Title: Nothing to Envy
Author: Barbara Demick
Pages: 45/300
The main character of my novel is a woman named Mi-ran (name has been changed in the book to protect identity). At this point in the book, she is twelve years old. Her facial features are described as "long and pronounced, her nose high-bridged, and her cheekbones well defined" (Demick 16) and she looks "almost foreign and a little wild" (Demick 16) quite the opposite of the North Korean standard of beauty which "calls for pale skin, the whiter the better, a round face, and a bow-shaped mouth" (Demick 16). Mi-ran is not only different in the way she looks but also in the way she acts. She is described as having "a spirited impatience" (Demick 16) and even breaks rules such as the law against girls riding bicycles. Mi-ran is one of five children, she has three older sisters and one younger brother. Her younger brother is favoured merely because he is a boy and Mi-ran often speaks out against the injustice. Mi-ran and her sisters are a topic of gossip in their neighborhood, all four of them beautiful, tall, talented, and athletic, "excelling in volleyball and basketball" (Demick 19). But unfortunately, a topic that can't go unmentioned when discussing Mi-ran's family is her family's origin, a blemish on her family's bloodline that will forever taint their social status.
Author: Barbara Demick
Pages: 45/300
The main character of my novel is a woman named Mi-ran (name has been changed in the book to protect identity). At this point in the book, she is twelve years old. Her facial features are described as "long and pronounced, her nose high-bridged, and her cheekbones well defined" (Demick 16) and she looks "almost foreign and a little wild" (Demick 16) quite the opposite of the North Korean standard of beauty which "calls for pale skin, the whiter the better, a round face, and a bow-shaped mouth" (Demick 16). Mi-ran is not only different in the way she looks but also in the way she acts. She is described as having "a spirited impatience" (Demick 16) and even breaks rules such as the law against girls riding bicycles. Mi-ran is one of five children, she has three older sisters and one younger brother. Her younger brother is favoured merely because he is a boy and Mi-ran often speaks out against the injustice. Mi-ran and her sisters are a topic of gossip in their neighborhood, all four of them beautiful, tall, talented, and athletic, "excelling in volleyball and basketball" (Demick 19). But unfortunately, a topic that can't go unmentioned when discussing Mi-ran's family is her family's origin, a blemish on her family's bloodline that will forever taint their social status.
Is this book a biography of Mi-ran? Is she someone famous?
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