Name: Escape from Camp 14
ISBN: 9780670023325

Blaine Harden

one man's remarkable odyssey from North Korea to freedom in the west

Escape from Camp 14

Now with a new foreword by the author. Shin Dong-hyuk was born in the early 1980s inside Camp 14, one of five sprawling political prisons in the mountains of North Korea. Located about 55 miles north of Pyongyang, the labour camp is a 'complete control district,' a no-exit prison where the only sentence is life. No one born in Camp 14 or in any North Korean political prison camp has escaped. No one except Shin. This is his story. A gripping, terrifying memoir with a searing sense of place, ESCAPE FROM CAMP 14 will unlock, through Shin, a dark and secret nation, taking readers to a place they have never before been allowed to go. 'This is a story unlike any other' Barbara Demick, author of Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea A major documentary film.

One man's remarkable odyssey from North Korea to freedom in the West

Belle

I barely knew anything about North Korea before reading this. I found the story sad and riveting, but I also liked the research and extra context provided by the author, which helped me understand more about North Korea and why it is the way it is.

Alex Q

The most horrifyingly insightful book I've ever read

An enlightening and deeply-moving read about the life of North Koreans, especially people's attitudes towards defectors. 

The writing style was a bit "cluncky" at the beginning but flowed much better towards the end of the book. Nevertheless, it took me around a week to read this ~250 page book. 

While the author does address the inconsistency of Shin as a narrator, it does not stop the reader from questioning some of the story details. However, this does not take away the severity of Shin's experience or the impact his story can have. 

Emily C Peterson

Christina Hufford

This was a really powerful story that I'm glad I read. About a young man's life born in a North Korean concentration camp and his subsequent escape, Escape From Camp 14 is a harrowing, emotionally-wrenching firsthand account of atrocities taking place against North Korean citizens every day. That these camps are not more widely talked about, that people are not more widely pissed off about their existence, is a baffling and sad commentary on cultural indifference and apathy. People are being forced to live in deplorable conditions, starved, tortured, denied basic human rights under the oppression of a government that is so obsessed with appearance and obedience, it's letting its people die. 

This book follows the life of Shin Dong-hyuk, who was bred in a North Korean concentration camp and punished for the crimes of an uncle he'd never heard of; he knew nothing of love, family, trust, or a full stomach for two decades, living in a world of snitching, public executions, oppression, and torture until scraps of information from the outside world prompted him to escape. After sneaking through North Korea, bribing his way into China, and finding refuge in South Korea and later in the United States, Shin is still dogged by guilt over what he did in those camps, the empathy he lacked, the decisions he was forced to make. There isn't really a happy ending here, as Shin still suffers from PTSD, deeply ingrained trust issues, and a lack of direction in his life. But he has control over his choices now, if it's a control he's still discovering and learning to manipulate. 

It's not quite an easy read, I can tell you that. Expect the oddest sentences to snap the emotional dam you've been trying to build in self-defense and bring you suddenly blubbering and in tears. It's a hard story with a hero who isn't quite proud of himself or the things he has done. But it's a story about a villain worth reading about. People need to know what's going on in North Korea. 

And more than that, they need to care.

One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West

Jay Carter

What's it like to be born and grow up in prison in the worst dictatorship on the planet? It's not what I expected. It is so much worse.

Escape from Camp 14 one man's remarkable odyssey from North Korea to freedom in the west

Reviews

Highlights