BOOK REVIEW: Escape from Camp 14

"Mom" is one of the most revered words in all of language. Not to Shin, a boy born and raised in a North Korean prison camp. To him, "Mom" was just another person to compete against for food.

In this book, Escape from Camp 14, Shin's story is so outrageous, it's difficult to believe. But this story is less about escape and survival, and more about the absurdity of the modern human condition. Shin takes the reader inside a cruel prison camp and inside his uncivilized mind. His story educates about the society and atrocities of North Korea. But most of all, Shin's story takes the reader to a place where most cannot relate: the results of possibly the most totalitarian, repressive state to ever exist -- and the world, for the most part, has turned a blind eye. This is a must read: A-