Escape From Camp 14 By Caroline Harden

In the book Escape from Camp 14, by Blaine Harden, the simple act of survival is very evident. North Korean concentration camps have been around longer than the Nazi concentration camps in WWII; they are also known to be the most deadly. The main character, Shin Dong-hyuk, is and has only been one person that has reportedly escaped from this horror of Camp 14. Throughout Shins childhood, he had to be a working hard laborer as a slave in the North Korean camp; the rules were simple, work and you can live. He was so brainwashed by the Koreans that he even gave up his mom and brothers escape plan to the authorities. Shin had no hope or plan to survive past the fence of the camp, until one day he met another prisoner and began to see what was

The most surprising part of this to book to me would have to be when Shin gave up his family to the North Korean workers in the camp. This was so interesting to me not because of him giving up his family like this, but what they did to him and his family after he snitched on them like he was supposed to do.They lied and said that one would be rewarded if they snitched on their friends, family, and co-workers to keep them safe and locked up. Instead of doing this, they brutally punished him and his family and would later go on to execute Shin’s mom and brother in front of him. I surprisingly learned a lot of new information that I didn’t expect to learn. Some new information that I learned while reading was that these North Korean concentration camps have been around longer than the Nazi camps. I honestly had no clue of any concentration camps besides the ones in Germany anymore; however, the North Korean camps still survive

Like the most obvious one that I could understand would be when he gave up his family when they were plotting their escape. This is able to be understood because if you think about it, if his family doesn’t make it out, which they probably won’t, then his family will be severely punished. Not only will they be punished, they would think Shin knew about the plot to escape and most likely punish him for something he didn’t do. Another big part in the book that I can understand is actually the whole book in general. The reporter struggled to get Shin to talk about what really happened in the camp, and overtime Shin got more and more comfortable with Blaine and really opened up. There has been things in my life where I didn’t want to tell anyone and I just wanted to forget what happened. Eventually the truth came out and it felt good and I didn’t have to worry about it