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. It is interesting to see someone as young as Sungju picking up on the unspoken conversation between his parents. 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. Looking back on it Sungju can see he was the perfect product of the Korean propaganda machine. 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. 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. Also, people who like historical fiction or Asian cultured books should definitely read this book.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. I recommend this book to the middle school students or above because it uses a more advanced vocabulary. I have learned a few words in Korean such as “eomeoni” (which means mother) and “gaeguli” (which means frog.)Īnother thing I like about this book is how well the author describes his feelings, making his readers feel them.

I like this book because it contains Korean, which is such a diverse language from English, and it suits the book well considering the context.

He later learns to steal, lie, and fight among others, and uses these skills to survive. This book is an autobiography, the story of how Sungju Lee makes an epic escape from North Korea, with many emotions along the way.Ī brief summary of this book is that 12-year-old Sungju grew up in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, but is forced to move to Gyeong-seong, an unpleasant and unappealing location.Īfter his parents leave him alone for a few years in search of food, he soon becomes homeless without family, hope, food, and much more. These are the words from “Every Falling Star” written by Sungju Lee. “When we stop dreaming, we’re almost as good as dead.”

Every falling star author