I agree. There were times I actually forgot it was a true story and was shocked when I remembered. It was also sad that South Korea although a lot better, wasn't the hoped haven.

Her experience in South Korea actually reminded me a LOT of that of East Germans who had fled to West Germany. Both the procedure of their official integration was similar (integration camps, etc. -- when I was living in West Berlin, there used to be one at the very bottom of the street where I first lived; a few kilometres further to the south, not far from the Wall) and also the experience of being totally overwhelmed with a society that they expect to be similar but find to be totally different, and the resulting difficultues in finding their way around their new home, once official guidance had dropped off (or gotten progressively less) after they'd left the integration camp after a few weeks. This, if anything, really "grounded" the book in reality for me -- because I agree, her narrative is so phantastical, at times it *is* hard to believe it's a true story.