In Order To Live

A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom

By: Yeonmi Park

Narrated by: Eji Kim

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of In Order to Live written by Yeonmi Park and read by Eji Kim.

Yeonmi Park was not dreaming of freedom when she escaped from North Korea. She didn't even know what it meant to be free. All she knew was that she was running for her life, that if she and her family stayed behind they would die - from starvation, or disease, or even execution. This book is the story of Park's struggle to survive in the darkest, most repressive country on earth; her harrowing escape to South Korea through China's underworld of smugglers and human traffickers; and her emergence as a leading human rights activist - all before her 21st birthday.

Critic reviews

One of the most harrowing stories I have ever heard - and one of the most inspiring . . . A book to make you newly thankful for the freedom you have never been forced to fight for.

An eloquent, wrenchingly honest work that vividly represents the plight of many North Koreans

Heart wrenching, educational, must read.

A story that's incredibly difficult to hear but one that is important and will illustrates painfully and beautifully the human instinct to survive and protect those you love. must read.

A book we should all read

What made the experience of listening to In Order to Live the most enjoyable?

The narrator made it more natural and took you right into the feelings involved

What did you like best about this story?

How much I learned and realised about a regime that expects worship at the expense of life

Which character – as performed by Eji Kim – was your favorite?

Obviously the main character, the whole book revolved round her, and her intelligence came through and thankfully she survived to help and inform all of us

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I think it was when she found her sister, I had tears in my eyes

Any additional comments?

I would tell everyone to read this, we need to understand how lucky we are to live in a country with freedom, freedom we should never take for granted. But for the grace of God we could have been born into such a country.

In Order To Live Review

This memoir is the most moving and inspiring piece of literature I have read to date.
Yeonmi Park has the beautiful talent of giving light and hope to those who have had similar struggles to her. She does not hold back when it comes to explaining her struggles, she tells it as it happened and lets the dark reality stand for itself. It is a real gift to be able to shine light on situations such as Yeonmi's, and still be able to say that there is so much more to be done.

Who Kim's performance was down to earth and bare. She kept the integrity of Yeonmi's memories and told her story with care and honesty. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I would highly recommend listening to this audiobook. I have never felt so moved or inspired by a piece of writing before. I congratulate Yeonmi's courage and bravery. A must read from me.

Extraordinary

I listened to this in one sitting! What a world, what a life! This truly is a story that needed to be told. Such resilience needs to be applauded by all of us. Bravo! Well done, little puppy!

a must read

this is one of the hardest but most inspirational stores i have ever heard. this IS A MUST READ, and most especially should be recommended in schools and universities to warn of this sort of tyranny and communism