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Black Girl from Pyongyang: In Search of My Identity Paperback – 18 January 2024
by Monica Macias (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 136 ratings
The extraordinary true story of a West African girl’s upbringing in North Korea under the guardianship of President Kim Il Sung.
In 1979, aged only seven, Monica Macias was sent from West Africa to the unfamiliar surroundings of North Korea by her father, the President of Equatorial Guinea, to be educated under the guardianship of his ally, Kim Il Sung.
Within months, her father was executed in a military coup; her mother became unreachable. Effectively orphaned, she and two siblings had to make their life in Pyongyang. At military boarding school, Monica learned to mix with older children, speak fluent Korean and handle weapons on training exercises.
Reaching adulthood, she went in search of her roots. Spending time in Madrid, Malabo, New York, Seoul and finally London, at every step she had to reckon with others' perceptions of her adoptive homeland. Optimistic yet unflinching, Monica’s astonishing and unique story challenges us to see the world through different eyes.
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Print length
304 pages
Language
English
Publisher
Duckworth
Publication date
18 January 2024
Product description
Review
'A fascinating glimpse into life in North Korea’ New Statesman
‘Monica's is an evocative memoir of a remarkable childhood followed by a decades-long search around the globe for her identity and the truth about her father. But beyond that, it is a stunning treatise on politics, power and culture' Florence Olajide, bestselling author of Coconut
'A fascinating account of a woman’s quest for autonomy, and her bravery and determination to find the truth. It’s an investigative story to understand her true father, a powerful but controversial figure, the real man behind his many personas. A woman who was raised between countries, in search of her true home' Lily Dunn, author of Sins of My Father
‘A testament to the power of survival, and the strength it takes to interrogate the world you're born into, Black Girl from Pyongyang is a beautiful and startling coming of age story’ Ali Millar, author of The Last Days
‘Monica Maciaschallenges readers in her remarkable memoir to interrogate the modalities of truth in our modern world, to closely examine and dismantle what we think we know and what the powers that be would have us believe. Hers is a weighty inheritance, one that she explores with grace, compassion, and enormous courage’ Ly Tran, author of House of Sticks
‘With intimate knowledge through some of the world’s least-known places, Monica Macias leads us on an extraordinary journey. Her perspective as an African, Asian and European woman is absolutely singular as she searches for home, for her history and for her own identity. Her story is told with clear-eyed honesty and self-reflection, as she seeks to better understand herself, the circumstances of her birth and upbringing, and the world she travels around so bravely. You have never read a book like Black Girl From Pyongyang, and you won’t soon forget it’ Marcia de Sanctis, author of A Hard Place to Leave
'Black Girl from Pyongyang tells a heart-warming story of conflicting emotions. A delight to read' Dr J. E. Hoare, Centre of Korean Studies, SOAS
'An incredible insight into a woman whose life is beyond imagining... and a fascinating insight into the North Korean regime' Rory Stewart
About the Author
Monica Macias is the daughter of Francisco Macias, the first president of Equatorial Guinea following its independence from colonial Spanish rule. She has lived in several countries around the world and now resides in south London. Black Girl from Pyongyang is her first book to be published in English, and she will be the subject of a forthcoming documentary film.
Product details
Publisher : Duckworth (18 January 2024)
Language : English
Paperback : 304 pages
ISBN-10 : 0715655175
ISBN-13 : 978-0715655177
Dimensions : 12.9 x 1.63 x 19.81 cmBest Sellers Rank: 103,082 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)16 in Historical Spain & Portugal Biographies
47 in History of Korea
67 in Historical Africa BiographiesCustomer Reviews:
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 136 ratings
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Charlie
5.0 out of 5 stars wowReviewed in Australia on 26 May 2023
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Reading this book, gave me a better understanding and perspective of how not to judge any regime. Monica certainly did extremely well to pursue her quest to try and understand the “other” world to which she was accustomed to. She grew in person and taught us a lesson not to judge and to forgive. What a delightful read.
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Gregory L.
5.0 out of 5 stars Take of life in several cultural settingsReviewed in the United States on 23 January 2024
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A story from her childhood when she and her siblings were under the care of Kim Il Sung as a personal friend of President Macías of Equitoral Guianea who was subsequently assassinated in 1979. Kim continued to honor his comittment to the safety and education with the option for Monica being to stay in North Korea. She was determined to find the truth of her father’s demise. She had an insatiable desire to learn about other cultures and nations, experienced with significant periods of life in Spain, New York City, South Korea, becoming significantly skilled in English and Spanish as well as her native Korean. She obtained a Masters degree with concentration in Colonialism with respect to African countries. She went thru several cultural adaptations and appreciation for travel and points of view of others. A marvelous history of a childhood as essentially a “native Korean” to a multicultural citizen of the world.
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Lucas Lima
5.0 out of 5 stars An exceptional story with an unique point of viewReviewed in Brazil on 11 May 2023
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That's a fascinating story that brings a very unique point of view and exclusive experience. It gave me the opportunity to travel to North Korea by the eyes of an african, and to travel to Europe within the shoes of an asian. The unusual journey of Monica was very touching, beautiful and powerful, narrated at a delightful pace. I also recommends it for non-native english speakers as it has an easy narrative.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Good read outline of her lifeReviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2024
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Interesting read, good topic . Well done on writing it and good exposure of imperialism well done interesting life and I recommend this book
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Tshelane Sipho
5.0 out of 5 stars L'histoire d'une jeune fille a Pyongyang.Reviewed in France on 24 April 2023
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Comment reconter son histoire intime. Une fille confie par son pere au president de Coree du Nord. Elle a ete instructor en Coree du Nord.
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Ann Wright
5.0 out of 5 stars A Different view of North Korea!Reviewed in the United States on 4 March 2024
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Fascinating little known history of North Korea, and Kim Il Sung providing refuge and education to the children of his friends the former President of Equatorial Guinea! A view of North Korea from the eyes of a child growing into adolescence, a. Black child, and the care that Kim Il Sung showed her and her siblings because of his promise to their father.
I highly recommend this book!
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Monica Macias - Black Girl From Pyongyang - in Search of My Identity-Duckworth (2023)
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This document is an excerpt from the memoir of Monica Macias, who was born in Equatorial Guinea but raised in North Korea. It introduces her as having an unusual upbringing due to being the …
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Black Girl from Pyongyang: In Search of My Identity
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Black Girl from Pyongyang: In Search of My Identity Paperback – 18 January 2024
by Monica Macias (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 136 ratings
See all formats and editions
The extraordinary true story of a West African girl’s upbringing in North Korea under the guardianship of President Kim Il Sung.
In 1979, aged only seven, Monica Macias was sent from West Africa to the unfamiliar surroundings of North Korea by her father, the President of Equatorial Guinea, to be educated under the guardianship of his ally, Kim Il Sung.
Within months, her father was executed in a military coup; her mother became unreachable. Effectively orphaned, she and two siblings had to make their life in Pyongyang. At military boarding school, Monica learned to mix with older children, speak fluent Korean and handle weapons on training exercises.
Reaching adulthood, she went in search of her roots. Spending time in Madrid, Malabo, New York, Seoul and finally London, at every step she had to reckon with others' perceptions of her adoptive homeland. Optimistic yet unflinching, Monica’s astonishing and unique story challenges us to see the world through different eyes.
Report an issue with this product
Print length
304 pages
Language
English
Publisher
Duckworth
Publication date
18 January 2024
Dimensions
12.9 x 1.63 x 19.81 cm
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Review
'A fascinating glimpse into life in North Korea’ New Statesman
‘Monica's is an evocative memoir of a remarkable childhood followed by a decades-long search around the globe for her identity and the truth about her father. But beyond that, it is a stunning treatise on politics, power and culture' Florence Olajide, bestselling author of Coconut
'A fascinating account of a woman’s quest for autonomy, and her bravery and determination to find the truth. It’s an investigative story to understand her true father, a powerful but controversial figure, the real man behind his many personas. A woman who was raised between countries, in search of her true home' Lily Dunn, author of Sins of My Father
‘A testament to the power of survival, and the strength it takes to interrogate the world you're born into, Black Girl from Pyongyang is a beautiful and startling coming of age story’ Ali Millar, author of The Last Days
‘Monica Maciaschallenges readers in her remarkable memoir to interrogate the modalities of truth in our modern world, to closely examine and dismantle what we think we know and what the powers that be would have us believe. Hers is a weighty inheritance, one that she explores with grace, compassion, and enormous courage’ Ly Tran, author of House of Sticks
‘With intimate knowledge through some of the world’s least-known places, Monica Macias leads us on an extraordinary journey. Her perspective as an African, Asian and European woman is absolutely singular as she searches for home, for her history and for her own identity. Her story is told with clear-eyed honesty and self-reflection, as she seeks to better understand herself, the circumstances of her birth and upbringing, and the world she travels around so bravely. You have never read a book like Black Girl From Pyongyang, and you won’t soon forget it’ Marcia de Sanctis, author of A Hard Place to Leave
'Black Girl from Pyongyang tells a heart-warming story of conflicting emotions. A delight to read' Dr J. E. Hoare, Centre of Korean Studies, SOAS
'An incredible insight into a woman whose life is beyond imagining... and a fascinating insight into the North Korean regime' Rory Stewart
About the Author
Monica Macias is the daughter of Francisco Macias, the first president of Equatorial Guinea following its independence from colonial Spanish rule. She has lived in several countries around the world and now resides in south London. Black Girl from Pyongyang is her first book to be published in English, and she will be the subject of a forthcoming documentary film.
Product details
Publisher : Duckworth (18 January 2024)
Language : English
Paperback : 304 pages
ISBN-10 : 0715655175
ISBN-13 : 978-0715655177
Dimensions : 12.9 x 1.63 x 19.81 cm
Best Sellers Rank: 103,082 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
16 in Historical Spain & Portugal Biographies
47 in History of Korea
67 in Historical Africa Biographies
Customer Reviews: 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 136 ratings
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Charlie
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Reviewed in Australia on 26 May 2023
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Reading this book, gave me a better understanding and perspective of how not to judge any regime. Monica certainly did extremely well to pursue her quest to try and understand the “other” world to which she was accustomed to. She grew in person and taught us a lesson not to judge and to forgive. What a delightful read.
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Gregory L.
5.0 out of 5 stars Take of life in several cultural settings
Reviewed in the United States on 23 January 2024
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A story from her childhood when she and her siblings were under the care of Kim Il Sung as a personal friend of President Macías of Equitoral Guianea who was subsequently assassinated in 1979. Kim continued to honor his comittment to the safety and education with the option for Monica being to stay in North Korea. She was determined to find the truth of her father’s demise. She had an insatiable desire to learn about other cultures and nations, experienced with significant periods of life in Spain, New York City, South Korea, becoming significantly skilled in English and Spanish as well as her native Korean. She obtained a Masters degree with concentration in Colonialism with respect to African countries. She went thru several cultural adaptations and appreciation for travel and points of view of others. A marvelous history of a childhood as essentially a “native Korean” to a multicultural citizen of the world.
Report
Lucas Lima
5.0 out of 5 stars An exceptional story with an unique point of view
Reviewed in Brazil on 11 May 2023
Verified Purchase
That's a fascinating story that brings a very unique point of view and exclusive experience. It gave me the opportunity to travel to North Korea by the eyes of an african, and to travel to Europe within the shoes of an asian. The unusual journey of Monica was very touching, beautiful and powerful, narrated at a delightful pace. I also recommends it for non-native english speakers as it has an easy narrative.
Report
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read outline of her life
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2024
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Interesting read, good topic . Well done on writing it and good exposure of imperialism well done interesting life and I recommend this book
Report
Tshelane Sipho
5.0 out of 5 stars L'histoire d'une jeune fille a Pyongyang.
Reviewed in France on 24 April 2023
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Comment reconter son histoire intime. Une fille confie par son pere au president de Coree du Nord. Elle a ete instructor en Coree du Nord.
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Ann Wright
5.0 out of 5 stars A Different view of North Korea!
Reviewed in the United States on 4 March 2024
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Fascinating little known history of North Korea, and Kim Il Sung providing refuge and education to the children of his friends the former President of Equatorial Guinea! A view of North Korea from the eyes of a child growing into adolescence, a. Black child, and the care that Kim Il Sung showed her and her siblings because of his promise to their father.
I highly recommend this book!
Report
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Black Girl from Pyongyang
Monica Macias
3.71
294 ratings79 reviews
In 1979, aged only seven, Monica Macias was transplanted from West Africa to the unfamiliar surroundings of North Korea. She was sent by her father Francisco, the first president of post-Independence Equatorial Guinea, to be educated under the guardianship of his ally, Kim Il Sung.
Within months, her father was executed in a military coup; her mother became unreachable. Effectively orphaned, she and two siblings had to make their life in Pyongyang. At military boarding school, Monica learned to mix with older children, speak fluent Korean and handle weapons on training exercises.
After university, she went in search of her roots, passing through Beijing, Seoul, Madrid, Guinea, New York and finally London – forced at every step to reckon with damning perceptions of her adoptive homeland. Optimistic yet unflinching, Monica’s astonishing and unique story challenges us to see the world through different eyes.
GenresNonfictionMemoirAfricaHistoryAsiaBiographyPolitics
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304 pages, Hardcover
Published March 1, 2023
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Roman Clodia
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November 25, 2022
Are they aware that, wherever there are asymmetric power dynamics, the victor's version of events is accepted as the truth, creating a warped narrative of historical events?
Hmm, this is essentially a lightweight and patronisingly naïve narrative in which Macias states well-known axioms such as that above as if they're discoveries that only she has made and which she wants to impart to us. And yes, we are aware that, to quote the cliché, history is written by the victors. It's really not news.
I constantly felt that there's a space between the book that has been intentionally written and the one that we are reading. The story pushed is that her father, Francisco Macias, 'was the victim of powerful enemies who elaborated a meticulous plan to eliminate him from the Guinean political scene' (this is how she summarises the main thrust of her Masters dissertation) and that he and her proxy father, Kim Il Sung, President of North Korea until his death in 1994, have been essentially maligned unfairly by the West. Of course, there is an element of truth in the way that pat anti-communist narratives are spread but, at the same time, this book doesn't engage with the more neutral and documented narratives of brutalities, torture, and abysmal human rights abuses that exist in both states. Calling out one extreme form of propaganda does not make its opposite true.
It's a shame as Monica has had a fascinating life: daughter of the leader of Equatorial Guinea in its independence from its status as a colony of Spain, sent with her siblings at age seven to live in North Korea under the personal patronage of Kim Il Sung. But we don't get any real details of everyday life in North Korea, and she's soon off travelling to Spain, back to Equatorial Guinea, South Korea, China, New York and London where she does a masters at SOAS.
It's quite amazing that Monica works as a retail assistant in a shop, as a chambermaid in a London hotel, low-paid jobs, and yet somehow manages to fly around the world, live in expensive cities (she claims she gets a part-loan for her SOAS studies) and never makes mention of how any of this is funded. Indeed, against the claim that her father stole national money, her mother says if that were true, where is the money...
Comments about structural racism feel tired and clichéd - whereas Monica could have had a fascinating perspective as someone with very mixed-race antecedents who has moved from Africa to Asia to Europe, and who speaks a variety of languages. For all her claims about the importance of education, there's not much evidence in here of critical thinking above a most basic level.
And then there are the anomalies that feel inserted for dramatic effect: the daughter of an African leader and proxy daughter of the North Korean President turns up in Spain and doesn't realise she needs a residency visa? The night before her masters dissertation is due in she hits a key, all the text turns to numbers and she sits up all night to rewrite the entire thing from memory? (I mean, which postgrad student doesn't save their dissertation compulsively in seven different places?)
Ultimately this feels rather opaque.
Thanks to Duckworth for an ARC via NetGalley
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Mai H.
1,194 reviews541 followers
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September 7, 2024
Women's History Month
I admit, I read this under a very biased Western lens, which the author herself warns against. I went in wanting to know more about North Korea and Equatorial Guinea. I didn't get what I wanted.
This is a very naïve and unapologetic "memoir" that reeks of privilege of a certain nature. You can love someone that is horrible to others. Just because they weren't dismissive or abusive to you doesn't mean they weren't to others. To repeatedly defend and try to separate dictators from their regimes is disingenuous.
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Duckworth Books
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Bagus
434 reviews89 followers
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March 26, 2024
Monica Macias’ life is interesting. Born the youngest daughter of Francisco Macias, the first president of Equatorial Guinea, she was transported to Pyongyang aged seven in 1979 as her father requested his friend Kim Il Sung to educate Monica and her two older siblings there. Months after she began living in Pyongyang, her father was overthrown in a coup d’état and she was to begin what will be a 15-year period of life growing up in Pyongyang during her formative years. Kim Il Sung honoured the wish of his late friend by ensuring that all of Monica’s needs were taken care of and overseeing her education in the North Korean education system.
I’ll have to admit my lack of knowledge about the history of Equatorial Guinea might hinder me from wholly understanding Monica’s narrative. But in terms of message, Monica is pretty clear in her memoir about the need to view issues from multiple perspectives and understand both North Korean and Equato-Guinean struggles in relation to the decolonisation process. The title and synopsis are captivating. A black girl – who naturally would come from a country in Africa or the Pacific – and Pyongyang, which is the capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – a country now commonly reported in the mainstream media as a rogue state pursuing its nuclear ambition at the expense of its own people. After the end of history, both countries do not find themselves in a favourable light in the international community, with their infamous track records in human rights and economic development.
Granted, this memoir is not only about life in North Korea per se as the portion of Monica’s life in North Korea only covers around one-third of the book and she lived a highly privileged life in the DPRK, so it’s not easy to view the daily life of North Koreans from her story. Yet this is a book about someone’s search for her identity (born from parents of Afro-European descent yet growing up in an East Asian country) and the need to establish truth based on meticulous research after seeing the viewpoints on both sides. Probably the latter is the most difficult thing to perform (even for readers with open minds), as it’s natural that our views would gravitate towards one view or another. Monica’s views on the human rights situation are also something that I regret a bit, given her educational background for someone who studied international relations and African politics at SOAS in London, yet I find her courage to challenge the established narratives that she learned during the time she grew up admirable.
While Monica’s stories focus more on her uneasy feelings growing up rather than established facts, I find them insightful in terms of understanding the complexities of global migration and questions on identities. And with memoir, it is essential to understand that there is always some degree of subjectivity as Monica interprets the way the western world in general views Francisco Macias and Kim Il Sung. While the book also offers alternative viewpoints, I understand that it lacks depth, which perhaps has something to do more with Monica’s intention of describing her life story rather than providing detailed research on either her life in DPRK or the question of identity that has been surrounding her. I find this book in general an interesting and concise memoir but I would not take it as an authoritative source of information.
Reviewed from an electronic advance reading copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
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Aoife Cassidy McM
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March 5, 2023
“My connection to the society I grew up in is partly emotional, but I do have the capacity for dispassionate legal analysis. The moment that emotion interferes with analysis, the analysis can become sloppy.”
Macias is the daughter of the late Francisco Macias, the erstwhile leader (/dictator) of Equatorial Guinea, which attained its independence from its coloniser Spain in 1968.
With his family’s life in danger from his putative enemies, and with Communist nations reaching out to offer Macias assistance, he sent his wife and children to North Korea to live and be educated under the stewardship of Kim Il Sung, who the author refers to as her adopted father, and of whom she speaks very fondly.
Monica spent a somewhat confused and happy childhood at a strict, military boarding school in Pyongyang, where she lived a relatively privileged existence as the daughter of a close comrade and friend of Kim Il Sung.
In a short space of time, she began to identify as Korean, speaking the language fluently and making many Korean friends. When she came of age, she was offered the chance by Kim Il Sung either to stay or leave, and in the book she documents her decision to leave North Korea and discover her heritage in Spain and Equatorial Guinea, before moving to the US, South Korea and the UK.
It’s an interesting book at times and Macias has clearly led a very interesting life. The above quote though by Macias, referencing her experience of academic analysis of the North Korean regime, sums up my main gripe with the book.
Macias allows her own experience, and her experience alone, to determine her thoughts and opinions on North Korean society (and on her father, widely considered to have been one of Africa’s most brutal dictators).
Ultimately this is a pretty superficial analysis of a happy childhood in North Korea. It’s a memoir and a quick read, but you can expect little critical thinking on Communism, famine, nuclear power and the Kim dynasty or the author’s own father.
A cursory Google will tell you that Francisco Macias developed a cult of personality, a one party system and appointed himself President for life.
As for North Korea, Macias with her rose-tinted glasses neglects to mention that North Koreans can’t actually leave North Korea, so there’s that. 1/5 ⭐️
*Many thanks to the author, the publisher @duckworthbooks and @netgalley for the advance copy of the book, which was published on Thursday. As always, this is an honest review.*
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Emilee McCubbins
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November 9, 2022
Life in North Korea is a subject I find interesting; however, every account of life in the DPRK I have read has been from either a Korean citizen or a white person who has visited for some time. The title of Monica Macias' book, Black Girl from Pyongyang, was what initially drew me to this (special thanks to NetGalley for the ARC), as I had never considered what life for a black person in North Korea may be like. Come to find out, author Monica Macias is the daughter of the former president of Equatorial Guinea, Francisco Macias Nguema. I learned much more about Equatorial Guinea and its history since gaining independence from Spain than I had expected; however, that, unfortunately, is where my compliments end.
As far as style goes, the book is shallow and brief. Macias decides to leave North Korea after finishing school, and a chapter later ten years has passed. Storytelling and pacing do not seem to be the author's strong suit. The writing lacked detail or depth; Macias often repeated that she did not feel comfortable, but she never went into detail about what that meant for her development as a person. You could cut out much of this repetition and the book would be much shorter--something, unfortunately, I think it would have benefited from. That said, this memoir IS a translation of an earlier edition, originally published in Korean--something she discusses in the book itself, however, meaning she added additional chapters after translation and the book still felt shallow. There may be nuances and storytelling techniques that come through more in the original language of the text that I miss given that this is in English, but unfortunately I cannot comment on the literary value of the Korean text.
Finally, and what most importantly inspired such a low rating, was the blatant erasure of Macias' father figures' negative impacts. Sure, Macias is not Francisco, and she is not Kim Il-sung; she does not deserve to be attacked for the actions of her elders. She does, however, spend MOST of the memoir defending North Korea and Kim Il-sung. She writes about how Kim took her in, but she offers up almost nothing on what her and the dictator's relationship looked like. She attempts to make a dictator look sympathetic, and yet provides no reason for our sympathy beyond the fact that she lived alongside him. I doubt a heartwarming chapter about evenings spent together or details about beloved memories together would make me particularly sympathetic to the literal leader of North Korea, but it may have helped Macias' case to support the regime if she had used any attempt beyond "well, they raised me". At the same time, Macias refuses to acknowledge her own father's abusive rule and in fact spends much of the final pages trying to convince the reader, through poorly constructed dialogue between Macias and unknown cousins at her MOTHER'S FUNERAL, that Macias really was not that bad because the current president and first lady are also corrupt. Upon Googling Francisco's name, one of the first things you see is his being named "one of the most brutal dictators of history" and how, under his power, Equatorial Guinea was nicknamed the "Dachau of Africa". Thousands fled, for fear for their lives or for better life opportunity, INCLUDING Macias herself. And yet, neither man is that bad.
This book reads like a piece of political propaganda. I can understand why it may not be intentional; Macias may firmly believe that her biological and adopted fathers, both corrupt dictators, are just misunderstood by the rest of the world. I do not doubt that she loved both men. Unfortunately, despite going into this book with an open mind and a readiness to accept Macias' support for the dictators, I was not able to leave feeling content. Lacking any actual detail, repeating the same lines about her fathers' innocence without support, and dragging on--not unlike this review--for far too long, Monica Macias' Black Girl from Pyongyang is one I would recommend you skip.
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Ocean (Charlie)
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November 6, 2022
I would like to start by thanking Netgalley and Duckworth Books for providing me with an a free ARC!
As is often the case with memoirs, this is a difficult book to review..
The author, Monica Macias is the daughter of Francisco Macias, deemed to be one of the most violent leaders to ever be. She also spent the majority of her childhood in North Korea, under the protection of Kim Il-Sung, an important ally to her father. As a little girl she lost the connection with her home country, her mother tongue and quickly lost her father too. She says her soul is Korean as for a long time it was the only country she remembered living in.
As she moved to Spain after receiving an education, she felt the need to learn where she came from and reconciliate the different parts of her story and origins. Spanish (her mother tongue) quickly came back to her, she met people there, got her first job and started to experience life in a different way. She came to grasp with the fact that the men she calls her fathers are mostly seen in a negative light abroad and set herself on a mission to uncover the whole truth and learn all the facts before speaking up about anything political concerning them both. As she wrote this memoir she believes her father was set up and hasn't commited the crimes he is accused of.
I must admit I am not too familiar with her father's story and I don't feel I am fit to talk about much of Guinean's history either although I can agree on her thoughts on decolonisation.
As to North Korea, I feel very ambivalent about what she has to say. She liked it, misses it and I can understand that as it is home to her. I do wonder how being essentially pupil of the state has influenced her experience..
I find it a little easy to talk about North Korean defectors she has met and point out their wanting to go back if they could to show that it -supposedly- isn't as bad as we've been told in the west. Where are the defectors who would rather die than go back ? There are a few points she makes like this one that to me felt shallow, especially for an academic.
Do a lot of the defectors face discrimination in South Korea, I believe so yes. Must it be difficult to rebuild your life as an immigrant in the South? So hard I expect, especially when often times they have left their family behind and may never know what will happen to them but also economically, competitively etc. However considering the circumstances people have to flee in I would argue that they've left for good reasons.
She reminisces about the food and community she misses but I find it bizarre that she chose to skip over the negative parts altogether. Maybe in an effort to balance with what we otherwise would read about NK. I would have liked to read about her full experience though. I would have liked to know whether or not she was aware of executions, disappearings etc while she lived there.
I think a lot of her arguments lack complexity. It's a shame because she clearly is a smart woman.
Despite all of this she makes some really good points about the cultures she has encountered along her travels in Spain, the U.S.A, The U.K and South Korea as well as about race. It's an easy read and the kind of life trajectories you don't often read about. If you are thinking about picking this book up, all I would advice is that you don't go in expecting much on politics but treat it more as an atipycal journey of self discovery.
Ultimately I think the general idea is to point out that no matter our differences, we could all gain from being more open ot others and seek objectivity instead of reactivity when forming opinions and with that I can fully agree. I'm looking forward to reading more reviews as this book gains new readers and maybe one day to read Monica's fully formed thoughts on both Guinean and North Korean governments!
autobiographical
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Gail
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November 23, 2022
Monica Macias has written a powerful account of her life in Black Girl from Pyongyang. Her circumstances growing up are unusual as her father decided to send her and her other siblings to be raised in Pyongyang North Korea from Equatorial Guinea. Clearly the young Monica struggles, from being a young child separated from her family, from the vigorous education process, and the new culture. Over time Monica adapts, she is in the guardianship of Kim II Sung, who takes a fatherly interest in her life and remains so until she leaves the country.
Shortly after arriving in Pyongyang, her father is assassinated, and she is truly on her own with almost no contact with her mother. As all this sinks in, Monica slows adapts, learns Korean and even finds foods that she likes. She is given a choice at the end of her studies to stay in North Korea where she now has many friends and is comfortable or go and see a world that she knows nothing about.
Her choice is to leave, and she heads to Spain as she has lost her ability to speak Spanish (this is the language she used with her mother and family - the other is Fang). In Spain she begins to learn about the world, about other people besides North Koreans, and investigates the circumstances of her father’s death. She grows tremendously, makes friends, works, and opens her eyes to the world. She gains strength from this and then sets her sites on New York, Seoul, Guinea, Beijing and London where she earns an advanced degree at SOSA, a leading school for the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Overall I think this is an important book with an interesting view into North Korea. Granted it is one person’s experience, but she points out that in every country there are good and bad people. She is not making big political statements as to the present regime. At times I have disagreed with her perspective, but I see no point in taking away from her experience. There is value here if as a world we truly want peace.
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Jacqueline Nyathi
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March 3, 2023
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Monica Macias is the youngest child of Francisco Macías Nguema (Masie Nguema Biyogo Ñegue Ndong), known as Macías, the first president of Equatorial Guinea, who was deposed in 1979, and later executed by firing squad. (In this write-up, Macias will refer to Monica Macias, the author.) Monica Macias had been sent to be the ward, along with her siblings, of Francisco Macías’s friend, North Korean leader Kim Il Sung. On her father’s death, her mother, who had accompanied them, returned to Equatorial Guinea. Monica and her siblings were then educated and raised in North Korea, leaving only after they had each completed university.
Monica was seven years old when her father was killed. She had been Spanish-speaking, but lost her language and culture during her education (and, frankly, indoctrination) at the military boarding school she attended just outside of Pyongyang. This book is the story of her life from her earliest childhood memories, through her years in North Korea, her leaving, and later, as she made her way as a woman with a complicated identity. Her decision to leave was driven by her desire to see the outside world, to connect to her past, and to find out whether her father really was a cruel dictator.
Macias considers that she had two fathers, both reviled by the world. She is Brown (self-identifying, as she is from an Equatoguinean father and a Spanish-Equatoguinean mother), yet she is culturally Asian, and Korean to be specific. She is completely dislocated from her father’s culture, except as she encountered it as an adult (and she hates the food, except for plantains). The memories of those closest to her of Francisco Macias, and their accounts of his rule, do not align with the world’s image of him, which she attributes to propaganda created by Equatorial Guinea’s former colonisers, the Spanish, and her father’s Equatoguinean enemies. At the beginning of the book, she promises to outline evidence that her father was not as bad as he was portrayed to be, and was rather the victim of circumstances, but she does not do this. Instead, she talks briefly about how people around him were killing innocent people in his name, without presenting evidence.
This book is fascinating on the level of the uniqueness of Macias’s rather improbable perspective, with wonderful biographical details. It was delightful to read about her childhood, and I could empathise with her painful circumstances. She even had me feeling for the children of the former leader of my own country, because yes, it is true that the family becomes collateral damage. However, Macias’s frequent declamations and the solutions she advances for fixing the world, when she stands on her soapbox, are far less interesting, and most of my notes on these are on how perplexing bias can be to those watching.
This is an excellent read. Many of my fellow Goodreads readers are offended by the fact of her being, and by the sheer effrontery of her advancing her view on things; I, however, am not. I think there is much value in her entreaty to consider the perspective we use to judge world leaders, because, as she points out, history is written by the victor (or, perhaps, in the case of North Korea, by the all-powerful Superpower), sometimes to the detriment of real progress. However, I did find myself sneering, too, at her attempts to sanitise the images of her two fathers: we all know that if the devil is your bestie, you’ll be moved to comment on his cute curls and how he used his fork to help plough your field that one time you really needed help. In other words, no one is truly the caricature that those who demonise them claim; but that can never mean they have not committed – or are not able to commit – atrocities. Macias cannot be blamed for speaking for those she cares for or loves.
I enjoyed this for its honesty, for her remarkable and truly fascinating story, for the insight she provides into life in North Korea, for the spotlight, however flawed, on Equatoguinean life, and for her perspective on life as an eternal migrant in Spain, the US, the UK, South Korea, and other places. There are many highlights, and I loved that she included so many photographs. Her account of her first visit to China from North Korea is hilarious, and sad. In all, Macias is a brave and complex woman, and I’d love to invite her to that hypothetical dinner party.
Absolutely read this.
Thank you to NetGalley and to Duckworth Books for this excellent ARC.
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Isabel
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March 6, 2023
Thanks ever so much to @duck_books for sharing this title with me on @netgalley!
Black Girl from Pyongyang by Monica Macías.
The biggest of sighs. This book had so much potential to be uniquely insightful, but it just didn't work for me and it feels cruelly personal of me to say this but it's Macias' grating narrative voice and flimsy value system that I couldn't hack.
As the daughter of Francisco Macias, the first president of Equatorial Guinea following its independence from colonial Spanish rule, and as someone who grew up in North Korea, then proceeded to live in Madrid, New York, London and Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, this had the makings of a fantastic social and political tour-de-force. However, for the most part, her observations only ran skin deep and felt like incredibly biased and misplaced generalisations.
Of course, our judgements are almost always informed by our lived experiences, but it felt almost risible to me that Macias spends longer criticising Spanish border control staff than, I dunno, at least some of North Korea's policies towards its own citizens? Or her father's own rule over Equatorial Guinea? Or even the fact that the current President of Equatorial Guinea is her uncle, only the country's second ever president? For example, the North Korean famine of the mid-nineties only has a few lines devoted to it and there is no critical assessment of any of the misfortunes that befell any of her fellow citizens in either country. Did I expect her to go all out criticising her own father and her protector, Kim Il-sung? Well, no, given what we come to learn about her through her own writing, but I know other people would have been capable of doing so.
This may sound harsh, but whenever she does try and expose her value system, her prose is reminiscent of an undergraduate-level politics essay. Grand statements that mean very little, waffly overarching generalisations, 'love don't hate'-style statements... such a missed opportunity, so many glaring omissions, and yet a lot of time is devoted to her time as a Leroy Merlin employee - only Spanish readers and/or anyone sufficiently acquainted with the Spanish home furniture market will realise how bonkers that sentence is.
2.5/5
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Dawn Michelle
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ReadJune 2, 2024
Read Around the World: Equatorial Guinea
I am not the right audience for a book like this and because of that I will be unable to review this. I did read the whole thing [very reluctantly at the end] and after a discussion with someone else who read the book, I realized that me, in my own experience, am not someone who should have read this [though I had no idea of that going in]. I am grateful for the opportunity to read this and am glad to have one more crossed off the RAtW list.
Thank you to NetGalley, Monica Macias, and Duckworth Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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