Given that I am not a 14 year old girl, I missed the slow boil of the Hunger Games phenomena completely, only to catch some hype prior to the release of the movie last week as I listened to NPR on my evening commute home. I will likely not see the movie until it is released on Netflix or some similar venue.
But as the book is only five bucks on Amazon, I downloaded to my iPad. A night later, I heard an interview from the author of a non-fictional book: Escape from Camp 14. It was chilling. And for three times the price of the Hunger Games, I also downloaded it to my iPad.
As it was raining in El Dorado Hills on Saturday and I was recovering, again, from a cold, I began reading both. “Escape” was a far more compelling read, as it is a true story.
Common elements to “Hunger” are perpetual hunger, electric fences, death and the threat of death, detachment from those around, including family, and snitches.
Shin Dong Hyuk, unlike Katniss, will likely not be featured in a trilogy. He will just live on.
Yet the nonfiction story was far more haunting than the fiction. I am certain a movie will follow, but it likely will not be a top grossing block buster.
Odd, that in a country where obesity is now the number one cause of death, that hunger plays such an important theme in both stories. Eating is key to survival in both works, whereas, eating leads to early death in our reality.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands continue to suffer in these camps in North Korea, and none, but a few, even care.
