I've always had a fascination about North Korea for as long as I can remember. It's one of my top destinations. I just can't believe that such a society exists, where people don't even know about the rest of the world. I bought this book to know more about the mysterious North Korea, and yes, it was an eye-opener.
I was captivated and intrigued. Interestingly enough, as much as I found the Hunger Games trilogy being absolutely horrific, the things that Shin, the protagonist in the book, had to go through was even worse than what any of the characters had to go through in the Hunger Games. And that's fiction. Because of this, it took me a while to finish reading the book as I couldn't bear the details all in one go. It was just too... realistic, and unrealistic at the same time.
Shin's story as told by Blaine Harden I believe is a must read for everyone. It sheds a light on an issue barely touched upon in the news today. We get shocked when accounts of torture, slavery, murder, rape etc., are on the news, and for people like Shin, this was their everyday. Blaine tells his story in a very compelling manner, informative as well as gripping.
I'll keep a look-out for this guy in the future. He's an idol. An absolute role model. I hope that his efforts of raising awareness of the gulags in North Korea to hopefully put a stop to them succeeds. And then there will be more stories like his for us all to hear and realise how lucky we all really are.
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