phone call. Lisa also perfectly strategize ways, using her political connections and highest levels of government connections, to get her sister out of North Korea.

As I was reading their stories, I couldn't help but tear up. It's so sad...I imagined my sister, my best friend, away in captivity in North Korea. How helpless she must have felt, how scared and depressed she must be feeling. It's so sad!! But at the same time, this book is a story of survival, sisterhood, and the ignition of a new relationship between two nations that have been at war for more than half a century. I can't wait to finish the rest of the book!

Speaking of North Korea, Jen told me that they have a twitter account but that the account is blocked in South Korea. WTH?? Why would North Korea even have a twitter account? What can they possible tweet about? Power outage? Another nuclear test? They also have facebook account! Isn't that the strangest thing? I asked if anyone would follow and apparently they have a lot of followers. *confused* After being in South Korea for a week, learning about the culture and history, watching the hilarious variety shows, eating all the delicious spicy food, and cheap shopping...why would North Korea want to be separated from South Korea? They need each other, I think. I hope, one day, they can be.