Shut the Book Up: Without You, There is No Us by Suki Kim (DNF Files)

Since I taught university students in South Korea for ten years, I wanted very much to like Suki Kim's memoir of teaching the sons of the North Korean elite at a university in Pyongyang.. How were the students different? How were they alike?

I only got a mild glimpse at Kim's students before I gave up and shelved this memoir. I was hoping for more focus on her current situation. Instead, there was a good deal of moaning about a bad boyfriend back in the States. New York? I can't even remember.

More interesting was the backstory of her family, which Suki Kim begins with the story of her mother and her grandparents fleeing south during the Korean conflict. A few decades later, her parents made the decision to pull up stakes and move to the United States.  However, Kim's writing style failed to engage me, and I stopped reading before she returned her attention to her North Korean students.

I also have a vague sense (I'm not sure why, but it persists...maybe an article I read and half-remembered?) that Kim's memoir/reportage wasn't entirely responsible or discreet. This may be unfair to the author, but it colored my reading and eventual abandoning of the book.