Orphan Master's Son Summary and Thoughts

    The book, The Orphan Master's Son, by Adam Johnson, is a very interesting novel that tells a tale about a man named Jun Do.  The novel ties in a lot of different elements into the book.  Not only is there focus on the government of North Korea, but the spotlight is also shined on the power of identity and gives the reader a bit of action through events like life at sea.  A large part of the book is that Jun Do's father is the owner of an orphanage, and that Jun Do lives at the orphanage for awhile.  Many people assume and accuse Jun Do of being an orphan, but this is not actually the case.  This is the first focus on identity that comes up in the book.  Throughout the rest of the book, there are many other events where identity comes back into play.  The main event is how Jun Do ends up killing a Commander named Commander Ga, and he takes his identity.  He lives as this character named Commander Ga for the rest of the book, and ends up dying in the end, still holding the identity of Commander Ga.  Jun Do even develops a very strange relationship with the lover of Commander Ga.  It is interesting how the book illustrates the power of the North Korean Government.  It portrays the government to have control over everything.  The government can set a certain reality for the people of North Korea, and that's how it will be from there on out.
    I felt as if the book was good, and that it was very well written.  There were parts of the book that I enjoyed like the thrills of Jun Do and his kidnapping group, and also Jun Do's life at sea.  The main issue for me with the book was that I felt it was hard to get into the book.  The first area of the book where I felt a little lost was the transition between Jun Do's kidnapping group, to his life at sea.  I was interested in the shenanigans that his group was getting into and I was ready to read more about those events, and then it felt like he was all of a sudden on a boat.  The unhealthy transitions between time and location made it hard for me to follow the book, and also hard to really get into it.  In the book, there were not only quick transitions between the location and time period, but also between characters.  Throughout a large period of the book, the main character Jun Do lived as himself, but then ended up killing another man named Commander Ga and in the end took his identity.  I felt that the idea of Jun Do taking Commander Ga's identity was a good one, but the switching of characters ultimately made it harder for me to enjoy the book.
    Overall, I felt as if it was a well written book with many good aspects to it.  I enjoyed many parts of the book, but mainly the chucks where there was action like life at sea or kidnapping.  I most definitely enjoyed the insights on North Korean Politics, and how much power their government holds in it's hands.  The awkward transitions between location, time, and characters wasn't a huge issue for me, but if you get easily lost while reading a book like myself, you might have a hard time with it.