Introducing the 2013 Pulitzer Prize winning entry, The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson. Described as an epic novel and thrilling literary discovery, The Orphan Master's Son follows a young man's journey through the icy waters, dark tunnels, and eerie spy chambers of the world's most mysterious dictatorship, North Korea, and into the most intimate spaces of the human heart.
Well, nothing about this front cover screams North Korea to me - admittedly I can't think of much that does. I can tell there's Asian themes in it though. Being half Asian myself I'm allowed to say that. You see the lion has always been a revered symbol in Asian culture. The "powerful," and, "majestic," lions face and mane is actually one of the most widely acknowledged animal symbols in human culture.
From what I can gather about this book cover is that this is the kind of reaction that Adam's team was after. The protagonist associated with bravery and courageousness, his intrepid journey representative of a lion's own life. A common motif. Of course there is much more to this story than the physical climbing over snow-capped North Korean peaks, or running through bullet-ridden jungles, or crawling through murky swamps. Even the bravest of men, who heart is like the heart of a lion, has something they would run from.
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