Escape From Camp 14 : : one Man's Remarkable Odyssey From North Korea to Freedom in the West

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	921 Shin, Dong-hyuk	4-week checkout	On Hold Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / Shin, Dong-hyuk	4-week checkout	Due 05-12-2024

Never heard the word "love" -- The boy who ate his mother's lunch -- School days -- The upper crust -- Mother tries to escape -- Mother tries to escape, version two -- This son of a bitch won't do -- The sun shines even on mouse holes -- Avoiding mother's eyes -- Reactionary son of a bitch -- Working man -- Napping on the farm -- Sewing and snitching -- Deciding not to snitch -- Preparing to run -- The fence -- Stealing -- Riding north -- The border -- China -- Asylum -- K'uredit k'adus -- South Koreans are not so interested -- U.S.A.
Twenty-six years ago, Shin Dong-hyuk was born inside Camp 14, one of five sprawling political prisons in the mountains of North Korea. This is the gripping, terrifying story of his escape from this no-exit prison-- to freedom in South Korea.

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Amazing book submitted by teacherpatti on June 21, 2012, 4:41pm This can't be true, can it?! I mean, this guy must have made this all up, right? There can't be thousands and thousands of people in camps like this and kids who were born in these camps, right?

I know this is true, but I want it to not be. This book is amazing from start to finish. Shin was born in a prison camp in North Korea and, until he was in his 20s, knew nothing of love, hope, family, friendship, trust. He only knew constant deprivation and starvation, frequent beatings and fear. People in the camp are there because of "sins" committed by their family members ("sins" like, oh, say, fleeing to South Korea). Inmates are sometimes given the "gift" of marriage (five nights a year where you can spend the night together) and sometimes, these unions form children. Since birth, Shin was pitted against his family for food. He grew up going to a "school" where the "teachers" beat and killed kids. The only "teaching" that went on was very basic reading and the idea that the kids were born only to be worked to death.

That Shin escaped from the prison is amazing, but how he even got the idea to escape is moreso. The thought of life beyond the barbed wire never even occurs to most of the prisoners. They have no idea what is out there and no real thoughts of their own besides feeding their endless hunger. Only when Shin meets two particular prisoners--one while being held in an underground prison within a prison and one on the job--does he even realize that there is more out there. It is very telling when Shin says that he didn't escape for more freedom or civil rights...but for the chance to eat meat.

This is a fast read that you won't forget.

Scary submitted by jmock on August 1, 2012, 12:47pm This book was so unreal. I can't imagine the life of a person living in a North Korean camp. I wish that it wasn't real, mainly because there are no actual happy endings in real life. It's too bad.

Everyone should read this submitted by dandoro on August 6, 2014, 12:34pm This book is an incredible documentation about a young man who was born a and raised in a North Korean prison camp. He ultimately escaped, but he endured an incredibly hellish early life in the camp. Everyone should read this in order to understand the nature of this largely hidden human rights emergency.