“...public executions were used to teach us lessons in loyalty to the regime and the consequences of disobedience." (公開處決是用來告訴我們要效忠這個國家，以及不服從的下場。)
因為長期的饑荒，以及過著黑暗的生活，許多北韓人民進而決定逃離，尋求在北韓的語言中所沒有的“freedom”(自由)。但事情沒有他們想的簡單，逃到中國後，他們被走私集團拿去賣，又面臨多次被強暴，以及威脅如果不配合就馬上被丟回北韓。
”If the Chinese government would end its heartless policy of sending refugees back to North Korea, then the brokers would be lose all their power to exploit and enslave these women. But of course if North Korea wasn't such a hell on earth, there wouldn't be a need for the women to flee in the first place." (如果中國政府可以停止將難民送回北韓這項殘忍的政策，那麼這些掮客就失去剝削及奴隸這些女人的權力。當然，如果北韓不是一個像地獄般的地方，這些女人一開始也就不用逃離了。)
最後作者成功逃離到南韓，也描述了很多她遇到的強烈文化衝擊。例如，在街道上看到很多燈(北韓到了晚上就全黑了)、先進衛生設備、學習如何用牙刷牙膏馬桶衛生棉...等，但上課時也遭遇很多挫折。
“The instructors told us we couldn't beat anyone here. I've never thought of that." (老師跟我們說在南韓，我們不能亂打人，我從來沒有想過可以這樣(規定)。(意指在北韓打人是很天經地義的事)
“I never knew freedom could be such a cruel and difficult thing. I had always thought that being free meant being able to wear jeans and watch whatever movies I wanted without worrying being arrested. Now, I realized that I had to think all the time-- and it was exhausting. If it wasn't for the constant hunger, I would be better off in North Korea, where all my thinking and all my choices were taken care of for me.” (我從沒想過自由是這麼殘酷又困難的。我一直以為自由就是可以穿牛仔褲、可以不用擔心被逮捕的狀況下看任何電影。現在，我發現我無時無刻都要一直思考--而這件事非常累。要不是因為持續的饑荒，我應該可以在北韓過得很好，那是一個我所有的思考和選擇都已經被政府給照顧好了。)
推薦給大家看這本書，雖然目前只有英文版，但裡面的內容非常簡單，幾乎沒有艱澀的單字。這幾天也給學生看了很多關於她的影片，讓他們思考自己的現況有多幸福。總覺得這是個很有趣的話題，甚至想說設計成一個課程給學生，但我可能還需要閱讀更多資料再來思考如何運作。（職業病）
