Book Review: A River in Darkness: One Man’s Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa
A River in Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa recounts a life marked by betrayal, brutality, and relentless hardship under the North Korean regime. His memoir is stark, unflinching, and deeply personal, offering readers a rare glimpse into the suffering endured by ordinary people trapped in a system built on lies and fear.
Born to a Korean father and Japanese mother, Ishikawa moved to North Korea as a child, lured by promises of prosperity and equality. Instead, he and his family were thrust into a life of unimaginable poverty, discrimination, and despair. Ishikawa’s writing is raw and straightforward, allowing the weight of his experiences to come through with devastating clarity. There are no embellishments, no melodrama — just the aching, honest account of a man who survived because he had no other choice.
What sets A River in Darkness apart is Ishikawa’s emotional restraint. His story is not filled with grand declarations of hope or redemption. Instead, it presents survival as a brutal, often joyless necessity. Yet in the quiet perseverance of Ishikawa’s journey — especially his daring, solitary escape back to Japan — there is a profound testament to the human will to live.
Beyond its personal narrative, Ishikawa’s memoir also serves as an indictment of systems that exploit and destroy the vulnerable. His story reminds readers of the cost of political betrayal and the devastating impact it can have across generations.
River in Darkness is a sobering, essential read. It demands attention not through spectacle, but through its unwavering commitment to truth. Ishikawa’s voice — steady, scarred, and unbroken — lingers long after the final page.
Check out all my reviews of North Korean Defector Memoirs here.
About A River in Darkness: One Man’s Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa
The harrowing true story of one man’s life in—and subsequent escape from—North Korea, one of the world’s most brutal totalitarian regimes.
Half-Korean, half-Japanese, Masaji Ishikawa has spent his whole life feeling like a man without a country. This feeling only deepened when his family moved from Japan to North Korea when Ishikawa was just thirteen years old, and unwittingly became members of the lowest social caste. His father, himself a Korean national, was lured to the new Communist country by promises of abundant work, education for his children, and a higher station in society. But the reality of their new life was far from utopian.
In this memoir translated from the original Japanese, Ishikawa candidly recounts his tumultuous upbringing and the brutal thirty-six years he spent living under a crushing totalitarian regime, as well as the challenges he faced repatriating to Japan after barely escaping North Korea with his life. A River in Darkness is not only a shocking portrait of life inside the country but a testament to the dignity—and indomitable nature—of the human spirit.
