This essay begins with the issue of cultural appropriation in order to switch focus to narrative ethics. The first part examines Lionel Shriver’s rejection of identity politics in fiction writing as articulated in her controversial speech at the Brisbane Writers Festival in 2016. Although Shriver’s frustration with the cultural and political hypersensitivity about writing others is understandable, I argue that the writer’s freedom to write about anything is not exempt from ethical consideration. The second part analyzes The Orphan Master’s Son, Adam Johnson’s Pulitzer-winning novel on North Korea, concentrating on Jun Do’s shark story. Focusing on the opposite ways the shark story is received by the North Korean regime and an American character of the novel, respectively—how it is used for propaganda, and how it brings about an ethical transformation of a listener—my essay moves away from the debate on authenticity and argues for the reader’s responsibility to make the best use of the novel for ethical thinking.