Written by a Washington Post reporter, this book puts a face on the victims of the militarist regime in North Korea.
Shin is the only person ever to escape from North Korean political prison camp 14. His story of the camps and life "on the outside" in North Korea is deeply disturbing.
An absolute must read.
Shin is the only person ever to escape from North Korean political prison camp 14. His story of the camps and life "on the outside" in North Korea is deeply disturbing.
An absolute must read.
Helpful Score: 1
If you dont know anything about North Koreas human rights violations, this is a good place to start. Hardens prose is unsophisticatedand, at times, may feel a tad too simplisticbut even the bare bones of what Shin had to endure in Camp 14 is enough to stir anyones feelings. Prose-wise, though, I felt like ESCAPE FROM CAMP 14 didnt shine whatsoever: my empathy for Shin and the other sufferers come more from my prior readings about Nazi concentration camp survivors rather than from Hardens own oversimplified writing, which reads more like a listing of facts and psychiatric symptoms than immersive narration.
Nevertheless, Harden was working with a powerful topic, one that can carry itself through whatever inadequate writing style imposed on its telling. Whereas many people know about the WWII Holocaust, only a fraction of that number knows about whats going on in North Korea today, and for that one important reason alone I would recommend this book to everyone.
Nevertheless, Harden was working with a powerful topic, one that can carry itself through whatever inadequate writing style imposed on its telling. Whereas many people know about the WWII Holocaust, only a fraction of that number knows about whats going on in North Korea today, and for that one important reason alone I would recommend this book to everyone.
Helpful Score: 1
One of the best books that I have ever read. It is absolutely haunting, and left me wondering how such a place can still exist in the world. This story deserves to be told, and I have recommended it to almost everyone that I know.
Helpful Score: 1
This is a book that when you finish it you will say "Wow. Just wow." If you have any interest in the Kim dynasty of North Korea and the effects they have had on generations of North Koreans then this is a MUST READ. This is the true story of the only man to have been born inside a North Korean prison camp, Shin, and to eventually escape from the camp and North Korea. This is such a remarkable occurrence because there are millions of North Koreans held inside these camps and entire generations of people have been born inside of the camps and have never known freedom They do not even know that there is an outside world with happiness, love and compassion. The children that are born inside these Camps are conditioned from birth to trust no one, not even their parents. Their entire knowledge of life is a lie forcibly ingrained in them on the instructions of the mighty Kims. Even for escaped prisoners that were not born into the camps adjusting to freedom is extremely difficult, but can you imagine what it was like for Shin? What this book left with me was the understanding that the entire world is sitting by while the Kim dynasty commits horrific human rights atrocities against its own people and no one seems to care. Too bad they do not have oil, gold or any highly sought after commodity, otherwise you can bet the US Government would have gone in and pushed out the Kims many years ago. It is sickening for me to know we are giving aid to oil rich countries but we offer no aid to these people whose only crime was to be born under the control of the Kims.
