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Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea Kindle Edition
by Sungju Lee (Author), Susan Elizabeth McClelland (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 909 ratings

Written for a young audience, this intense memoir explores the harsh realities of life on the streets in contemporary North Korea.

Every Falling Star is the memoir of Sungju Lee, who at the age of twelve was forced to live on the streets of North Korea and fend for himself. To survive, Sungju creates a gang and lives by thieving, fighting, begging, and stealing rides on cargo trains.

Sungju richly recreates his scabrous story, depicting what it was like for a boy alone to create a new family with his gang, “his brothers,” to daily be hungry and to fear arrest, imprisonment, and even execution. This riveting memoir allows young readers to learn about other cultures where freedoms they take for granted do not exist.

Reading age

12 - 18 years
Print length

291 pages

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Product description

Review
A pampered son of the elite survives a nightmarish ordeal in this page-turner of a memoir.-- "Kirkus"
About the Author
Sungju Lee holds a bachelor’s of arts degree, majoring in political science and journalism from Sogang University in Seoul, South Korea. Sungju has spoken about his experiences and about current North Korean geo political and social issues across Asia and North America. He lives in South Korea, but is currently studying in Warwick, Coventry, UK until December 2016. Susan Elizabeth McClelland is an author and journalist. Bite of the Mango, her first book, became a worldwide hit and has been published in more than 30 countries and territories, and has won numerous awards.

Product details
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01IDGS6WG
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Amulet Books (13 September 2016)

X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 291 pagesBest Sellers Rank: 180,716 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)5 in Cultural Heritage Biographies for Young Adults
5 in Books on Homelessness & Poverty for Young Adults
8 in Political Biographies for Young AdultsCustomer Reviews:
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 909 ratings

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Sungju Lee

Jason

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative & shockingReviewed in Germany on 26 June 2017
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I've followed news about North Korea for some time now but this was the first book I've read from someone who's lived in the Hermit Kingdom. This book will open your eyes to everyday life for millions of normal people in North Korea - people whose lives would have been much different, had they been born just a few hundred kilometers to the south.

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Kaylee

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly Moving StoryReviewed in the United States on 28 March 2024
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Wow. My sister and I both read this incredible book and fell in love with it. We’ve been recommending it to everyone, no matter their age or background. The story is powerful and touching, and reveals truths about a nation that we rarely hear about from such a vulnerable perspective. It’s written simply but the themes are complex. Easily enjoyed by anyone from 8th grade through adulthood.

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Belciug Florinel-Mirel

5.0 out of 5 stars Arrived quick, excellent condition.Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 May 2022
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Great support from the seller, in the book unbelievable but true life-story. It teach you appreciate more the liitle things which you don't give much attention and respect your life as it is. Show us how the harsh life really is.

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Kahiwagi

5.0 out of 5 stars 少年の目からみた北朝鮮Reviewed in Japan on 23 November 2016
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タイトルのevery falling starsはすべての流れ星を意味します。
作者であるリ・スンジュの少年時代を描いたものですがJuvenile literatureとあるためかわかりやすいです。彼は平壌に住んでおり、将軍になることを夢見てましたが、地方に追放された事で暗転します。これは当初旅行とリ・スンジュの父は説明してました。この追放の背景は詳しくはわかってません。書けないとありましたから
地方での生活はやがて困窮しリ・スンジュの父は中国に、母は食物を探しに行ったままいなくなります。そして彼も同様の事をするようになります。数人の少年たちと徒等を組み、得意のテコンドーを披露し金を稼いだり・・・chaosの真っ只中に彼は放り込まれたのです。
それでもリ・スンジュの喜怒哀楽がよく描れていてときには泣きそうになったり、夢を見失わかったり・・・
最後は中国に行った父とは再会しますが、母とは未だに果たせずにいます。また彼は新たな役割をも見つけたようです。母との再会を願わずにはいられません

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3.0 out of 5 stars he resorts to stealing for survival and constitutes a street gang of young boys like himself that travel on trains to find new villages ...Reviewed in India on 27 June 2017
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The story of a privileged young boy - Sungju Lee, living in Pyongyang; son of a respected military leader, under the aegis of Kim II Sung. Shortly after the death of their ruler, Lee and his family are forced to deport to a town where there is rampant poverty, famine, unemployment and crime. As his parents step out in search of food, he is left alone in his house. Eventually, he resorts to stealing for survival and constitutes a street gang of young boys like himself that travel on trains to find new villages to steal. They are eventually captured by the police, and subject to more torture in the police camps. The boy is incredibly lucky when his family finds him, and arranges for his defection from North Korea to South Korea.

The chapters where he narrates his transformation, out of sheet compulsion, from an innocent young boy to the hardened and calculative street gang leader are extremely poignant. I was hoping to learn more on the propaganda effect; but this is a young boy’s narrative, so those references are minimal.

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Sungju Lee

1 review

58 followers

July 8, 2016

Dear friends,

if I summarize my book, Every Falling Star, there are three words for me to share with you.

HOPE, COURAGE, LOVE.

You will figure out how these values made me strong on the street while you are reading it.

Hope is never lost.

206 likes

8 comments

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Emily May

2,143 reviews

317k followers

August 3, 2016

North Korea is indeed a Hermit Kingdon: a true-to-life dystopian nation.

It's against this backdrop that my story takes place.

This book really made me want to learn.

Before reading, I knew some things about North Korea. I had a vague understanding of how the North and South were split and how the communist North is one of the most restrictive countries in the world. I sort of knew something about the godlike worship of the Supreme Leader - Kim Jong-un. And that's... basically it.

This memoir, however, was fascinating. Both as a starting point for learning about what it's really like to grow up in North Korea, and as a way of fostering further learning. As soon as I finished, I found myself reading articles about North Korea. I read the travel warnings on the U.S. and British government websites. Which made me curious about whether it was even possible to visit North Korea - it is, and certain companies organize guided tours. I then went on to read articles from those who had visited. I don't think I'd ever dare, but it was very interesting to get their perspective.

Of course, the most fascinating thing about North Korea and this memoir is the way the cult of personality works. The deeply-ingrained notion that Kim Jong-un is an almost magical being, someone to be revered, a perfect specimen of humanity leading the best country on Earth. It is actually illegal to mishandle any images of the Supreme Leader, never mind speak out against the regime.

Sungju Lee recounts his childhood through the 1990s famine. He begins in Pyongyang, a naive child with blind faith in his leader. This later changes as his family is forced to move to a poorer area of the country where the locals are starving and executions are a regular occurrence. We see the complete lack of awareness that is characteristic of the more fortunate North Koreans, especially children - their belief that everyone is provided for and no one goes hungry.

It reads like one of those American cult novels - where an isolated town in the midwest is seduced into a way of thinking by a charismatic leader - but it's completely real and on a much larger scale.

Eye-opening and terrifying.

2016

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60 likes

9 comments

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kate

1,582 reviews

963 followers

April 20, 2017

An incredibly insightful, heartbreaking and fascinating read. As someone who's not as educated on North Korea and it's history as they'd like, I found this to be such a brilliantly educational and page turning read. I loved the way it was somewhat simply written, meaning it was very easy to follow and understand, yet at moments it read almost like fiction and I had to keep reminding myself that, in fact, this is very much true life. I'd highly recommend this to any one who, like me, are looking for something to help begin their education on North Korea and it's history. SungjuLee shares his heartbreaking, incredible and brave story, one I'm very glad to have read.

non-fiction

poc-rep

young-adult

27 likes

1 comment

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Profile Image for K..

4,435 reviews

1,144 followers

May 2, 2017

Trigger warnings: Parental abandonment?? I guess?? Death of a friend, sexual abuse.

I was really really intrigued by this book after reading Yeonmi Park's In Order to Live last year. Both books tell the story of teenagers struggling to survive in North Korea and ultimately escaping. Both stories are autobiographies. Both stories are incredibly harrowing and full of horrifying events.

The difference is that this one? Yeah, this one is aimed at young adults.

So I was interested to read it and see if it felt like it had been sanitised in any way to make it suitable for young readers.

It really hasn't. Lee's story is VERY different to Park's. The majority of her autobiography deals with escaping North Korea and what happened after she escaped. In contrast, Lee's is really almost exclusively about life *IN* North Korea.

At the age of ten, his family is sent away from Pyongyang after his father - a high ranking military officer - does something that angers the powers that be. And their lives change forever. They go from extreme wealth to seeing how the rest of North Korea really lives. They go from luxury to eating squirrel meat to survive. Lee goes from having his future all planned out to having both his parents leave him, both insisting they'll be back in a week, never to return. He finds himself on the streets at the age of 11, and the book follows him until he leaves North Korea unexpectedly at the age of 16.

So yes, it's about the horrors of life in North Korea. But it's also about the friendships that he made, about how extensively he travelled to survive, about how while he and his friends were forced to steal and fight in order to survive, it was still a thousand times better than being in a government facility.

It doesn't sugar coat things for teenagers, and it's pretty stinking great for an autobiography that's aimed at young adults.

2017

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Nicole

864 reviews

2,454 followers

September 10, 2023

Wow. This book was enlightening. I already familiar with the situation in North Korea, its relation with South Korea and the world. But. I didn’t know how people are loving there. Sadly, a lot of the content was something we’d read about in dystopia or alternative universe. A must read for anyone who want to learn more about Notth Korea.

2023

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Erin

3,569 reviews

470 followers

August 14, 2016

My grandfather told me that love burns brighter than any star, so bright that love can be seen and felt from one end to the other. One day, when those children on other planets see our dead earth, it will be your light they see, not Kim Il-sung's or Kim Jong-il's. But the light of people like you

I'm writing this review with tears streaming down my cheeks. This is the first book about North Korea that I've read. Sungju Lee's voice is so raw and emotionally charged as he relates the story of his adolescent years in North Korea during the 1990's. It is also about a young man's awakening from naive child who believes his country is perfectly fine to realizing that not all people are treated equally.

As a teacher, I'm eager to have this book in my English Language Arts or Contemporary World classes because of its youth friendly layout. A glossary is included and an introduction of Korean history also helps students become somewhat oriented to the story.

I know some people are wary of 5 star ratings, but I know this book will linger in my memory for a long time.Check it out when it hits bookstores in September.

Thanks to NetGalley and ABRAMS Kids for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

5-star-club

netgalley

18 likes

9 comments

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Jeanette

3,843 reviews

800 followers

August 19, 2021

This is written through the eyes of a boy and a teenager. And it is too hard for me to describe the hardships of suffering from starvation, let alone the states of mind this 10 or 11 or 15 year old experienced. You'd have to read his voice yourself. Seeing friends die. Going to executions at lunch period during 3rd or 4th grade.

Starvation for people who have such "faith" or belief per se in the goodness of the leader? It's so hard for me to imagine their total knowledge or context mindset. But this does it.

I thought it only lost a star in the manner of boy eyes told. Not that this is a bad thing at all. But it has limits to the larger picture observances. I'm sure of it. He can't explain the lacks or the gangs in other matters but the only kind he can hold cognition for existing.

I understand leaving a child in these dire conditions to seek any access to anything eatable. But I doubt I could do it.

Only the toughest and the fittest survive.

All Americans should read this. Or people who eat. Daily. North Korea and China in various times has played this out repeatedly. For idealist "sharing"? Or is it just power mongering brutal.

17 likes

1 comment

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Kris Mauna

537 reviews

52 followers

September 9, 2016

"At twelve years old, I now had to look after myself. I had no one to rely on to guide me to make the best decisions for my life. I had no one to come home to who would hold me and make me feel the world was safe."

This is the most powerful book I have read this year.

It's full of hope, bravery, courage, and some brutal truth of how lucky we all are.

It's such a special story that I recommend this book to EVERYONE.. Even if you don't usually read memoirs, I promise you will enjoy this because it's targeted towards a young audience.. In which it's told in a flowing story that you are sure to appreciate.

READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE

*Quotes listed above are subject to change.

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Laubythesea

519 reviews

1,354 followers

January 25, 2023

Corea del Norte es un país opaco (por decirlo suavemente), las noticias de lo que ocurre en el interior de sus fronteras llegan a cuenta gotas y filtradas y/o censuradas por la estricta mirada del régimen, quienes visitan el país, normalmente periodistas ofrecen una pequeña ventana a lo que les dejan ver que, honestamente, poco tiene que ver con la realidad del país.

Por eso tienen tanto valor los testimonios de personas norcoreanas, como quienes han conseguido escapar y tienen el valor y la fuerza de contar su historia, para permitirnos conocer el horror que viven muchos de los habitantes de este país. Sungju Lee, con ayuda de Susan McClelland (periodista especializada en derechos humanos), cuenta en ‘Estrella fugaz’ su infancia y adolescencia en Corea del Norte, y cómo logró salir de allí.

La narración se enfoca en pasado, como el recuerdo que es, para partir de como a principios de los 90s, SungJu Lee y su familia viviana holgadamente en Pyongyang, sin embargo, la caída en desgracia de su padre, quien pierde el favor del gobierno, hará que se vean obligados a mudarse a una localidad del norte, donde conocerán el hambre y la pobreza extrema. Donde, de un día para otro, el protagonista deja de ser un niño que sueña con convertirse en un gran militar para luchar día a día por su supervivencia.

Se narran con gran entereza los años que Sungju Lee pasó como kotgebi, chico de la calle; y vemos, como él, cientos de niños buscan sobrevivir cada día robando para comer, mendigando y durmiendo donde se pueda, bebiendo, fumando opio para evadirse... y saber que quienes logran huir como el protagonista, son una ínfima minoría es absolutamente sobrecogedor. Al mismo tiempo, consigue emocionar con como se forjan ‘nuevas familias’ a partir de las amistades entre kotgebi, quienes al menos lograr huir de la soledad.

Una historia de esas que se te queda dentro. El enfoque de la visión de un niño funciona de maravilla para despertar tu empatía y te ayuda a ver los ojos muy distintos a los tuyos (que ya vienen con un conocimiento previo) como las personas de Corea del Norte ven su realidad. La historia muestra muy bien, con la calma que requiere, como se van desmoronando poco a poco, las esperanzas y confianza que Sungju Lee tiene en su país, donde siempre ha oído que “los niños son los reyes”. En cualquier caso, es importante saber que Sungju Lee busca contar su historia, su vida en esos años como fue y cómo la recuerda, no se mete en otros temas y cuestiones que te surgen como lector que quiere saber sobre la vida en Corea del Norte, como la hambruna acabó con la vida de miles de personas aquellos años… aunque suficiente hace Sungju Lee también os digo.

Una visión cruda y real de la vida de muchas personas en Corea del Norte quienes, lejos de la “buena vida” de una minoría en la capital, solo conocen la pobreza, el hambre, los robos, las ejecuciones, la pérdida, la desaparición de familiares… y la lucha por seguir adelante. También muestra las dificultades de la reinserción, puesto que los problemas no se acaban cuando los norcoreanos logran escapar de su país.

¿Recomiendo leerlo? Sin ninguna duda.

19 likes

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Kay

220 reviews

July 2, 2016

I don't know how to describe this book! I don't know where to even begin!

I hate auto-biographies. I find them then extremely boring and often-times long winded. Every Falling Star is a not your regular biography. The writing style, maybe because of the target audience, made it very easy to read. I found myself wanting to skip work and read this, I looked forward to reading it every day. I believe that this will be a very informative read for older readers, maybe about the same age as the author was when he had this experience. Younger readers may find it (a) extremely scary and (b) might not be able to fully understand the gravitas of this story.

I'm not sure if this is translated, I doubt it though but if it is, it is such a fluid translation and one of the best I have ever come across. I feel truly honoured that I was given the opportunity to read this ARC.

I recommend this for fans of Between Shades of Grey and The Book Thief. Every Falling Star offers a perspective that is definitely unique not only in YA and MG literature, but in literature overall. I look forward to owning a hard copy of this book as part proceeds will go to charity. I hope schools and libraries definitely invest in this as it will add an invaluable aspect to our understanding of the world.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for approving my request for a free digital copy in exchange for a honest review.

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Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea eBook : Lee, Sungju, McClelland, Susan Elizabeth: Amazon.com.au: Books