In America, we believe that each person is the central character in his or her own story. In the stories we tell ourselves, characters’ deep-seated desires and motivations send us on trajectories toward what we strive to attain. Along the way, there are complications and conflicts that challenge us and invite us to look inward, but in the end, our characters change, grow and understand.
…
Imagine a world in which no writer has written a literary novel in sixty years. Imagine a place where not a single person has read a book that is truly about the character at its center.
…
Imagine a world in which no writer has written a literary novel in sixty years. Imagine a place where not a single person has read a book that is truly about the character at its center.
—Adam Johnson, “Adam Johnson Recalls North Korea: A Country with No Books”
* * *
Johnson’s first novel, The Orphan Master’s Son, tells the story of one man living in such a world—North Korea. It was my first 2012 read, and I am still reeling. Look for my review next week.
And, please, relish living in nations where such a book can exist: go buy it.
The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson
Random House, January 2012
ISBN: 9780812992793. 464 pgs.
Notes
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