Book Review
Title: Every Falling Star
Author: Sungju Lee & Susan McClelland
Genre: Memoir
Rating: *****
Review: As most of my readers will know I am not a fan of memoirs, but I recently read Elena Vanishing (a memoir about a teenage girl’s struggle with anorexia) and absolutely loved it, so I was excited to pick up Every Falling Star. All I knew about this book before picking it up was that it is a memoir Sungju Lee and how escaped from North Korea, having a love of the Orient I couldn’t wait to get stuck into this book. The opening introduces us to Sungju who is a young boy in awe of his father, who is a soldier in the North Korean military and wants to be just like him. Looking back on it Sungju can see he was the perfect product of the Korean propaganda machine. After a while, Sungju notices his father looking quite sick and eventually they leave the city for a holiday in the countryside but there is more to it than this. It is interesting to see someone as young as Sungju picking up on the unspoken conversation between his parents. After moving to the countryside Sungju is starting to see what life is like for those outside the cities and he is forced to watch a public execution of people deemed traitors by the government. Following a young boy’s perspective is a little difficult for me as I can’t connect easily with Sungju.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the book, Sungju is beginning to see that life away from the city is difficult. People are starving and dying every day, and many are staying to brave the dangerous crossing into China even though getting caught means imprisonment or death, but they need to do it in order to survive. For a time, Sungju is unaffected by this as his parents had money saved to get them good food but as the money starts running out, he drops out of school to help his parents hunt and forage for food that they preserve. However, when that starts running out as well his father decides to risk a journey to China to get some money by selling the things they have and promises to return in a week. When he doesn’t return and the good is completely gone Sungju’s mother decides to take a trip to someone who might be able to help her, but she is leaving Sungju behind meaning he will be all alone.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the book, neither Sungju’s mother or father have returned and he is left to fend for himself but coming from the city he doesn’t have a clue about what he needs to do in order to survive. He ends up turning to a local boy; Young-Bum for help but Young-Bum has problems of his own, but the boys decide to work together in order to steal enough food to survive and money to buy the medicines Young-Bum needs for his sick grandmother. I was worried about Sungju but given he is writing this memoir we don’t have to worry about him not making it through this.
As we approach the halfway mark in the book, Sungju is completely alone except for Young-Bum but as time wears on, the boys find themselves growing closer. Now, both are officially street boys, they decide to form a gang with some other local boys. The boys actually get along quite well and take good care of each other, teaching and learning from each other to the point where they all consider each other to be brothers and Sungju feels extremely hurt and betrayed when one of the other boys steals good meant for them all. It is around here we see Sungju begin to change from the sweet, innocent, clueless city boy into a harder, more confident teen but I have a feeling things are only going to get harder for him.
As we cross into the second half of the book, I was really getting into Sungju’s life and I was eager to see where he was going to end up next. Sungju becomes the leader of the gang and the boys move from town to town the find food. However, along the way they encounter numerous other street gangs and one fight leaves one of the boys critically injured and eventually dies. After this, the other boys become quite despondent and the hour, they had is slowly disappearing but Sungju is determined that they will survive whatever the country has to throw at them. Despite this, we do know that Sungju very soon is going to escape from North Korea and I’m excited to see how he does it.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the book, Sungju had been on the streets with his gang for almost three years and they have become legend. They are seen as one off the best gangs who are offered jobs by merchants to chase off other street gangs which their stomachs full and enough money to get by, they also begin saving money so one day they can buy a home together. Despite this dream, they begin taking on more dangerous jobs for better pay and one day it lands them in prison, the blood use all their cunning and smarts to escape but they are determined never to go back. However, on another dangerous job, only Young-Bum gets caught. While the other boys are free Sungju goes back for his brother and desire taking him away Young-Bum does in Sungju’s arms. Their reputation had led the boys to become complacent which directly resulted in Young-Bum’s death. This is the turning point for Sungju, and he has had enough.
As we cross into the final section of the book, Sungju is finally found by his grandparents who have been looking for him and while he didn’t believe them at first, they convince him. Now he has a family the gang parts ways, but he makes sure he visits his brothers every Sunday until a man from China comes with a letter from his father asking him to trust the man and let Sungju take him to his father. Sungju agrees and makes the dangerous journey only to find his father in South Korea instead of China but they are now reunited. The epilogue tells us that Sungju grew up in South Korea but despite trying they never found his mother, but they continue to hope to this day that they eventually find her. Overall, Sungju’s journey was compelling and interesting and at times it brought me to tears. If I could meet Sungju I would be so in awe of how a young boy could go through all that and come out so strong on the other side.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.co.uk
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Also see: Going Over by Beth Kephart
I received this review copy from Abrams & Chronicle
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