------
Editorial Reviews
Blaine Harden's chronicle of Shin Dong-hyuk's life in a North Korean prison camp and his eventual escape is a slim, searing, humble book—as close to perfect as these volumes of anguished testimony can be. — Blaine Harden --This text refers to the Preloaded Digital Audio Player edition.
Review
"Harden’s book, besides being a gripping story, unsparingly told, carries a freight of intelligence about this black hole of a country." —Bill Keller, The New York Times
“The central character in Blaine Harden's extraordinary new book Escape from Camp 14 reveals more in 200 pages about human darkness in the ghastliest corner of the world's cruelest dictatorship than a thousand textbooks ever could . . . Escape from Camp 14, the story of Shin's awakening, escape and new beginning, is a riveting, remarkable book that should be required reading in every high-school or college-civics class. Like "The Diary of Anne Frank" or Dith Pran's account of his flight from Pol Pot's genocide in Cambodia, it's impossible to read this excruciatingly personal account of systemic monstrosities without fearing you might just swallow your own heart . . . Harden's wisdom as a writer shines on every page.” —The Seattle Times"U.S. policymakers wonder what changes may arise after the recent death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, this gripping book should raise awareness of the brutality that underscores this strange land. Without interrupting the narrative, Harden skillfully weaves in details of North Korea's history, politics and society, providing context for Shin's plight.” —The Associated Press
“A book without parallel, Escape from Camp 14 is a riveting nightmare that bears witness to the worst inhumanity, an unbearable tragedy magnified by the fact that the horror continues at this very moment without an end in sight.” —Terry Hong, Christian Science Monitor
“A remarkable story, [Escape from Camp 14 ] is a searing account of one man’s incarceration and personal awakening in North Korea’s highest-security prison.” —The Wall Street Journal
“As an action story, the tale of Shin’s breakout and flight is pure The Great Escape, full of feats of desperate bravery and miraculous good luck. As a human story it is gut wrenching; if what he was made to endure, especially that he was forced to view his own family merely as competitors for food, was written in a movie script, you would think the writer was overreaching. But perhaps most important is the light the book shines on an under-discussed issue, an issue on which the West may one day be called into account for its inactivity.” —The Daily Beast
“A riveting new biography . . . If you want a singular perspective on what goes on inside the rogue regime, then you must read [this] story. It’s a harrowing tale of endurance and courage, at times grim but ultimately life-affirming.” —CNN
“[Shin’s] tale becomes even more gripping after his unprecedented journey . . . after he realizes that he has been raised as something less than human. He gradually, haltingly—and, so far, with mixed success—sets out to remake himself as a moral, feeling human being.” —Fred Hiatt, The Washington Post
“If you have a soul, you will be changed forever by Blaine Harden’s Escape from Camp 14 . . . Harden masterfully allows us to know Shin, not as a giant but as a man, struggling to understand what was done to him and what he was forced to do to survive. By doing so, Escape from Camp 14 stands as a searing indictment of a depraved regime and a tribute to all those who cling to their humanity in the face of evil.”—Mitchell Zuckoff, New York Times bestselling author of Lost in Shangri-La
"This is a story unlike any other . . . More so than any other book on North Korea, including my own, Escape from Camp 14 exposes the cruelty that is the underpinning of Kim Jong Il’s regime. Blaine Harden, a veteran foreign correspondent from The Washington Post, tells this story masterfully . . . The integrity of this book, shines through on every page.” —Barbara Demick, author of Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
“In Escape from Camp 14, Harden chronicles Shin’s amazing journey, from his very first memory—a public execution he witnessed as a 4-year-old—to his work with human rights advocacy groups in South Korea and the United States . . . By retelling Shin’s against-all-odds exodus, Harden casts a harsh light on a moral embarrassment that has existed 12 times longer than the Nazi concentration camps. Readers won’t be able to forget Shin’s boyish, emancipated smile—the new face of freedom trumping repression.” —Will Lizlo, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“Blaine Harden of the Washington Post is an experienced reporter of other hellholes, such as the Congo, Serbia, and Ethiopia. These, he makes clear, are success stories compared to North Korea . . . Harden deserves a lot more than; ‘wow’ for this terrifying, grim and, at the very end, slightly hopeful story of a damaged man still alive only by chance, whose life, even in freedom, has been dreadful.” —Literary Review
“Harden tells a gripping story. Readers learn of Shin’s gradual discovery of the world at large, nonadversarial human relationships, literature, and hope—and the struggles ahead. A book that all adults should read.” —Library Journal (starred review)
“[A] chilling [and] remarkable story of deliverance from a hidden land.” —Kirkus Reviews
“With a protagonist born into a life of backbreaking labor, cutthroat rivalries, and a nearly complete absence of human affection, Harden’s book reads like a dystopian thriller. But this isn’t fiction—it’s the biography of Shin Dong-hyuk.” —Publishers Weekly
-----
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (March 26, 2013)
L----
More about the author
› Visit Amazon's Blaine Harden Page
Follow
Biography
Blaine Harden is an author and journalist whose most recent book is The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot, which Amazon picked as one of the best books of 2015. It won a 2016 citation from the Overseas Press Club of America for non-fiction books on international affairs. The book tells the story of how North Korea's Great Leader, Kim Il Sung, grabbed power and plunged his country into war against the United States while the youngest fighter pilot in his air force played a high-risk game of deception. After years of planning, the fighter pilot fled North Korea in a MiG-15, Russia's hottest fighter jet, and made a life in the United States.
Blaine is also the author of Escape From Camp 14, a New York Times and international bestseller that has been translated into 28 languages. It's the story of Shin Dong-hyuk, the only person born and raised in a North Korean prison camp to escape to the West. Escape from Camp 14 won the 2012 Grand Prix de la Biographie Politique, a French literary award, was a nonfiction finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and was featured on 60 Minutes.
Blaine contributes to the Washington Post, Foreign Policy, PBS Frontline and The Economist. A longtime foreign correspondent, he worked for The Washington Post in Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia, as well as in New York and Seattle. He was also a roving national reporter for The New York Times and writer for the Times Magazine.
Blaine is also the author of A River Lost. It's about well-intentioned Americans (including the author's father) who dammed and degraded the West's greatest river, the Columbia. The New York Times called it a "hard-nosed, tough-minded, clear-eyed dispatch on the sort of contentious subject that is almost always distorted by ideology or obscured by a fog of sentiment." An updated and revised edition of A River Lost was published in 2012 to coincide with a PBS American Experience program about Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia River.
Blaine's first book, Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent, was described by The Independent (London) as the "best contemporary book on Africa."
Blaine lives in Seattle with his wife Jessica and their two children, Lucinda and Arno.
------
3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5 stars
Is this feature helpful? Yes No
Top customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 starsAs a South Korean, I felt so ashamed of me after listening to the audio book.
ByDonghoon May 20, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
This is my first book review. I am a voracious reader. However, I did not write a book review until I listened to the audio book. One of the reasons that I did not write a book review was because I was not a native English speaker. Writing in English was not easy to me. However, after listening to the book, I felt like I had to write anything, at least saying thanks to the author and Shin, the protagonist, who had to endure unimaginable horror and is brave enough to share his story with the world.
Before I listened to the audio book, I had a vague idea of North Korea. For example, NKorean dictator, Kim Jung Il is less human, mentally ill and very dangerous. He exploited NKoreans and let them starve to death. As the author mentioned in the book, I was one of many SKoreans who were simply ignorant and indifferent to Nkorea. I felt sorry for them but that was it. Their story was one of the typical stories of poor communist countries. Their miserable and horrible story did not affect me on personal level until I encountered the book. It was a shocking and eye opening experience to me. Its horrifying story scared me to death. I had to pause many times listening to the book because I could not stop crying, or simply bear his horrible experience any more.
After reading the book, I referred it to my family and friends hoping that more SKoreans be aware of the serious problems of NKoreans. I pray for NKoreans whose rights have been completely violated by their greedy, stupid, and less human dictators, Kim's family. I still do not know what exactly I can do to help NKoreans but I will make my efforts to let more SKoreans know the dire reality of NKoreans. I will continue to have interest in unification of two Koreas and support LiNK (Liberty in North Korean).
Again, I sincerely thank to Shin whose courage is indescribable, unimaginable, and inspirational. Thanks to him, I realize that my complaints on life is just luxurious excuses. I envy his inner strength. I pray for his inner peace and freedom. I am also grateful to the author who made Shin's story available to the world in such a powerful way.
-----
5.0 out of 5 stars
Camp 14: From Hunger and Misery to Freedom
ByGus Venegason August 20, 2016
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
In Escape from Camp 14, Blaine Harden best seller masterfully allows us to know Shin, not as a hero but as a man, by telling us a story what was done to him by the repressive government of North Korea and what he was forced to do to survive. Shin was born in Camp 14, the son to two political prisoners, and was condemned from birth to a life of hunger and misery in forced labor. Prisoners in the camp were not taught to value things like friendship and family. Shin's higher power in the camp were food, the guards and the government teachers, from many of whom he suffered sadistic beatings and torture. He was taught to inform on family and friends- and to feel indifference and no remorse for doing so. This was evident when one of his teachers beat to death a six year old classmate.
When Shin was 13 years old, he told the night guard of his school with another boy of the escape plan by his mother and brother, as informing was something he was taught to do from an early age, and he hoped to be rewarded. However, the school night guard took full credit for discovering the plan, and rather than being rewarded, Shin was arrested and guards tortured him for four days to extract more information, believing him to be part of the plan to escape. After approximately seven months spent in a tiny concrete prison cell, Shin and his father were forced to watch the public executions of Shin's mother and brother.
At age 23, Shin decides to escape with fellow prisoner Park. Park attempted to go through thru an electric fence first, but was fatally electrocuted. Shin managed to escape using Park's body as a shield to ground the current, but still suffered severe burns and permanent scars when his legs slipped onto the lowermost wire as he crawled over Park's body. After escaping, Shin broke into a nearby farmer's barn and found an old military uniform. Wearing the uniform, he was able to pass for a North Korean soldier. He survived by scrounging and stealing food. Eventually, he reached the northern border with China and bribed destitute North Korean border guards with food and cigarettes. After spending some time working as a laborer in different parts of China, Shin was accidentally found by a journalist in a restaurant, who brought him to the South Korean embassy for asylum. Living in the US today, Shin does work as a human rights advocate.
-----
5.0 out of 5 stars
ByGus Venegason August 20, 2016
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
In Escape from Camp 14, Blaine Harden best seller masterfully allows us to know Shin, not as a hero but as a man, by telling us a story what was done to him by the repressive government of North Korea and what he was forced to do to survive. Shin was born in Camp 14, the son to two political prisoners, and was condemned from birth to a life of hunger and misery in forced labor. Prisoners in the camp were not taught to value things like friendship and family. Shin's higher power in the camp were food, the guards and the government teachers, from many of whom he suffered sadistic beatings and torture. He was taught to inform on family and friends- and to feel indifference and no remorse for doing so. This was evident when one of his teachers beat to death a six year old classmate.
When Shin was 13 years old, he told the night guard of his school with another boy of the escape plan by his mother and brother, as informing was something he was taught to do from an early age, and he hoped to be rewarded. However, the school night guard took full credit for discovering the plan, and rather than being rewarded, Shin was arrested and guards tortured him for four days to extract more information, believing him to be part of the plan to escape. After approximately seven months spent in a tiny concrete prison cell, Shin and his father were forced to watch the public executions of Shin's mother and brother.
At age 23, Shin decides to escape with fellow prisoner Park. Park attempted to go through thru an electric fence first, but was fatally electrocuted. Shin managed to escape using Park's body as a shield to ground the current, but still suffered severe burns and permanent scars when his legs slipped onto the lowermost wire as he crawled over Park's body. After escaping, Shin broke into a nearby farmer's barn and found an old military uniform. Wearing the uniform, he was able to pass for a North Korean soldier. He survived by scrounging and stealing food. Eventually, he reached the northern border with China and bribed destitute North Korean border guards with food and cigarettes. After spending some time working as a laborer in different parts of China, Shin was accidentally found by a journalist in a restaurant, who brought him to the South Korean embassy for asylum. Living in the US today, Shin does work as a human rights advocate.
-----
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply horrifying.
ByNickTron March 22, 2012
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
Once you've started this book, it's very difficult to put down.
How this man survived the brutality of a 'Total Control' North Korean prison camp is impossible to conceive. From watching classmates being beaten to death and his mother and brother being executed, to being tortured over hot coals at the age of 13 and suffering near starvation for the first 24 years of his life, to the soul-destroying work ethic and unparalleled cruelty of the prison guards, how Shin Dong-hyuk is still alive, let alone now living happily in America, is breathtaking. His story is heartbreaking from the very beginning, yet his ability to keep on going in the face of absolute punishment will inspire all who read about it. The worst day you've ever had, will likely pale in comparison to a normal day in the life of this guy.
Blaine Harden has done a great job of presenting the details, and obviously cultivated a strong relationship with Shin. The book is short but there's more than enough in there for you to appreciate the gravity of the situation in North Korea, and its relationship with both South Korea and China.
Worth every penny.
17 comments|329 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
ByNickTron March 22, 2012
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
Once you've started this book, it's very difficult to put down.
How this man survived the brutality of a 'Total Control' North Korean prison camp is impossible to conceive. From watching classmates being beaten to death and his mother and brother being executed, to being tortured over hot coals at the age of 13 and suffering near starvation for the first 24 years of his life, to the soul-destroying work ethic and unparalleled cruelty of the prison guards, how Shin Dong-hyuk is still alive, let alone now living happily in America, is breathtaking. His story is heartbreaking from the very beginning, yet his ability to keep on going in the face of absolute punishment will inspire all who read about it. The worst day you've ever had, will likely pale in comparison to a normal day in the life of this guy.
Blaine Harden has done a great job of presenting the details, and obviously cultivated a strong relationship with Shin. The book is short but there's more than enough in there for you to appreciate the gravity of the situation in North Korea, and its relationship with both South Korea and China.
Worth every penny.
17 comments|329 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
No comments:
Post a Comment