Book 14: The World is Bigger Now by Euna Lee

I read Laura Ling's book about her experiences as a captive in North Korea a few weeks ago, and, of course, I'm obsessed with North Korea, so giving Ling's co-worker Euna Lee's account a listen (as an audiobook) seemed like the thing to do. Lee is as fond of lengthy titles as her colleague is; the full title is The World is Bigger Now: An American Journalist's Release from Captivity in North Korea...A Remarkable Story of Faith, Family, and Forgiveness. Perhaps you'll recall that Ling's book left me feeling a little annoyed with all the trouble everyone in two countries had to go to to save Ling and Lee from their own stupidity. It is very hard to be annoyed with Lee, however, because she's so unbelievably guilt-stricken herself over ever decision she's ever made. She feels guilty for putting work ahead of her family. She feels guilty for having thought badly of North Koreans as a child growing up in South Korea. She feels guilty for going on the trip to make the documentary in the first place. She feels guilty because her North Korean interrogator successfully causes her to feel resentment toward Laura Ling. She feels guilty because she is angry with God during her captivity. Her guilt reaches particularly absurd levels at one point when she admits that she feels guilty for having put her North Korean interrogator through so much trouble...you know, having to interrogate her every day.

The actual experiences Ling and Lee go through are very similar (they're kept apart, but in the same building), but Ling's account reads like a trip report from a Carnival Cruise compared to Lee's. Ling just seems to have a personality better suited to months of mental and emotional stress and uncertainty, or perhaps she was just less willing to revisit the darker parts of her experience in her memoir. A couple of distinctions do stand out: Lee speaks Korean, so she can understand everything that's going on. On the other hand, she appears to have been given much less information about what was happening back in the US to secure her release than Ling. Ling was a somewhat active participant, communicating with her sister about what needed to happen (basically, Bill Clinton needed to come to North Korea; no one else was good enough) to get them released. Lee has nothing to do, on the other hand, but spiral downward into a mental breakdown and come close to a suicide attempt at one point. Lastly, Lee has a young daughter (4 at the time), which adds an extra level of pathos to her long, uncertain period of captivity.

Ultimately, I felt more sympathetic toward Lee than Ling after reading both accounts, but Lee's was often painful to listen to (and not in a good way).