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Very bland

Revisado: 01-12-24

Perhaps an important point of view to write about, but quite bland, somewhat whiney and shallow. The book has little depth.. The least interesting book on North Korea that I've listened to, and I think this is my 6th. The writer also draws rather poor comparisons between the coerced worship of the North Korean leader by North Koreans and the Christian faith of her coworkers who she knowingly and shamelessly plans to put in danger by having decided beforehand that she will write about her experience deapite requests for confidentiality. She also compares the faith of her Christian coworkers (who are under no compulsion to be there nor compelled her or any of the students to be there) to the coerced worship of the North Korean leader which is wickedly and mercilessly enforced by the sword/gulag/food rations etc. The story and various analyses are quite shallow. I felt a bit disgusted by how the author planned to deceive and betray her co-workers by planning to write about her confidential experiences at the school, putting the existence of the school and her to be ex-coworkers shamelessly at risk. Not recommended.

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Great book for women to read

Revisado: 04-06-23

I almost didn't listen to the book further because of how much LeAnn Rimes' victimhood foreword grated on me. Being from Africa, I am astounded by how wealthy, healthy every-opportunity-available Americans claim victimhood. LeAnn blames "The Patriarchy" for a rushed life, while, in all honesty, were she not out as an independent woman working for herself, she would have had to stay peacefully at home and have been supported either by a husband, her father or mother or her wealthy welfare state. What patriarchy you ungrateful stupid woman? YOU CHOSE TO BE A SELF-SUPPORTING singer, what a privilege! And its the patriarchy's fault you are rushing? Get a bloody backbone. You wealthy "victims" grate on me. You have so few problems that you whine about fake ones. It is so pathetic I want to drag each of you to Africa to witness real problems, or perhaps drag you to Saudi Arabia to witness real patriarchy. Whiney, stupid insulting women blame their wealthy, privileged "problems" on whatever idiotic paradigm they can find.
Anyway, after almost burning the digital book because of that stupid foreword, I did manage to listen to the book and the rest is good, sensible advise. I just wish Mindy would have went into the advantages of longer than 72 hour fasts as well.

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esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

Excellent read!

Revisado: 06-12-22

This story is fantastically written and performed and the character growth trully capturesbthe reader. I loved this book and the narrator is excellent.

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Excellently written biography

Revisado: 10-06-21

This was a captivating book. Not only because of the story, but the sensitive, introspective and multi-perspective manner in which the book is written and presented. There are chapters written from the perspective of the author's (and thus the hostage's) wife and father. This provides the story with an extra gripping and actually heart-wrenching edge. It brings the tragedy and the absolute trauma of the event to life and thus the book isn't just reduced to a memoire, but to something that you feel in the depth of your soul. I was a bit traumatised and teary for a few days. Not because of violence or horror - there is little violence retold in this book - but because of the enormous emotional burden that such an event places on the victim's very soul and on the victim's family. I feel a bit heart broken when I think about it, but I really feel that this book has been so sensitively written that I am encouraged by the author's journey - that the human soul can be absolutely crushed and then can recover - if one is willing and receptive and if one allows oneself TIME. This was one of the greatest take-aways from this book for me - horrible gut-wrenching tragedies can hi-jack our lives. But if one allows the spirit and soul the required humility, openness and time to heal, in most circumstances, one needn't remain broken. Well done to the author, I think you did a great job.
The narrator is very average (sorry narrator!). I LOVED that it was a South African who was the narrator, since the story is written from the perspective of a South African. However, I was very disappointed that the narrator was struggling with pronunciation of words and names that were not English. I believe he did his best, by his child-like, slow and deliberate pronunciation of Afrikaans and African names in the book, but it did sound like he never really had to pronounce these names before, and they are quite common in South Africa and one should not have trouble pronouncing htem. I also found his pronunciation of some of the Arabic words unsatisfactory - by now we should all know how to pronounce Allahu Akbar correctly, it is not an uncommon phrase, although Arabic is not commonly heard in South Africa. Other than that, I enjoyed to listen to the narrator.

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Excellently narrated and well developed storyline

Revisado: 10-02-21

This book was really fantastically narrated with different accents and voices and great sense of feeling for characters. The storyline is very well developed for a true account, which is often not the case for memoirs. I only gave it an overall 4 because of disrespectful blasphemous profanity which was used quite a few times.

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Nice, easy listening

Revisado: 07-24-21

This book was a comfortable, interesting story and pleasant to listen to. I enjoyed it.

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I just couldnt work through all the racism

Revisado: 07-24-21

it was impossible for me to make it past the first few chapters. the blatant antiwhite racism screams to the heavens. i dont tolerate racism anyway it is packaged. sorry but this author's sorry attempt at a book is just another cliched piece to line up with the rest of the unimaginitive modern narrative. no praise due.

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A very enjoyable listen

Revisado: 06-29-21

The story is grippung from the start. i really enjoyed it as light listening. If you take the story for what it is - a fictional novel with a touch of adventure, set against a specific historical and geographic context, but NOT based an specific historic events, you will enjoy it. The narrator is so lovely to listen to, really, and she really distinguishes the personalities of each character excellently by changing her voice to convey a persona. she did okay with the german language, but great with all the accents. Enjoy.

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This book is absolute exasperating trash

Revisado: 03-19-21

For a bestselling author, I believe this book is a great example of the published version of writer's block. The attempt at character development is extremely flippy floppy and inconsistent. One of the main characters' identity/personality appears to change on the whim of the story. The story has NO depth and the whole middle part of the book drags on for ages. You KNOW a book is not worth the paper it is printed on if you are sick and tired of listening to it before you reach half way. I also find the story to show a clinical researched knowledge of the amish, but the lifestyle choices made by one of the main characters shouts against what is true in reality. This author has no real understanding of the psyche of the Amish. I am deeply disappointed and disgusted by the author's portraying the apparently devout amish girl as beimg given over to thoughtless extramarital sex as one would expect from the rest of the American urban community. This book is absolute exasperating trash. The lack of depth in the book was reflected in the narration. How can the narrator do a good job at narrating if she has no idea who the characters really are? The author did an exceptionally poor job of making personalities clear, except for 1 or 2 characters. The narration was CONFUSING as well as frustrating. Don't buy this book.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Excellent story, excellent narration

Revisado: 03-19-21

This story felt real and realistic. great character development. Narration was absolute top of the game.

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