The irony that this essay is a memoir is not lost on her
June 27, 2016 12:05 PM Subscribe
The Reluctant Memoirist: Suki Kim, the journalist who spent 6 months undercover in North Korea and wrote Without You, There is No Us talks about the implications of marketing her book as a memoir:
I immediately emailed my editor. “I really do not feel comfortable with my book being called a memoir,” I told her. “I think calling it a memoir trivializes my reporting.” Memoir, after all, suggests memories—the unresolved issues of the past, examined through the author’s own experiences. My work, though literary and at times personal, was a narrative account of investigative reporting. I wasn’t simply trying to convey how I saw the world; I was reporting how it was seen and lived by others.
I literally was just listening to Roxanne Gay speaking about this on the Another Round podcast:
“Women are inordinately asked to write memoir, and not taken as seriously when we want to write literary non-fiction, investigative non-fiction, fiction, or anything. It’s like the only thing we’re allowed to be authorities on is ourselves.”
posted by Harpocrates at 12:40 PM on June 27, 2016 [31 favorites]
“Women are inordinately asked to write memoir, and not taken as seriously when we want to write literary non-fiction, investigative non-fiction, fiction, or anything. It’s like the only thing we’re allowed to be authorities on is ourselves.”
posted by Harpocrates at 12:40 PM on June 27, 2016 [31 favorites]
ARRRRGH.
Fuck the patriarchy, already. Seriously.
posted by suelac at 12:42 PM on June 27, 2016 [4 favorites]
Fuck the patriarchy, already. Seriously.
posted by suelac at 12:42 PM on June 27, 2016 [4 favorites]
"Rage" is right. If she had been a man, calling the book a memoir would not even have crossed the editor's mind.
posted by tickingclock at 2:56 PM on June 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by tickingclock at 2:56 PM on June 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
Wow, I'm really interested to see responses to this piece from publications that called out her "dishonesty." Because that is profoundly unfair.
I read it a few months ago -- it's really interesting -- and I do think the initial framing could have been somewhat more explicit that this was a deliberately-undertaken undercover reporting project. The framing of the first couple of chapters makes it seem like a personal journey of self-discovery (very Eat Pray Love) driven by her desire to understand her family, an impression increased by non-specific references to her then-boyfriend/lover/I forget what the book calls him and the emotional effects of their separation. I assume at least some of that choice in the first couple of chapters was editorial, to sell it as a memoir, because when the author actually starts reporting in North Korea, it picks up quite a bit and is a much brisker read. (I found the first couple chapters almost unbearably navel-gazey and self-indulgent and would have preferred a much crisper, "This is how I got interested, these are my qualifications, here are a few personal concerns related to my identity as a Korean-American woman; this is my plan.") Now, the boyfriend becomes extremely relevant later in the book when she is communicating with her family and him and he a) serves as a reflection on her loneliness and cut-off-ness within the regime's system; b) highlights how difficult it is to communicate even extremely banal greetings past the censors; and c) is a big fuckin' moron about following the rules for communicating because he clearly doesn't grasp the actual danger. So, there's a reason for him to be in the framing. But the framing was very "I am going to talk about how difficulties in my love life drove me to North Korea" which, yeah, seems like the editor specifically did want to sell it as "Eat Pray Love."
(Which, I liked Eat Pray Love a lot! I have no beef with it! But this is a suuuuuuuper different book and that is a terrible editorial and marketing decision.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 3:25 PM on June 27, 2016 [7 favorites]
I read it a few months ago -- it's really interesting -- and I do think the initial framing could have been somewhat more explicit that this was a deliberately-undertaken undercover reporting project. The framing of the first couple of chapters makes it seem like a personal journey of self-discovery (very Eat Pray Love) driven by her desire to understand her family, an impression increased by non-specific references to her then-boyfriend/lover/I forget what the book calls him and the emotional effects of their separation. I assume at least some of that choice in the first couple of chapters was editorial, to sell it as a memoir, because when the author actually starts reporting in North Korea, it picks up quite a bit and is a much brisker read. (I found the first couple chapters almost unbearably navel-gazey and self-indulgent and would have preferred a much crisper, "This is how I got interested, these are my qualifications, here are a few personal concerns related to my identity as a Korean-American woman; this is my plan.") Now, the boyfriend becomes extremely relevant later in the book when she is communicating with her family and him and he a) serves as a reflection on her loneliness and cut-off-ness within the regime's system; b) highlights how difficult it is to communicate even extremely banal greetings past the censors; and c) is a big fuckin' moron about following the rules for communicating because he clearly doesn't grasp the actual danger. So, there's a reason for him to be in the framing. But the framing was very "I am going to talk about how difficulties in my love life drove me to North Korea" which, yeah, seems like the editor specifically did want to sell it as "Eat Pray Love."
(Which, I liked Eat Pray Love a lot! I have no beef with it! But this is a suuuuuuuper different book and that is a terrible editorial and marketing decision.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 3:25 PM on June 27, 2016 [7 favorites]
I was just listening to her piece on The Moth last night (and coming back to DC from NYC having spent the weekend doing All Things Korean with my daughter at K-Con and visiting a Korean friend on Sunday, so apropos to quite a lot of things actually). It's a great listen and a good companion to this discussion that ranges over some of the content of the book.
posted by drlith at 3:45 PM on June 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by drlith at 3:45 PM on June 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
I was left with the impression of Fumiko Enchi. How she succeeded in theatre, married, switched to fiction and had difficulty publishing until after the war. I suppose the succession of Days of Hunger and The Waiting Years resonates with the harshness of war and deprivation by the state and the utter control of a patriarchal society. Resonating with the post war society, the seriousness of women writers is apparent thus making the memoir suggestion dismissive and demeaning.
posted by clavdivs at 3:52 PM on June 27, 2016
posted by clavdivs at 3:52 PM on June 27, 2016
I am glad the book is successful. I am going to read it.
She got screwed from all sides in readings and reviews and publicity, though, and I am (almost) as furious as she is. The mud-slinging about going undercover is jaw-droppingly ignorant. How else can you report accurately about the Hermit Kingdom?
And the "memoir" deal...I wish that word did not exist. "Autobiography" worked just fine for a century or two. The word is not as sexy as "memoir," but "memoir" does imply something a lot more personal than this book appears to be. (But--and this is not relevant here--a memoir is often held up to the same fact-checking as journalism. Remember the brouhaha about A Million Little Pieces?)
posted by kozad at 4:02 PM on June 27, 2016
She got screwed from all sides in readings and reviews and publicity, though, and I am (almost) as furious as she is. The mud-slinging about going undercover is jaw-droppingly ignorant. How else can you report accurately about the Hermit Kingdom?
And the "memoir" deal...I wish that word did not exist. "Autobiography" worked just fine for a century or two. The word is not as sexy as "memoir," but "memoir" does imply something a lot more personal than this book appears to be. (But--and this is not relevant here--a memoir is often held up to the same fact-checking as journalism. Remember the brouhaha about A Million Little Pieces?)
posted by kozad at 4:02 PM on June 27, 2016
I am of two minds on this. First, it's awful to see your book mismarketed and misrepresented and the attacks on her for the undercover stuff are just wrong and sexist.
OTOH, the reality of book marketing is that books without a personal story— whether by men or women— about foreign countries tend not to sell in the U.S. Can you name one— besides Kate Boo's book on India, Beyond the Beautiful Forevers? (Written by a white woman...)
And seeing memoir as an inherently inferior form is, at least to me, another form of sexism. Excellent memoirs are excellent literature and they certainly count as a type of journalism. Just consider David Carr's book on his addiction or Scott Stossel on his anxiety. Or Mary Karr's various memoirs. Emotions, relationships and psychology are real and important— to say that they are not because they are traditionally seen as female is truly sexist.
Of course, I would say this, as someone who has written several books that combine memoir and science...
The other thing this piece sort of glosses over is that she got rave reviews in major publications that most authors can only dream of and her book sold well. So, while yes, the sexism and mismarketing are clearly problematic, it's quite possible that if she'd done it with no personal angle, she would have gotten far less attention and sales.
So, complicated.
posted by Maias at 7:33 PM on June 27, 2016 [3 favorites]
OTOH, the reality of book marketing is that books without a personal story— whether by men or women— about foreign countries tend not to sell in the U.S. Can you name one— besides Kate Boo's book on India, Beyond the Beautiful Forevers? (Written by a white woman...)
And seeing memoir as an inherently inferior form is, at least to me, another form of sexism. Excellent memoirs are excellent literature and they certainly count as a type of journalism. Just consider David Carr's book on his addiction or Scott Stossel on his anxiety. Or Mary Karr's various memoirs. Emotions, relationships and psychology are real and important— to say that they are not because they are traditionally seen as female is truly sexist.
Of course, I would say this, as someone who has written several books that combine memoir and science...
The other thing this piece sort of glosses over is that she got rave reviews in major publications that most authors can only dream of and her book sold well. So, while yes, the sexism and mismarketing are clearly problematic, it's quite possible that if she'd done it with no personal angle, she would have gotten far less attention and sales.
So, complicated.
posted by Maias at 7:33 PM on June 27, 2016 [3 favorites]
Funnily enough, having heard about the book and then reading it, I never once thought of it as memoir, regardless of what was or wasn't on the cover. It always came across as, "This is North Korea and its elite, as witnessed."
While there was personal story in there, I always read it in the context of, "This is what North Korea can do to you." I understand that a personal angle is a necessary "hook" for most audiences, but the personal story in this book was to give you, the reader, who has no real clue what North Korea is, an idea of the effect experienced by a thoroughly chaperoned outsider - someone who only got to pierce the bubble a little.
It's baffling to me that slapping "memoir" on a book causes it to earn more sales, though. Having never been in journalism, I'm even more baffled by people having the energy to tear down a good work for bullshit reasons. I thought journalism and writing was exhausting. How do all these assholes have the energy to tear down journalism they can't possibly know better about?
Also, serious question here: we're outraged about "standards of journalism" when it comes to piercing the veil on a rogue state? Why on earth did anybody feel like North Korea (or the church organization) was somehow taken advantage of by using labor? If somebody wrote a tell-all about Coca-Cola, should we be more concerned about trade secrets and corporate privilege, or should we be happy about the truth coming out?
Still can't fathom the urgency people feel to defend powerful interests.
posted by Strudel at 11:15 PM on June 27, 2016
While there was personal story in there, I always read it in the context of, "This is what North Korea can do to you." I understand that a personal angle is a necessary "hook" for most audiences, but the personal story in this book was to give you, the reader, who has no real clue what North Korea is, an idea of the effect experienced by a thoroughly chaperoned outsider - someone who only got to pierce the bubble a little.
It's baffling to me that slapping "memoir" on a book causes it to earn more sales, though. Having never been in journalism, I'm even more baffled by people having the energy to tear down a good work for bullshit reasons. I thought journalism and writing was exhausting. How do all these assholes have the energy to tear down journalism they can't possibly know better about?
Also, serious question here: we're outraged about "standards of journalism" when it comes to piercing the veil on a rogue state? Why on earth did anybody feel like North Korea (or the church organization) was somehow taken advantage of by using labor? If somebody wrote a tell-all about Coca-Cola, should we be more concerned about trade secrets and corporate privilege, or should we be happy about the truth coming out?
Still can't fathom the urgency people feel to defend powerful interests.
posted by Strudel at 11:15 PM on June 27, 2016
I read the book before it came out and agree that "memoir" is a horrible label for it. However, for me, the "personal" stuff-- aside from maybe the breakup-- was very important, to explain how and why she was able to undertake the project at all. She had deep connections with Korea. She had an uncle who disappeared into North Korea! With that in mind, I could scarcely believe she was willing to go there; she didn't say much about how risky it felt and it blew my mind, reading about how she was gradually willing to take larger and larger chances.
I wished the book had been longer, and some aspects of it more fleshed out. At one point Kim is on a journey off-campus with another teacher. They see some very unhealthy-looking people and the other teacher whispers, "Slaves." As I recall, that was kind of it. Several times I was driven to Google to try and figure out what was going on. I could understand her not wanting to pad the book with a bunch of background but at times I wondered if I-- never been to Korea-- was the target audience and if not, who was?
posted by BibiRose at 9:18 AM on June 28, 2016
I wished the book had been longer, and some aspects of it more fleshed out. At one point Kim is on a journey off-campus with another teacher. They see some very unhealthy-looking people and the other teacher whispers, "Slaves." As I recall, that was kind of it. Several times I was driven to Google to try and figure out what was going on. I could understand her not wanting to pad the book with a bunch of background but at times I wondered if I-- never been to Korea-- was the target audience and if not, who was?
posted by BibiRose at 9:18 AM on June 28, 2016
Just wanted to chime in that this is an excellent, fascinating (and pretty short!) book - read it!
posted by sallybrown at 9:39 AM on June 28, 2016
posted by sallybrown at 9:39 AM on June 28, 2016
So as it happens I just finished reading the book and well... it certainly reads like memoir. Its an interesting read, certainly, but a hard-hitting piece of investigative journalism its not.
Its first and foremost a personal account and doesn't even really attempt to do analysis of any kind. It would have been interesting to read musings on WHY things might be the way they are in the school she is teaching at or perhaps more detailed explanations on how the school is organized and run, but obviously that would have taken space from the interminable pining for the almost-but-not-really boyfriend in Brooklyn.
posted by Soi-hah at 4:03 AM on June 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
Its first and foremost a personal account and doesn't even really attempt to do analysis of any kind. It would have been interesting to read musings on WHY things might be the way they are in the school she is teaching at or perhaps more detailed explanations on how the school is organized and run, but obviously that would have taken space from the interminable pining for the almost-but-not-really boyfriend in Brooklyn.
posted by Soi-hah at 4:03 AM on June 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
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