I will never forget this book. 
 I was shamefully ignorant about the goings-on in North Korea before I read this book, so I was maybe more shocked and amazed than most people would be -- but regardless, the people profiled here are fascinating and their stories are astounding. 
 It would be hard to imagine a place less like America than the North Korea depicted in this book, and it has really made me conscious of the privilege we enjoy as Americans (regardless of the flaws in our system, because nothing is perfect). 
 I don't think that's necessarily the intent of this book, though; it is told in a way that leaves the spotlight entirely on the characters, the setting, and the politics, without any editorializing. It is simply the story of these regular people living under a completely insane regime. 
 The entire book is thought-provoking and interesting, but here are a few passages that stuck with me. If these seem interesting to you, read the book. (Really, just read the book.) 
 The most famous stores in the country were Pyongyang's two department stores--Department Store No. 1 and Department Store No. 2, they were called--and their merchandise was about as exciting as their names. p. 61-2 
 Whether they were studying math, science, reading, music, or art, the children were taught to revere the leadership and hate the enemy. For example, a first-grade math book contained the following questions: 
 "Eight boys and nine girls are singing anthems in praise of Kim Il-sung. How many children are singing in total?" 
 "A girl is acting as a messenger to our patriotic troops during the war against the Japanese occupation. She carries messages in a basket containing five apples, but is stopped by a Japanese soldier at a checkpoint. He steals two of her apples. How many are left?" 
 "Three soldiers from the Korean People's Army killed thirty American soldiers. How many American soldiers were killed by each of them if they all killed an equal number of enemy soldiers?" p. 120 
 During a lecture at a prison camp for women caught escaping to China: 
 Then he asked for a show of hands: Who wold promise not to run away again to China? The women squatted in sullen silence. ... Not a single woman raised a hand. 
 After an uncomfortable silence, the prison director spoke up. "Well, if you go to China again, next time don't get caught." p. 232 
 About a woman who had managed to leave North Korea and seek haven in South Korea: 
 She had been shaped by a thorough indoctrination and then suffered the pain of betrayal; she'd spent years in fear of speaking her mind, of harboring illicit thoughts. She had steeled herself to walk by the bodies of the dead without breaking stride. She had learned to eat her lunch, down to the last kernel of corn or grain of rice, without pausing to grieve for the children she taught who would soon die of starvation. She was racked with guilt. Guilt and shame are the common denominators among North Korean defectors; many hate themselves for what they had to do in order to survive. p. 271 
 "We're supposed to buy North Korean products instead of Chinese, but North Korea doesn't make anything--it all comes from China--so there is nothing to buy." 
 [...] 
 "If they don't give us food and clothing and we're not allowed to buy things, how are we supposed to survive?" ... As fat tears rolled down the hollows of her cheekbones, she asked, "Isn't it a waste to be spending money on nuclear weapons when people are starving?" p. 291 
 And this is from the Notes section; I was fascinated because it seems similar to the 30 Rock storyline about Avery (Jack's wife), which makes me wonder if the 30 Rockers borrowed it... 
 [Kim Jong-il's] love of cinema was manifested in its most extreme form in 1978, when he arranged the kidnapping of his favorite South Korean actress, Choi Eun-hee, and her ex-husband, Shin Sang-ok. Choi and Shin had been recently divorced before their abduction--they remarried in North Korea at Kim's "suggestion." They made films for North Korean studios until 1986, when they defected to Vienna. p. 299-300 
 Seriously, read this book.