Mango Rains

by Daniel M. Dorothy

Inspired by actual events, Mango Rains is the incredible story of a woman who overcame insurmountable odds while searching for her abducted child. She devoted her life to the impossible task of navigating through a web of deceit, exploitation, and the criminal underworld to drag herself out of obscene circumstances into a better life, and to use her status, and incredible luck, to eventually realize her dreams.This, paralleled with the story of her abducted daughter who was forced to endure heartbreaking tragedies, and experience occasional triumph, often bittersweet, whilst finding her way alone through a similar web of deceit, exploitation, and the criminal underworld, giving the reader an unparalleled look at the hidden world where children disappear without a trace in Asia.At times this book will bring you to tears, both tears of tragedy and tears of triumph. This is a story of love and inspiration, a story of how a mother never gave up hope of finding the daughter she lost.

Genres: Asia, Nonfiction

399 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 2010

Reviews

[Linh Lê · Rating 4 out of 5]

Câu truyện tuyệt vời nha ! Thật sự hai người phụ nữ đã trải qua quá nhiều chuyện để đi được đến ngày hôm nay. Mình thật sự được mở mang khi tệ nạn Thái cũng nhiều đến vậy. Cuộc sống thật sự điên rồ với hai người phụ nữ, lên voi xuống chó. Ngừoi mẹ tìm con suốt 29 năm và người con cũng khao khát một mái ấm gia đình suốt từng ấy năm. Tuy nhiên cái kết lại có đôi chút hụt hẫng với mình. Mình tưởng rằng cả hai sẽ vỡ oà trong cảm xúc và sống trọn vẹn hạnh phúc bên nhau sau từng ấy năm xa cách. Nhưng có lẽ tình cảm mới chớm nở và bất ngờ nên hai người không thật sự gắn bó đến vậy. Đúng là cuộc đời !

[Aurelie Weeber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldnt put the book down as i was desperate to find out how it would end. Tears in my eyes whilst reading. Read it whilst being in Bangkok which added to the story!

[Chrissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mango Rains is an epic tale of both a woman's search for her daughter, and the daughter's search for herself. Nid and Nok are two young girls in Thailand who are sold into prostitution by their mother. Thinking she was sending her daughters to be maids in Bangkok, the mother never questions sending her daughters away for a better life. The two sisters work in a brothel until Nok is taken away by a foreigner and Nid becomes pregnant. Nid is sent away and although she is helped along by strangers when she has her baby, she ends up a prostitute again, leaving her baby Lek alone for hours at a time while she drinks and works. Eventually her friend convinces her to give up her baby to be cared for by an older woman in the country, then promptly sells the baby to a man running a scam business.
The book follows Nid's desperate attempts to find Lek after her friend commits suicide, leaving no clue as to the baby's whereabouts. Over 21 years Nid searches all over the country for her daughter, occasionally meeting someone who knows of her and provides her with a photo.
Lek on the other hand, is thrown into some dark situations throughout her life - a beggar, an orphan, a sister to other child beggars, Lek lives her life from one situation to the next. She falls in love, experiences heartbreak and despair, loses her best friend and unwittingly becomes involved in a murderous drug war, all before becoming a prostitute like her mother.
I won't give away the ending, but the fact that this is based on true circumstances makes the ending less disappointing. I was quite caught up in the book and enjoyed it.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many parts of this book are clumsily written and the overall flow of the narrative is lacking.

However, the story is fascinating and for that reason I was prepared to accommodate the stilted narrative.

[Tonnage · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Highly recommend.