Fran's review
Sold
by Patricia McCormick
Fran's review
Sold by Patricia McCormick
Fran's review
rating:
recommended for: everyone
Thirteen-year-old Lakshmi is like most girls-she helps her mother, plays with her baby brother, and dreams of one day marrying and having babies of her own. When the monsoons destroy the crops on her family's Nepal farm, her stepfather arranges for her to leave their village to become a maid for a rich lady in the city. Instead Lakshmi is sold into a Calcutta brothel, facing unspeakable cruelty and horror, her memories of home all she has to help her endure. The story is told in brief, poetic scenes, painting a haunting and thought-provoking picture of helplessness and hope. The writing is breathtaking in both its simplicity and its attention to detail. The juxtaposition of Lakshmi's life in her village, where electricity is a luxury, against the city with its cell phones and soap operas is jarring, an eerie reminder to the reader that nightmares like hers are happening right now in cities around the world. This novel is not to be missed, and readers will find themselves thinking about...more
