The Orphan Master's Son, Paperback

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WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION An epic novel and a thrilling literary discovery, The Orphan Master's Son follows a young man's journey through the icy waters, dark tunnels, and eerie spy chambers of the world's most mysterious dictatorship, North Korea. NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST - DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE WINNER - LONGLISTED FOR THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION'S ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL - WINNER OF THE CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION - NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New Yorker - The Washington Post - Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly - The Wall Street Journal - Los Angeles Times - San Francisco Chronicle - Financial Times - Newsweek/The Daily Beast - The Plain Dealer - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Scott Turow, The Millions - Slate - Salon - Book Page - Shelf Awareness ""The single best work of fiction publishedthis year] . . . The book's cunning, flair and pathos are testaments to the still-formidable power of the written word.""--The Wall Street Journal Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother--a singer ""stolen"" to Pyongyang--and an influential father who runs Long Tomorrows, a work camp for orphans. There the boy is given his first taste of power, picking which orphans eat first and which will be lent out for manual labor. Recognized for his loyalty and keen instincts, Jun Do comes to the attention of superiors in the state, rises in the ranks, and starts on a road from which there will be no return. Considering himself ""a humble citizen of the greatest nation in the world,"" Jun Do becomes a professional kidnapper who must navigate the shifting rules, arbitrary violence, and baffling demands of his Korean overlords in order to stay alive. Driven to the absolute limit of what any human being could endure, he boldly takes on the treacherous role of rival to Kim Jong Il in an attempt to save the woman he loves, Sun Moon, a legendary actress ""so pure, she didn't know