This confronting story by Krys Lee opens in a remote North Korean village created for those the government called the “wavering or hostile class”. Government food rations have been cut off and two starving, malnourished boys abandoned by their mother struggle across a snow-covered mountain to try to join her in China. The older boy carries their dying infant sister. Unable to carry her any further, he humanely ends her suffering. Despite their dire circumstances, he reveres his country’s “Dear Leader”, and expresses hatred for the American imperialists said to be responsible. Themes include family, abandonment, hunger, despair, guilt, indoctrination.
Drifting House Text / PDF (3,950 words)