Skip to main content

The Accusation by Bandi

This was a Buddy Read Book and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. 

Deborah Smith's immaculate translation opens us up to the darkness and human tragedy that exists in North Korea at this time. 

Bandi means Firefly and what an apt name that is as the writing of this author shines a light on the oppression, darkness and harshness of existence under a dictatorial regime. This group of short stories will haunt you long after you have read them and reassess the good fortune many of us take for granted in the West.

These stories are fictional but clearly drawn from the visual experiences of Bandis family, friends and associates. This author has amazingly decided not to defect to South Korea but to stay in his home state grasping the hope that the cracks of reality may one day splinter the dictatorship of modern slavery wide open and allow these oppressed people a glimpse at true freedom.

I have given it 4 stars purely because I did not finish one story as the lyrical literary tone used seem to remove all connection with it's setting and characters.

If there is one thing I would say is there remains despite it all a childlike hope in the authors writing that the light of his stories will help diminish the dark.

I just hope that he is not identified and punished for bringing such painful realities to the fore on modern slavery and living in the grasps of a dissident regime.
Labels:
Location: Church St, Buntingford SG9 9AS, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar My rating: 1 of 5 stars This book is set in 1785 when a merchant Mr Hancock is handed into his possession a shrivelled body of a mermaid in lieu of a ship he was expecting to return. This starts an event of trying to recoup his losses by displaying the oddity to those of interest at a sum. Angelica Neal is a women used to being kept but has fallen on hard times, her previous lover has passed away and she finds herself fighting for survival and recognition to keep herself out of the high paid establishments and prostitution that will be her plight. Instead Angelica seeks a new lover and a higher status than that previously achieved. Despite the high acclaim from my fellow Book Tuber's unfortunately this book did not quite meet my expectation. I found this book to read in a very slow and dry manner which left me unable to connect either with the content of the story or unfortunately the characters....
Post a Comment
Read more

BOOK REVIEW: Always Here for You by Miriam Halahmy

Young Adult - Trigger Warning for Child Grooming on the Internet   Holly is 14 and feels alone, her best friend has moved away to Canada and her parents are dealing the normal stresses of both work and home life as well as caring for an elderly member of the family. This has caused Holly to feel both isolated and alone, spending increasingly longer amounts of time fending for herself and in the house alone, where she is terrified of every noise that she hears. Her mum does try to get her to befriend Noah, a boy in her year who is experiencing bullying from another class mate and member of his synagogue. Although Holly does not realise it this friendship may not only save Noah, but also herself. Then Holly meets Jay, someone she believes is friends with her bestie Amy and other people in school as he was posted about on an online forum, quickly this situation gets out of hand and she begins to isolate herself from those she cares about and her personality notably changes. Is Jay wha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: A Portable Shelter

A Portable Shelter by Kirsty Logan My rating: 4 of 5 stars I am not one to always get on with a book based in magical realism however, I had heard such good things about this book I could not resist giving it a chance. This book is based on a gay couple Ruth and Liska who have moved to a remote coastal cottage in Scotland while Ruth carries their first child. Each of them spends time telling the baby stories containing moral and life lessons from what they have learnt. This includes many magical realism tales including selkies, werewolves and child-eating witches. They agree not to tell stories to the baby so each of them are relaying their tales in secret from each other. I really did enjoy the small tales included within the overall story of Ruth and Liska however, was somewhat disappointed when the concluding story was about Death. I felt sad that the child was not born during the final pages of the book and felt extremely curious to find out with a mot...
Post a Comment
Read more