“I consider myself in the mirror. My plain self, not the self wearing lipstick and eyeliner and a flimsy dress.
Sometimes I see a girl who is growing into womanhood. Other days I see a girl growing old before her time.”
Lakshmi is thirteen-years-old. She lives a simple, albeit impoverished, existence with with her Ama, infant sibling and gambling-addicted stepfather in a Nepalese village buried deep in the Himalayan mountains. She is a loving and obedient daughter and the best student in her class and promised to a local boy in her village but when a monsoon comes, devastating her family’s home and the crops they rely on for sustenance, her simple life takes a catastrophic turn. In order to compensate for the family’s crippling loss, Lakshmi’s stepfather – who likens little girls to goats, “Good as long as she gives you milk and butter..but not worth crying over when it’s time to make stew” accepts 800 rupees from a woman who promises to take Lakshmi to the city to find work, Lakshmi has no idea of the appalling future that awaits her.
The book SOLD is about Lakshmi’s final destination which is not even in Nepal; instead, she is bound for Calcutta, India, where she becomes one of the 12,000 Nepalese young women sold into sex slavery in India each year.
Early in the novel, Lakshmi’s Ama gives her this warning, “it is a woman’s fate to suffer, simply to endure is to triumph.”
Lakshmi finds momentary reprieves from her nightmare when she enters into uneasy and short-lived friendships with the other girls at Happiness House and with a boy who helps her learn Hindi and English words. As Lakshmi keeps a running total of her earnings to determine when she can repay her debt and return to her family, she is too frightened even to allow herself to hope for escape, “This affliction , hope, is so cruel and stubborn. I believe it will kill me.”
Written in a free-verse style from Lakshmi’s own perspective, SOLD is a demanding and at times painful book to read. These challenges, however, only serve to heighten the impact of this powerful and important novel that sheds light on a global crisis that is unknown to most.
Author Patricia McCormick who also tackled the subjects of self-mutilation in her book CUT and drug abuse in My Brother’s Keeper, conducted extensive research in Nepal and India, passing down the road these women travel into slavery and hearing their stories firsthand. This story is a National Book Award Finalist. Every page found a new way to break my heart but the easy prose made it a short read and the poetic format manages to describe with beauty events that are horrible and unthinkable. I admired Lakshmi’s and yet, the horror and grief throughout the book was palpable. The truth of this book it that it is an ugly story, beautifully written. Appropriate for grades 9 and higher,
GENRE: Realistic Fiction
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