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And secretly, he’d be wise to start practicing the piano. For us, the story is more important than the person. If a man and his story are in conflict, it is the man who must change.

Adam Johnson

Acting upon a personal desire, whispering a hidden longing, revealing your true feelings
ADAM JOHNSON

Action Desire Feeling Hidden Longing Personal Revealing True Whispering
The darkness inside your head is something your imagination fills with stories that have nothing to do with the real darkness around you.
ADAM JOHNSON

Darkness Head Imagination Inside Nothing Real Stories
In my experience, ghosts are made up only of the living, people you know are out there but are forever out of range
ADAM JOHNSON

Experience Forever Ghost Living Only People Range
But, in North Korea, it’s just the opposite. There’s one story. It’s written by the Kim regime. And 23 million people are conscripted to be secondary characters.
ADAM JOHNSON

Character Conscripted Country Job Opposite Secondary Story Written
There, as a youth, your aptitude towards certain jobs is measured, and the rest of your life is dictated, whether you’ll be a fisherman or a farmer or an opera singer.
ADAM JOHNSON

Dictated Farmer Job Measure Opera Rest Singer Youth
Conjure up all the strength you have and drive through whatever it is keeping you on your knees. Build up the strength and your knees may never buckle again!
ADAM JOHNSON

Again Buckle Conjure Drive Keeping Knee Strength
And secretly, he’d be wise to start practicing the piano. For us, the story is more important than the person. If a man and his story are in conflict, it is the man who must change.
ADAM JOHNSON

Change Conflict Important Paino Practsing Secretly Story Wise
Orphans are the only ones who get to choose their fathers, and they love them twice as much.
ADAM JOHNSON

Choose Father Love Much One Orphan Twice
I am a champion standing over the shadow of my former self.
ADAM JOHNSON

Champion Motivational Self Shadow Standing
Writing is hard work, and if anything’s true about the process, it’s that fact that a good story is hard to find and even trickier to get on paper.
ADAM JOHNSON

Anything Character Good Hard Process Story Work Writing
That hungry enough, a person could consume the bright faces of violas, even the stems of dandelions and the bitter hips of roses?
ADAM JOHNSON

Bitter Bright Consume Dandelion Enough Face Hip Hungry Person Rose Stem Violas
What’s less romantic than staring alone at a blank screen? And edgy? I’ve changed the cat little because I didn’t know what my characters were going to say next.
ADAM JOHNSON

Alone Character Edgy Less Little Next Romantic Staring
“A name isn’t a person.” Ga said. “Don’t ever remember someone by their name.
ADAM JOHNSON

Alive Heart Name Person Remember Someone
The death of dictator Kim Jong-Il has cast all eyes on North Korea, a country without literature or freedom or truth.
ADAM JOHNSON

Cast Country Death Dictator Eye Freedom Literature Truth
I’d known that the visit would be highly scripted and that genuine interactions with citizens wouldn’t be possible, since it’s illegal for them to speak with foreigners.
ADAM JOHNSON

Citizen Country Genuine Highly Illegal InterAction Scripted Unique Visit
Where we are from… [s]tories are factual. If a farmer is declared a music virtuoso by the state, everyone had better start calling him maestro.
ADAM JOHNSON

Declared Factual Farmer Maestro Man Music Piano State Stories Virtuoso Wise
All the lessons you need to learn in life, he said, will be taught to you by your enemy.
ADAM JOHNSON

All Enemy Lesson Life Need Taught
The next day, she was silent. For breakfast, she murdered an onion and served it raw.
ADAM JOHNSON

Breakfast Day Murdered Next Onion Raw Served She Silent
I thought that, with so much current attention focused on the topic of North Korea, I might share what I think are three books which cast a rare light on the elusive realm of North Korea.
ADAM JOHNSON

Attention Book Current Focused Light Share Thinking Topic
But people do things to survive, and then after they survive, they can’t live with what they’ve done.
ADAM JOHNSON

After Done Live People Survive Thing
To keep someone alive, you put them inside you, you put their face on your heart. Then, no matter where you are, they’re always with you because they’re a part of you.”
ADAM JOHNSON

Alive Always Face Heart Inside Matter Part Someone
Today, tomorrow,” she said. “A day is nothing. A day is just a match you strike after the ten thousand matches before it have gone out.
ADAM JOHNSON

Before Gone Match Nothing Out Strike Ten Thousand Today Tomorrow
I know it really sounds cheesy, but I did feel a duty to try to tell the stories of people who couldn’t speak for themselves.
ADAM JOHNSON

Cheesy Duty Fel People Sound Speak Tell Themselves Try Trying
All the human actions we think of as essential to a character – had be censored by the self lest they be punished by the state.
ADAM JOHNSON

Action Censored Character Essential Human Punish State
Still, I’d thought I’d had a unique look at North Korea, only to discover I was wrong.
ADAM JOHNSON

Country Discover Look Still Unique Wrong
Imagine a place where not a single person has read a book that is truly about the character at its center.
ADAM JOHNSON

Book Center Character Imagine Person Place Read Single Truly
. . . nobody every taught you loyalty . . .
ADAM JOHNSON

Every Loyalty Nobody Taught

And secretly, he’d be wise to start practicing the piano. For us, the story is more important than the person. If a man and his story are in conflict, it is the man who must change.

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And secretly, he’d be wise to start practicing the piano. For us, the story is more important than the person. If a man and his story are in conflict, it is the man who must change.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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