Just seen the news about Sony's movie The Interview and now I'm thinking - Uh oh - I hope this review doesn't get hacked and bring Goodreads down with it! Because really, all I am trying to do is to lower the international temperature and turn those tears to smiles as we present a short musical selection we like to call 
 MY BRILLIANT KOREA 
 President Obama (dressed as a Mother Superior) : 
 Have you met my good friend North Korea, 
 The craziest nation on earth? 
 You'll know it the minute you see it, 
 You'll collapse into inappropriate mirth 
 Mrs Kim Jong-un (looking up from reading the New York Times): 
 The Jong-uns, darling we're the Jong-uns 
 And Jong-uns shouldn't be afraid 
 to build - socialism - while the flame is strong 
 Cause we may not be the Jong-uns very long 
 Kim Jong-un: 
 Climb ev'ry mountain, ford ev'ry stream 
 Follow ev'ry rainbow 'till you build a socialist utopia 
 A socialist utopia that will need all the love you can give 
 Everyday of your life for as long as you live 
 Prez Obama: 
 How do you solve a problem like North Korea? 
 How do you drag the Kims before the courts 
 For infecting all the people with such fear 
 They try to make their brains stop thinking thoughts? 
 Kim Jong-un: 
 Pyongyang is pretty, oh, so pretty, 
 It's so pretty and witty and bright! 
 And I pity any supreme leader who isn't me tonight. 
 See the great leader on that billboard there 
 (Cute party cadres : What billboard where?) 
 Who can that attractive man be? 
 Such a noble face, such a well-cut suit, 
 Such a handsome smile, such a pretty me! 
 I feel stunning and entrancing, 
 Feel like running and dancing for joy, 
 For I'm loved by a pretty wonderful socialist nation! 
 * 
 (oh - what? what's that? you want a book review too? well... I suppose so...) 
 This is a slightly mean-spirited book which recounts all the tedium of a couple of months in Pyongyang as a Western visitor. There's nothing much to do except visit massive monuments to Kim Il-Sung as it was in 2005 when GD went there. Or you could visit massive monuments which are in the process of being built. Or you could mutter about being told to keep your acid jazz music down because it might not be appropriate for other people to hear. Hmph! All the minor indignities any Westerner would zero in on. Guy does a lot of huffing and puffing and tutting, and thereby reveals his own appalling pettiness just as he exposes the gruesome mindsets of the North Koreans. Since we already know that Westerners are a pain in the arse when they visit foreign countries and North Koreans are all poor and oppressed and benighted, you really don't get to learn much you didn't already know. 
 Two and a half very lukewarm stars.