Book Review: ‘The Last Exiles: A Novel’ By Ann Shin

Author Ann Shin is a filmmaker who was short-listed for an Oscar and received and emmy nomination and has won awards for her work. She has now written her first novel The Last Exiles. It’s a love story set in the final days of Kim Jong-ils reign. It looks at the harsh realities of life for the poor in North Korea and what life is like for defectors that manage to get to China. It’s a powerful story that makes you wonder why parts of the world are like they are.

Suja is from a well off family and is going to college and working as a photography internship at the newspaper her father works at. Jin is from the north from a poor family and area where there’s no work and very little food. He wins a scholarship to the same college as Suja and they hit it off and fall in love. When he’s home on break he gets in trouble with the law and is put in prison for treason. Jin manages to escape and get to China, where he finds things are not that easy but he’s surviving. When Suja finds out he escaped she makes a plan to get to China to find him. What she finds thought is a rough place for a young woman and soon finds herself in over her head. How or if she and Jin can find each other is what fuels the story.

You can pick up The Last Exiles in stores on Tuesday, April 6th from Park Row.