Fact-filled yet horrific, human and heart-wrenching(alliteration!) nonfiction. I can't believe how little I knew about what has been/is going on in North Korea, and this book was eye-opening on many levels. It isn't a book you curl up with and read in an afternoon. It's a book you read a chapter of, set down, and go appreciate your life and your country. It isn't for the faint of heart reader. Demick portrays starvation, hardship and loss, but it isn't a one-sided picture. She shows how those who have left their country still have love for it and its people. Moving, intelligent and informative.