This is one of the most intense non-fiction books I've read in years. I've read a lot of history, which of course includes much about man's cruelty to man. Only a few of the books I've read have the sheer emotional impact of this book. Highly recommended, especially for anyone interested in current affairs. You'll come away with a much better understanding of the cauldron of evil that is North Korea – and the reasons why it won't be easy to rid ourselves of it...
Blaine Harden's Escape from Camp 14 is the story of a North Korean man (Shin Dong-hyuk) who was born into what was intended to be a short, cruel life in the harshest of North Korea's slave labor/concentration camps. For most of his life, he knew nothing of the world outside the camp. He'd been taught to read and do basic arithmetic, but only so that he could perform the work in the camps. His life was completely dominated by the daily struggle for food. Though his parents were also in the camp, he knew nothing about familial love – his relatives were, basically, competitors for food.
The litany of what Shin endured in Camp 14 is mind-boggling: starved for years, recovered from injuries with no medical care, brutally punished frequently by guards and teachers for things like eating a few kernels of corn (or nothing at all), turned his mother and brother in for attempting escape – and then watched as both were brutally executed.
After reading the book, what seemed even worse to me was Shin's making it all the way to adulthood in near-complete ignorance of the evilness of his context. He had no idea that the world offered anything better, and no hope of ever obtaining better. His dreams were of roast meat, as he knew nothing else to dream about...
About half-way through it. Part of what I like about this book is it is also giving context to what was happening in North Korea in parallel to Shin's story. Events that Shin and others in the prison camps had no knowledge of. Its a hard read only in that it is so horrific to read about a place where massive concentration camps have existed for decades with full knowledge of the international community and absolutely nothing is being done about it.
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