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Sold
Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut in the mountains of Nepal. Her family is desperately poor, but her life is full of simple pleasures, like raising her black-and-white speckled goat, and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family's crops, Lakshmi's stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family.
He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid working for a wealthy woman in the city. Glad to be able to help, Lakshmi undertakes the long journey to India and arrives at "Happiness House" full of hope. But she soon learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution.
An old woman named Mumtaz rules the brothel with cruelty and cunning. She tells Lakshmi that she is trapped there until she can pay off her family's debt—then cheats Lakshmi of her meager earnings so that she can never leave.
Lakshmi's life becomes a nightmare from which she cannot escape. Still, she lives by her mother's words—"Simply to endure is to triumph"—and gradually, she forms friendships with the other girls that enable her to survive in this terrifying new world. Then the day comes when she must make a decision—will she risk everything for a chance to reclaim her life?
Written in spare and evocative vignettes, this powerful novel renders a world that is as unimaginable as it is real, and a girl who not only survives but triumphs.
He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid working for a wealthy woman in the city. Glad to be able to help, Lakshmi undertakes the long journey to India and arrives at "Happiness House" full of hope. But she soon learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution.
An old woman named Mumtaz rules the brothel with cruelty and cunning. She tells Lakshmi that she is trapped there until she can pay off her family's debt—then cheats Lakshmi of her meager earnings so that she can never leave.
Lakshmi's life becomes a nightmare from which she cannot escape. Still, she lives by her mother's words—"Simply to endure is to triumph"—and gradually, she forms friendships with the other girls that enable her to survive in this terrifying new world. Then the day comes when she must make a decision—will she risk everything for a chance to reclaim her life?
Written in spare and evocative vignettes, this powerful novel renders a world that is as unimaginable as it is real, and a girl who not only survives but triumphs.
268 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2006
About the author
Patricia McCormick
23 books789 followersPatricia McCormick is a journalist and writer. She graduated from Rosemont College in 1978, followed by an M.S. from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1986 and an M.F.A. from New School University in 1999. Her first novel for teens was Cut, about a young woman who self-injures herself. This was followed by My Brother's Keeper in 2005, about a boy struggling with his brother's addiction and Sold in 2006. Her awards include the American Library Association Best Book of the Year, New York Public Library Best Book for the Teenage, and the Children's Literature Council's Choice.
She has written for The New York Times, Parents magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Ladies Home Journal, Town & Country, More, Reader's Digest, Mademoiselle, and other publications and has been an adjunct professor of journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and an instructor of creative writing at the New School University. She lives in New York with two children, a husband, and two cats.
She has written for The New York Times, Parents magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Ladies Home Journal, Town & Country, More, Reader's Digest, Mademoiselle, and other publications and has been an adjunct professor of journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and an instructor of creative writing at the New School University. She lives in New York with two children, a husband, and two cats.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 6,930 reviews
June 9, 2023
Devastating.
September 22, 2020
Beautifully-written with much heartache for these young girls who are sold into prostitution by their families. Sometimes they are sold because of extreme poverty and all money must be spent on the Males of the family. But sometimes, as in the book, they are sold just because the Male wants a new winter coat and a girl is just money wasted in feeding her when she could be sold for cash and no expenses in the future.
The saddest part of the book is the girls weren't "working" for money even. But were really enslaved in form of bonded labour until they could pay off their debts. They had to pay back the madame their price, the costs of bringing them, all the agents, bribes, money paid to their father or uncle who sold them. Then at the brothel they had to pay for every crumb they ever ate, dress they wore, and even for their bedding where they lay down to get screwed by the customer as well as the madame. Add the madame's profit on top of that and they were stuck until their looks had gone and she no longer wanted them.
Escape was scarcely an option. If they did get away they would be brought back by captors expecting a good monetary reward and their punishment would be extreme, sometimes even to the point of disfigurement. Lesser crimes, like keeping a diary, or talking to someone about their plight brought the fear of a favourite punishment - cut-up hot peppers thrust into the girl's vagina which was then plugged for some hours.
There are American rescue missions but the girls were told these white devils would do the worst things to them that were beyond anything they could imagine so they lied to them that they were happy. There were American customers to, but they couldn't care less, they were just hiring a prostitute.
Eventually the heroine, if she can be called that, does escape to an American mission. It's quite a good part of the book, she makes friends with an itinerate tea seller who gets fired but comes back to tell her the truth of the missions. This is another chance at life. But the reality, outside of a book, is that these girls are nobodies, no-one wants to marry them or employ them. It's the same everywhere, whores are the lowest of the low even if they were only that because they were forced into it.
These missions ought to offer these girls the chance of immigration into America. There they would be educated and from then on their families would be free of the poverty and culture that sold girls like the saying, .....
A girl is like a goat. Good when giving milk and babies, but no need to cry when it's time to make stew. Hence, selling daughters into prostitution and the murders that are euphemistically called "honour killings". Just a kid, a young goat.
The saddest part of the book is the girls weren't "working" for money even. But were really enslaved in form of bonded labour until they could pay off their debts. They had to pay back the madame their price, the costs of bringing them, all the agents, bribes, money paid to their father or uncle who sold them. Then at the brothel they had to pay for every crumb they ever ate, dress they wore, and even for their bedding where they lay down to get screwed by the customer as well as the madame. Add the madame's profit on top of that and they were stuck until their looks had gone and she no longer wanted them.
Escape was scarcely an option. If they did get away they would be brought back by captors expecting a good monetary reward and their punishment would be extreme, sometimes even to the point of disfigurement. Lesser crimes, like keeping a diary, or talking to someone about their plight brought the fear of a favourite punishment - cut-up hot peppers thrust into the girl's vagina which was then plugged for some hours.
There are American rescue missions but the girls were told these white devils would do the worst things to them that were beyond anything they could imagine so they lied to them that they were happy. There were American customers to, but they couldn't care less, they were just hiring a prostitute.
Eventually the heroine, if she can be called that, does escape to an American mission. It's quite a good part of the book, she makes friends with an itinerate tea seller who gets fired but comes back to tell her the truth of the missions. This is another chance at life. But the reality, outside of a book, is that these girls are nobodies, no-one wants to marry them or employ them. It's the same everywhere, whores are the lowest of the low even if they were only that because they were forced into it.
These missions ought to offer these girls the chance of immigration into America. There they would be educated and from then on their families would be free of the poverty and culture that sold girls like the saying, .....
A girl is like a goat. Good when giving milk and babies, but no need to cry when it's time to make stew. Hence, selling daughters into prostitution and the murders that are euphemistically called "honour killings". Just a kid, a young goat.
March 11, 2008
AM I PRETTY?
In the days after the hugging man leaves, 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.
It doesn't matter, of course. Because no one will ever want me now.
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, 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" - decides to sell Lakshmi away to a Calcutta brothel for the paltry sum of four hundred dollars.
Early in the novel, Lakshmi's Ama gives her this warning: "it is a woman's fate to suffer (and) simply to endure is to triumph." Told through a series of spare, free-verse vignettes, Lakshim's story is devastating, and yet somehow she endures, which - considering the myriad horrors she experiences - is most definitely a triumph.
Before writing Sold, Patricia McCormick traveled to Nepal and India, interviewing both the families who sell their children (some intentionally, some because they were tricked by unscrupulous traffickers) and the children who have been sold into the trade. Thanks to her first-hand interviews and observations, Sold - although fiction - feels intensely real. Lakshmi's story could be that of any one of the 400,000 children currently in bondage, working off their bloated debts in Indian brothels, and it was that realism - mixed with a beautifully simplistic style of storytelling - that led me to devour this novel in one sitting, despite the fact that every single page found a new way to break my heart.
In the days after the hugging man leaves, 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.
It doesn't matter, of course. Because no one will ever want me now.
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, 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" - decides to sell Lakshmi away to a Calcutta brothel for the paltry sum of four hundred dollars.
Early in the novel, Lakshmi's Ama gives her this warning: "it is a woman's fate to suffer (and) simply to endure is to triumph." Told through a series of spare, free-verse vignettes, Lakshim's story is devastating, and yet somehow she endures, which - considering the myriad horrors she experiences - is most definitely a triumph.
Before writing Sold, Patricia McCormick traveled to Nepal and India, interviewing both the families who sell their children (some intentionally, some because they were tricked by unscrupulous traffickers) and the children who have been sold into the trade. Thanks to her first-hand interviews and observations, Sold - although fiction - feels intensely real. Lakshmi's story could be that of any one of the 400,000 children currently in bondage, working off their bloated debts in Indian brothels, and it was that realism - mixed with a beautifully simplistic style of storytelling - that led me to devour this novel in one sitting, despite the fact that every single page found a new way to break my heart.
January 30, 2009
1. This book conveys less about the triumph of the human spirit and more about how Americans fix everything. In tone it read exactly like an early missionary novel.
2. I wish people would only write novels in verse if the verse actually served some purpose in the plot or the development of the character, or if the verse was good. In Sold it's simply a weird affectation.
3. The fact brought up as an afterthought in the end notes, that Nepalese women are fighting back by educating young village women and patrolling the borders themselves, is by far more inspirational and interesting than the acts of resistance in the story itself. A book about that would be fascinating.
A topic this horrifying deserved a better book.
2. I wish people would only write novels in verse if the verse actually served some purpose in the plot or the development of the character, or if the verse was good. In Sold it's simply a weird affectation.
3. The fact brought up as an afterthought in the end notes, that Nepalese women are fighting back by educating young village women and patrolling the borders themselves, is by far more inspirational and interesting than the acts of resistance in the story itself. A book about that would be fascinating.
A topic this horrifying deserved a better book.
December 21, 2017
Young Adult book .... one sitting read for adults.
I finished this a couple of days ago. We are taken into a dark underworld — it’s clear many victims were made to endure horrific acts.
This isn’t an unfamiliar story...yet that doesn’t negate its power. Lakshmi is a young Nepalese girl. Lakshmi tells the story....( with a sweet softness that breaks our hearts). Lakshmi gives brief short descriptions: well-told in vignettes.
.....Her wish to buy her mother a tin roof like other neighbors have on their huts....to make her mother happy....to be with her mother.
.....Her Family is poor
.....Her stepfather gambles away their money -and drinks.
.....Lakshmi gets her monthly period/ mother tries to hide her, warn her, teaches her to stay clear of all men — which only lasts for so long.
.....The stepfather sells Lakshmi to a brothel ....( of course she was tricked and lied to)
“A son will always be a son, they say. But a girl is like a goat. Good as long as she gives milk and butter. Not worth crying over when it’s time to make stew”.
*By focusing on one single girl made this story very personal.... but it’s ALL PERSONAL.....
Sex trafficking is horrendous: bigger than our hearts, soul, mind, and spirit can contain. FRICKIN AWFUL.... so sad... and makes us angry-ANGRY!!!
The author - must be acknowledged.... she spent a great deal of time in India researching true stories. Names have been changed.... but this small book was taken from true facts - from real people’s lives.
If I were going to introduce this book to a young - pre-teen- I would not just hand over the book .....I’d read it ‘with’ them ....allowing time for discussion.
Thank you Nat... for the book recommendation.
I finished this a couple of days ago. We are taken into a dark underworld — it’s clear many victims were made to endure horrific acts.
This isn’t an unfamiliar story...yet that doesn’t negate its power. Lakshmi is a young Nepalese girl. Lakshmi tells the story....( with a sweet softness that breaks our hearts). Lakshmi gives brief short descriptions: well-told in vignettes.
.....Her wish to buy her mother a tin roof like other neighbors have on their huts....to make her mother happy....to be with her mother.
.....Her Family is poor
.....Her stepfather gambles away their money -and drinks.
.....Lakshmi gets her monthly period/ mother tries to hide her, warn her, teaches her to stay clear of all men — which only lasts for so long.
.....The stepfather sells Lakshmi to a brothel ....( of course she was tricked and lied to)
“A son will always be a son, they say. But a girl is like a goat. Good as long as she gives milk and butter. Not worth crying over when it’s time to make stew”.
*By focusing on one single girl made this story very personal.... but it’s ALL PERSONAL.....
Sex trafficking is horrendous: bigger than our hearts, soul, mind, and spirit can contain. FRICKIN AWFUL.... so sad... and makes us angry-ANGRY!!!
The author - must be acknowledged.... she spent a great deal of time in India researching true stories. Names have been changed.... but this small book was taken from true facts - from real people’s lives.
If I were going to introduce this book to a young - pre-teen- I would not just hand over the book .....I’d read it ‘with’ them ....allowing time for discussion.
Thank you Nat... for the book recommendation.
March 13, 2024
A somber and powerful read that will stay with you long past the final words.
January 6, 2022
Sold into prostitution Lakshmi was brought to India from Nepal where she was beaten, intoxicated, and raped. All the while Lakshmi thought she was going to work as a homemaid and would help her family have a tin roof over their house back in Nepal, she never dreamed what her life going forward be like.
We accompany Lakshmi on her journey to this new life of pain, anger, sadness, and loneliness and it gutted me. She tried to rebel in her own way but had to accept her situation soon as horror stories of what happens when someone tries to escape that shit-hole were whispered in her ears. She was scared.
Though I read only about Lakshmi here but this is what million of girls around the world go through this everyday and it gutted me. McCormick's research really brought this story to life and felt so real. Even though as a reader one knows what is about to come and yet it was so brutal and painful.
Highly recommended.
We accompany Lakshmi on her journey to this new life of pain, anger, sadness, and loneliness and it gutted me. She tried to rebel in her own way but had to accept her situation soon as horror stories of what happens when someone tries to escape that shit-hole were whispered in her ears. She was scared.
Though I read only about Lakshmi here but this is what million of girls around the world go through this everyday and it gutted me. McCormick's research really brought this story to life and felt so real. Even though as a reader one knows what is about to come and yet it was so brutal and painful.
Highly recommended.
May 28, 2017
another book i'm not sure gains a lot by being written in verse, unless it is just to slow the pacing down to better appreciate the horror. the beginning pre-sale parts were very beautifully descriptive, and then after that become very unbeautifully descriptive. it's a rough subject matter that doesn't get disney-fied... until the end.
January 23, 2019
TRIGGER WARNING: It is best for people particularly sensitive toward the subject of sexual abuse/child molestation to avoid reading any further. Caution is advised.
And so, Love, you launch in vain your insane onslaught: since it will be said - to see me fall yet not surrender - that you managed to kill but failed to conquer.
Juana Inez de la Cruz
When beautiful things are broken, screams begin. When beautiful things are taken, horror begins. When beautiful minds are bended, there is no tomorrow or yesterday or today. There is only a place a million miles away melting in the darkness, seeming like home, but you know it isn’t. It is the death of a broken mind.
"At first, these recollections came unbidden. Soon I had to work to recall them. But eventually they became threadbare, thin as the blanket on my bed, until one day my heart nearly stopped when I could not summon them up. Still, there is one image that I cannot forget, no matter how I try. Trying to remember is like trying to clutch a handful of fog. Trying to forget, like trying to hold back the monsoon"
When I was thirteen, I read a book called Princess: A True Story Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia. I felt so strongly about it that it changed my relationship with books forever. Before that I wasn’t that much of a reader. Then I read Princess and ever since I haven’t been able to stop.
Most of the people you will meet will tell you that they sympathize with women’s fate, that they are appalled and that they wish it was different. We all do. However, with a part of myself I have always thought “What does that help with? We all talk and talk, but none of us can actually do anything.” Which is why I tend to avoid non-fiction regarding certain matters. Including this one. Because it is too much of a reminder that I can’t do a damn thing. I feel too much like a voyeur, someone who gets let in on something extremely personal, yet, someone who is merely a spectator. It feels wrong to get to know so intimately someone’s greatest pain and at the same time to stay passive, to not be able to even say to those you are reading or hearing about “I’m sorry. You deserve better” You only stay with the feeling of sad eyes, accusing eyes, blood-shot eyes full of pain and anger following you everywhere, whose gaze transfixes you and haunts you from far way and lips whose silence screams louder than the loudest scream. Those are women who have no voice and who have no right to lift their eyes up. They say the woman is a burden, the woman is a sinner, the woman is inferior, the woman is a witch, the woman is weak.
"A son will always be a son, they say. But a girl is like a goat. Good as long as she gives you milk and butter. But not worth crying over when it’s time to make a stew."
“Why,” I say, “must women suffer so?” “This has always been our fate,” she says. “Simply to endure,” she says, “is to triumph.”
And it is only those of us who truly know what it means to be a woman (and you don’t have to be one to, it is enough to be a human being with intelligence and compassion) that know that the woman is a treasure. I am not among the most impressive representatives of my gender and I certainly didn’t do much with the privileges I had the luck to be born with, ones I know that those women would have made a much better use of, so I probably don’t have the right to speak on all women’s behalf, but what makes me do so is that despite all my personal failings and faults I still have a sense of right and wrong, I still care.
Lakshmi is a 13-year old girl who gets sold to a pleasure house by her step-father who can hardly imagine life without having enough money for gambling and buying himself new coats. She is undone. She is humiliated and abused multiple times. Physically and mentally. She is insulted, threatened, beaten, raped, starved, mutilated.
"I hurt. I am torn and bleeding where the men have been. I pray to the gods to make the hurting go away. To make the burning and the aching and the bleeding stop. Music and laughter come from the room next door. Horns and shouting come from the street below. No one can hear me. Not even the gods."
"Before it starts, you hear a zipper baring its teeth, the sound of a shoe being kicked aside, the wincing of the mattress. Once it starts, you hear the sound of horns bleating in the street, the vendor hawking his treats, or the pock of a ball. But if you are lucky, you hear nothing. Nothing but the clicking of the fan overhead, the steady ticking away of seconds until it is over. Until it starts again."
I clench the sheets in my hands, for fear that I will pound them to death with my fists. I grit my teeth, for fear that I will bite through their skin to their very bones. I squeeze my eyes closed tight, for fear that I will see what has actually happened to me."
"Somehow, I am outside myself, marveling at this pain, a thing so formidable it has color and shape. Fantastic red, then yellow, starbursts of agony explode in my head. Then there is a blinding whiteness, and then blackness. Somehow, without warning, the pain is gone. A new pain takes its place"
She doesn’t cry. I have never been strong and this story made me wonder what I would do in her place. Would I suddenly find an unsuspected, latent strength in myself, would I transform into a brave, courageous woman, would I in the end be stronger for it, would it make me see my life and myself differently or I would I get out of it broken and unrecognizable, barely resembling human, dead on the inside, defeated and hurt beyond repair? I was no older than Lakshmi when I faced what it means sometimes to be a woman, but I faced it from the comfort of my home, in the pages of a book. Unlike all those other women, even children, because this is what Lakshmi is. A child at 13. But that may not always be the case. And would this make me bigger or smaller? I was deeply touched by the way Lakshmi bore herself through the whole thing. She doesn’t stay defiant and fierce, resisting until the very end. She bends and tries to do the best out of the worst situation she could have found herself in. But she also preserves her compassion and her hope. Her humanity.
A tear is running down my cheek. It quivers a moment on the tip of my nose, then splashes onto my skirt, leaving a small, dark circle. I have been beaten here, locked away, violated a hundred times and a hundred times more. I have been starved and cheated, tricked and disgraced. How odd it is that I am undone by the simple kindness of a small boy with a yellow pencil.
I was reluctant whether I should keep using the word humanity as equivalent of goodness, but as cruel and stupid humans are in some ways, they are also incredible in others, as Lakshmi herself shows. And since I have been working on being less critical toward my fellow humans and more open-minded, I choose to focus on human race’s positives rather than its negatives, hoping that it can do the same for me.
They call women the weaker sex. Women are not weak. Women are gentle. And it is up to those that have power over them whether they will turn that gentleness into weakness, by taking advantage of it, by abusing and crushing it for pleasure and for profit or see the beauty in it, the strength that comes with it, the miracle that can be a woman who is loved, respected and protected. Women might be physically more vulnerable than men, but they can be as fierce lovers and protectors as any man, they feel the responsibilities bestowed on them as keenly and take them equally seriously. In "Jane Eyre" Mr. Rochester tells to Jane:
"Never was anything at once so frail and so indomitable. I could bend her with my finger and thumb: and what good would it do if I bent, if I uptore, if I crushed her? Consider that eye, defying me, with more than courage - with a stern triumph. It is you, spirit - with will and energy, and virtue and purity - that I want: not alone your brittle frame."
Why should we use our strength to make others weaker? When all you are left with is a bruised, abused, broken thing, merely a shell of a person, how does that make you strong? There is no beauty in broken minds. A strong person is one who can see past the veil, past the ostensible and primal. A strong person is not the one who uses his strength to conquer, but one who shares it. A strong person is not the one who uses his strengths to dominate, but who can see the strengths in others’ weaknesses and bring them to life. I am ending this review by quoting my friend Jeffrey who says in his fantastic review of “Finding Nouf”
She let me see the longing in the eyes peering from behind the veils. They are beautiful caged birds...let them sing.
17.09.2017
Read count: 1
June 12, 2018
Lakshmi is a thirteen year old girl who lives with her family in Nepal. She wants to help her family out financially by working as a maid in the city but she is sold into a life of prostitution by her stepfather. This is a fictional story but is based on interviews the author conducted with aid workers and survivors themselves.
This is a tough book to read but I highly recommend giving it a chance if you think you can handle the subject matter. It is written in a simple, almost poetic way and yet so much is conveyed. It's like not a single word was wasted. It's the type of book that will stay with me a long time as it is so haunting. Lakshmi might be a fictional character but she is the voice of countless victims and this is a book well worth reading.
This is a tough book to read but I highly recommend giving it a chance if you think you can handle the subject matter. It is written in a simple, almost poetic way and yet so much is conveyed. It's like not a single word was wasted. It's the type of book that will stay with me a long time as it is so haunting. Lakshmi might be a fictional character but she is the voice of countless victims and this is a book well worth reading.
June 3, 2021
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I'm doing this thing where I reread books I read as a teen. SOLD was one of those books. I remember reading it when I was an older teen and thinking it was so interesting and edgy, reading about the types of real world issues we didn't really learn about in school. Sex trafficking is a global epidemic, so it is good to see YA authors writing about it, but all of the criticisms people had for this book really held true for me: the vignette style comes across as pretentious and overly simplistic. I think McCormick captured the horror of forcing children into prostitution but all of the characters in this book fall flat, except for Lakshmi's mother and stepfather in the beginning, who were actually pretty interesting. Setting up white male Americans as the heroes and saviors in this book was also questionable to me, especially since wealthy white men are often the clientele of sex trafficking. This is definitely a book about people of color that was probably written for a white audience.
I can't remember what I thought of SOLD the first time I read it because it was so long ago. I feel like I probably gave it a three but it really doesn't age well.
2 stars
June 5, 2008
What a powerful, haunting story! Written in free verse from the perspective of a 13 year old Nepalese girl, who was sold from her mountain home to earn a living as a maid in the big city. Lakshmi was saddened to leave her mother and her baby brother, but she was eager to earn a living so she could send money back to her family for necessities like clothing, food, and a new tin roof, for which they were in desperate need. But when Lakshmi leaves, she is not taken to the big city to work as a maid, she is taken over the border into India where she is sold again to a brothel owner. The fact that this type of cruelty exists today is appalling to me. There were times when I was reading and I was thinking that this story took place years ago, and all the problems have, of course, been fixed by now. But then when the author mentions the fact that the girls watched The Bold and the Beautiful on tv every day, and the American who came to the brothel brought a digital camera, you realize that the time frame for the story is present day. The Author's Note at the end really brought to light the very real and current problem of sex trafficking in the world today. I remember seeing a Lifetime movie about sex trafficking in another country - cannot remember the name of the movie - but I remember being greatly affected by it. This book did the same thing for me. It was beautifully written - the vivid language brought this book to life, and the character descriptions and feelings were wrought so eloquently. I highly recommend this book - I cried for and cheered for Lakshmi - I cannot imagine what she and others like her must go through. Patricia McCormick captured this problem in real language that teenagers and adults will learn from and appreciate.
September 27, 2008
I don't enjoy writing long reviews. I did really enjoy this book. As a warning, do not have ANY intentions of putting this book down. I was reading it the night after a long flight from the US to the UK, and I thought, "I'll read some before I go to bed." I got to the halfway mark and thought, "Well, what's the harm in reading some more?"
And then it was over. Meaning I had spent far longer than I had intended to reading, and the book had been finished in two sittings--one on the plane and one in bed.
The poetic format manages to describe with beauty events that are horrible and unthinkable to the women I know. The protagonist is incredibly easy to admire.
The ending left me yearning for more, which is just fine by me. The fact that I was left wanting inspires me to get involved more and have a more immediate involvement with the stories out there like this.
And then it was over. Meaning I had spent far longer than I had intended to reading, and the book had been finished in two sittings--one on the plane and one in bed.
The poetic format manages to describe with beauty events that are horrible and unthinkable to the women I know. The protagonist is incredibly easy to admire.
The ending left me yearning for more, which is just fine by me. The fact that I was left wanting inspires me to get involved more and have a more immediate involvement with the stories out there like this.
March 27, 2011
Plot: 4.5 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Writing: 4 stars
Ending: 3.5 stars
Overall: 4 stars
August 5, 2015
While this is a quick read, it does pack quite a bit of punch. This book opens your eyes to what's going on in the world.
I think everyone needs to take some time to read this one.
I think everyone needs to take some time to read this one.
March 14, 2017
“Simply to endure is to triumph.”
This book was ROUGH. I read it in one sitting but I'm not sure if I should have or not because it was a lot to take in. Amazing book though.
There are obviously some pretty heavy triggers in this book: child sex-trafficking, and graphic sexual and physical abuse (involving children and women).
I knew going into this one that it wasn't going to be a pleasant read. It almost feels wrong to say that I liked the book. It was brutal, it was uncomfortable and worst of all it was something that is happening right now around the world. I was familiar with the topic as I've read a lot of non-fiction books on the topic and studied it a little in University. The topic never gets easier though.
The book is about a 13 year old girl who gets sold into the sex trade by her step-father. She intially thinks she is going to Nepal for a better life,to becomes a ladies maid. That she will be able to provide for her family and most importantly, her mother. This lie makes the truth all the more devastating. I cried with this little girl more times than I can count.
The book was beautifully and poetically written. The author had a way of drawing you in and making you feel like you are there with that child. Witnessing the horrors first hand.
I recommend this with caution, as the subject matter is intense. This is a YA book and I think it would be fine for a teenager to read, since it will give them a sense of what is going on around the world to so many children. If you are worried about the subject matter, you may want to read it with your teen (or students) so that you can have an open discussion about it and address anything they may struggle with. This is a five star for me but I wouldn't read it again because I don't think I could bare to go on this journey with the little girl in this story again.
This book was ROUGH. I read it in one sitting but I'm not sure if I should have or not because it was a lot to take in. Amazing book though.
There are obviously some pretty heavy triggers in this book: child sex-trafficking, and graphic sexual and physical abuse (involving children and women).
I knew going into this one that it wasn't going to be a pleasant read. It almost feels wrong to say that I liked the book. It was brutal, it was uncomfortable and worst of all it was something that is happening right now around the world. I was familiar with the topic as I've read a lot of non-fiction books on the topic and studied it a little in University. The topic never gets easier though.
The book is about a 13 year old girl who gets sold into the sex trade by her step-father. She intially thinks she is going to Nepal for a better life,to becomes a ladies maid. That she will be able to provide for her family and most importantly, her mother. This lie makes the truth all the more devastating. I cried with this little girl more times than I can count.
The book was beautifully and poetically written. The author had a way of drawing you in and making you feel like you are there with that child. Witnessing the horrors first hand.
I recommend this with caution, as the subject matter is intense. This is a YA book and I think it would be fine for a teenager to read, since it will give them a sense of what is going on around the world to so many children. If you are worried about the subject matter, you may want to read it with your teen (or students) so that you can have an open discussion about it and address anything they may struggle with. This is a five star for me but I wouldn't read it again because I don't think I could bare to go on this journey with the little girl in this story again.
July 1, 2014
I'm so torn on this one. Read the entire thing in one sitting - it was gripping and staggeringly beautiful in its descriptions of everyday life - both its sublime and simple beauties and its deepest horrors. I love that it takes on sex slavery in an unflinching way - there's no ducking out on or thinking "oh it isn't that bad" as you read Lakshmi's narrative. But, gosh, the ending kills me. White American to the rescue!
To be transparent - this is a text I'm thinking of taking on in my World Literature class this upcoming school year - so I started googling and researching this morning to try to work through the white savior mentality there at the end and figure out what the heck that was and where it came from. Found some helpful explanation from Patrica McCormick on her website - first of all, that the man at the end was based on someone she knew and this was a "thank you" to him and, secondly, that she wanted to help American audiences to feel empowered to do something. Fair.
I think I'll probably take it on - in part to work through the "white savior" complex at the end - which will be a great opportunity to take on conversations of race, difference, and oppression that matter a lot given context in my classroom (i.e. I'm a white teacher going into my 9th year working with almost exclusively black students). I think that asking questions around author's purpose, sharing McCormick's rationale, and then leaving the question of whether or not this decision sits well with us or if it undermines the idea that oppressed groups can and should be empowered to take on their own problems will probably be my approach. Open to thoughts from friends or others.
To be transparent - this is a text I'm thinking of taking on in my World Literature class this upcoming school year - so I started googling and researching this morning to try to work through the white savior mentality there at the end and figure out what the heck that was and where it came from. Found some helpful explanation from Patrica McCormick on her website - first of all, that the man at the end was based on someone she knew and this was a "thank you" to him and, secondly, that she wanted to help American audiences to feel empowered to do something. Fair.
I think I'll probably take it on - in part to work through the "white savior" complex at the end - which will be a great opportunity to take on conversations of race, difference, and oppression that matter a lot given context in my classroom (i.e. I'm a white teacher going into my 9th year working with almost exclusively black students). I think that asking questions around author's purpose, sharing McCormick's rationale, and then leaving the question of whether or not this decision sits well with us or if it undermines the idea that oppressed groups can and should be empowered to take on their own problems will probably be my approach. Open to thoughts from friends or others.
January 26, 2020
I read this book for the Goodreads' Book Club: Diversity in All Forms!
This book was extremely good and heartbreaking! I learned so much and I encourage others to read this book.
"Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut in the mountains of Nepal. Her family is desperately poor, but her life is full of simple pleasures, like raising her black-and-white speckled goat, and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family’s crops, Lakshmi’s stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family.
He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid working for a wealthy woman in the city. Glad to be able to help, Lakshmi undertakes the long journey to India and arrives at “Happiness House” full of hope. But she soon learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution.
An old woman named Mumtaz rules the brothel with cruelty and cunning. She tells Lakshmi that she is trapped there until she can pay off her family’s debt – then cheats Lakshmi of her meager earnings so that she can never leave.
Lakshmi’s life becomes a nightmare from which she cannot escape. Still, she lives by her mother’s words – “Simply to endure is to triumph” – and gradually, she forms friendships with the other girls that enable her to survive in this terrifying new world. Then the day comes when she must make a decision – will she risk everything for a chance to reclaim her life?"
This book was extremely good and heartbreaking! I learned so much and I encourage others to read this book.
"Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut in the mountains of Nepal. Her family is desperately poor, but her life is full of simple pleasures, like raising her black-and-white speckled goat, and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family’s crops, Lakshmi’s stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family.
He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid working for a wealthy woman in the city. Glad to be able to help, Lakshmi undertakes the long journey to India and arrives at “Happiness House” full of hope. But she soon learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution.
An old woman named Mumtaz rules the brothel with cruelty and cunning. She tells Lakshmi that she is trapped there until she can pay off her family’s debt – then cheats Lakshmi of her meager earnings so that she can never leave.
Lakshmi’s life becomes a nightmare from which she cannot escape. Still, she lives by her mother’s words – “Simply to endure is to triumph” – and gradually, she forms friendships with the other girls that enable her to survive in this terrifying new world. Then the day comes when she must make a decision – will she risk everything for a chance to reclaim her life?"
February 5, 2009
"Each year, nearly 12,000 Nepali girls are sold by their families, intentionally or unwittingly, into a life of sexual slavery in the brothels of India."
This author traveled to Nepal and Calcutta for her research, interviewing aid workers and girls who have been rescued from the red-light districts of Calcutta.
The book follows the path of Lakshmi, a thirteen-year-old Nepali girl, as she is sold and makes the journey to India, thinking she is going to be a maid for a rich woman. It's written for young adults, so the writing is extremely spare, but the necessary details are there. Heartbreaking because you know it's true!
If you know any teenage girls who are so self-struck that they don't know how good they have it, let them read this story!! :(
If this were an adult book, I'd give it three stars. For the intended audience, I think it merits the fourth star. I'd like to see the author do more with her research, considering all the travel and interviewing she did. It would be nice to share it with more people in some other printed form more likely to be read by grownups.
This author traveled to Nepal and Calcutta for her research, interviewing aid workers and girls who have been rescued from the red-light districts of Calcutta.
The book follows the path of Lakshmi, a thirteen-year-old Nepali girl, as she is sold and makes the journey to India, thinking she is going to be a maid for a rich woman. It's written for young adults, so the writing is extremely spare, but the necessary details are there. Heartbreaking because you know it's true!
If you know any teenage girls who are so self-struck that they don't know how good they have it, let them read this story!! :(
If this were an adult book, I'd give it three stars. For the intended audience, I think it merits the fourth star. I'd like to see the author do more with her research, considering all the travel and interviewing she did. It would be nice to share it with more people in some other printed form more likely to be read by grownups.
June 21, 2018
I know that this book is young adult and fiction, but it crawled up my skin as I read about a girl who had hope for more but received nothing but pain and suffering. It is a dog eat dog world and she was handed over to be eaten alive. She is from a village where men walk on water and the women fill their buckets up constantly to make sure the river men walk on stays full. She came from nothing and got treated worse when her stepfather sold her off for some bucks. She was raped while drugged and forced to be all she thought was unwomanly. At 13, a young girl suffered mentally and physically. “There is a bucket of water next to my bed. But no matter how often I wash and scrub and wash and scrub, I cannot seem to rinse the men from my body”.
June 30, 2022
Povestea este scrisa inedit, din perspectiva lui Lakshmi, o fetita din Nepal in varsta de 13 ani care din dorinta de a-si ajuta familia si cu credinta ca va avea o slujba ca menajera, este luata si dusa in India, fortata sa se prostitueze.
"Nu știu ce caut în casa asta ciudată și unde e tanti Bimla. Se pare că tanti Mumtaz e noua mea stăpână. E severă, mi-am dat seama, însă o să mă arăt vrednică. Iar așa mama o să se bucure de o rochie nouă, de încălțări în anotimpul rece și chiar de un șal nou, din cel mai fin... Și nimeni de pe munte n-o să aibă un acoperiș de tablă mai sclipitor decât al nostru."
Lakshmi are la inceput o gandire inocenta a unui copil de 13 ani si vedem pe parcursul cartii cum copilaria se evapora incet din spiritul ei ramanand la vedere doar realitatile brutale ale traficului de persoane.
Romanul are la baza povesti reale ale unor femei care au trecut prin momente greu de imaginat din cauza saraciei. Vocea lui Lakshmi este vocea tuturor tinerelor din tarile sarace exploatate pentru prostitutie.
Recomand!
"Nu știu ce caut în casa asta ciudată și unde e tanti Bimla. Se pare că tanti Mumtaz e noua mea stăpână. E severă, mi-am dat seama, însă o să mă arăt vrednică. Iar așa mama o să se bucure de o rochie nouă, de încălțări în anotimpul rece și chiar de un șal nou, din cel mai fin... Și nimeni de pe munte n-o să aibă un acoperiș de tablă mai sclipitor decât al nostru."
Lakshmi are la inceput o gandire inocenta a unui copil de 13 ani si vedem pe parcursul cartii cum copilaria se evapora incet din spiritul ei ramanand la vedere doar realitatile brutale ale traficului de persoane.
Romanul are la baza povesti reale ale unor femei care au trecut prin momente greu de imaginat din cauza saraciei. Vocea lui Lakshmi este vocea tuturor tinerelor din tarile sarace exploatate pentru prostitutie.
Recomand!
August 19, 2014
My name is Lakshmi. I am from Nepal. I am thirteen years old.
Sold is the story of Lakshmi, a girl from a small village living with her Ama, baby brother and stepfather. Her stepfather sells her for money to pay gambling debts, and she is brought to the city, only to find out that there is no maid job waiting for her. She has been sold into prostitution.
This story was hard to read. Its really difficult to think about a place where a woman can be sold for $300, and purchased for a night for the price of a bottle of Coke. Where man will buy himself a nice vest while his child starves.
A son will always be a son, they say. But a girl is like a goat. Good as long as she gives you milk and butter. But not worth crying over when it's time to make a stew.
The chapters are short and to the point, but deal with a heavy topic. I felt the short chapters broke it up into manageable chunks and made this a fast read, but one I won't soon forget.
"Why must women suffer so?"
"This has always been our fate. Simply to endure is to triumph."
Sold is the story of Lakshmi, a girl from a small village living with her Ama, baby brother and stepfather. Her stepfather sells her for money to pay gambling debts, and she is brought to the city, only to find out that there is no maid job waiting for her. She has been sold into prostitution.
This story was hard to read. Its really difficult to think about a place where a woman can be sold for $300, and purchased for a night for the price of a bottle of Coke. Where man will buy himself a nice vest while his child starves.
A son will always be a son, they say. But a girl is like a goat. Good as long as she gives you milk and butter. But not worth crying over when it's time to make a stew.
The chapters are short and to the point, but deal with a heavy topic. I felt the short chapters broke it up into manageable chunks and made this a fast read, but one I won't soon forget.
"Why must women suffer so?"
"This has always been our fate. Simply to endure is to triumph."
April 18, 2021
اسم من لاکشمی است.
من اهل نپال هستم.
من سیزده سالهام.
داستان لاکشمی دختری اهل نپال که توسط پدرناتنیش به قاچاقچیهای انسان به عنوان کارگرجنسی فروخته میشه و به هند برده میشه و برای چندسال به این کار مشغول میشه.
داستان براساس واقعیت و مصاحبههای نویسنده با افرادی هست که سالها به اینکار مشغول بودند.
من اهل نپال هستم.
من سیزده سالهام.
داستان لاکشمی دختری اهل نپال که توسط پدرناتنیش به قاچاقچیهای انسان به عنوان کارگرجنسی فروخته میشه و به هند برده میشه و برای چندسال به این کار مشغول میشه.
داستان براساس واقعیت و مصاحبههای نویسنده با افرادی هست که سالها به اینکار مشغول بودند.
March 19, 2024
5 Stars for Sold (audiobook) by Patricia McCormick read by Justine Eyre.
This is the tragic story of a young girl from Nepal whose family has sold her and she ends up in India in a house of prostitution.
This is the tragic story of a young girl from Nepal whose family has sold her and she ends up in India in a house of prostitution.
April 25, 2010
Heartbreaking, yet uplifting. Kesan yang saya dapat dari buku ini. Sejak pertama kali melihat buku ini di toko buku, I know I'm gonna love this book.
Berkisan tentang Laksmi, gadis kecil dari Nepal berusia 13 tahun yang dijual oleh ayah tirinya sendiri ke rumah bordil. keluguan, kenaifan seorang anak kecil terpampang dengan jelas di buku ini, karena kisah ini dikisahkan dari sudut pandang si Laksmi sendiri.
Buku setebal 310 halaman saya selesaikan dengan semalam karena ternyata isinya cukup ringan dan gaya penulisan yang beda dari novel biasanya.
Laksmi, diiming-imingi bekerja sebagai pembantu rumah tangga di kota cukup dengan permen manis ia sudah sangat senang. Kaki tangan sang pemilik rumah bordil memberitahukan Laksmi, "saat melewati perbatasan, engkau harus memanggilku suami!"
Laksmi yang polos, menurut saja apa kata si paman dan mereka berhasil melewati India dengan aman. Lucunya, di pikiran Laksmi, paman itu sekarang ia panggil dengan paman suami.
Ketika tiba di rumah bordil, tiba waktunya Laksmi berpisah dengan paman suami, nah bagian-bagian ini membuat saya merinding. Tidak terbayangkan bagaimana rasanya seorang Laksmi, 13 tahun dipaksa melayani lelaki berbibir ikan.
Pria berbibir ikan itu melepas gaunku.
Kutunggu diriku untuk melawan. Namun tak ada yang terjadi.
Lantas dia di atasku, dan sesuatu yang panas dan menuntut ada di antara kedua tungkaiku.
(hal 162)
Kira-kira seperti itulah cara penulisan Patricia di novel ini dari awal sampai akhir. Kalimatnya cukup singkat, tapi sudah berhasil membuat saya terentuh, berdebar-debar, bahkan hampir menitikkan air mata.
Rumah bordil, yang di sini disebut dengan rumah kebahagiaan berhasil merebut masa gadis Laksmi, masa di mana ia seharusnya bermain dengan teman-temannya, mengerjakan pr di sekolah. Laksmi mulai terbiasa membutakan segenap panca indranya, agar ia buta dengan wajah para lelaki yang membayarnya 30 rupee (seharga dengan 1 kaleng coca cola), agar hidungnya tidak mencium bau amis para lelaki berperut gendut.
Lakmi memiliki beberapa teman di rumah kebahagiaan, salah satunya bocah berbaju David Beckham, seringkali ia mengamatinya.
(hal 204)
Aku tahu, dari segala kegiatannya bahwa dia hanyalah laki-laki biasa.
Namun, sesekali kutemukan diriku membenci dirinya.
Aku benci dia karena memiliki segala buku sekolah dan teman bermain.
Karena memiliki seorang ibu yang menyisir rambutnya di pagi hari.
Dan, karena kemerdekaan untuk datang dan pergi sesukanya.
Namun, kadangkala aku membenci diriku sendiri karena membencinya.
Hanya karena dia seorang anak laki-laki biasa.
Dan si laki-laki biasa ini mengajarkan Laksmi menulis dan membaca, sampai suatu ketika ia memberikan Laksmi sebuah pensil.
(hal 244)
Sebulir air mata bergulir di pipiku.
Aku telah dipukuli di sini,
dikurung,
dianiaya ratusan kali,
dan ratusan kali lagi.
Aku telah dibiarkan kelaparan,
dan ditipu,
dijebak,
dan dipermalukan.
Betapa anehnya, aku telah luluh sepenuhnya oleh kebaikan hati seorang bocah lelaki dengan sebatang pensil kuning.
Baca buku ini kebetulan juga dengan maraknya perkosaan anak kecil yang terjadi di Bali. Betapa saya mengutuk pria ini, karena ia tidak sekedar merobek selaput dara si anak, tapi sekaligus menghempaskan masa depan anak kecil tak berdosa dalam waktu 5 menit saja!!
Berkisan tentang Laksmi, gadis kecil dari Nepal berusia 13 tahun yang dijual oleh ayah tirinya sendiri ke rumah bordil. keluguan, kenaifan seorang anak kecil terpampang dengan jelas di buku ini, karena kisah ini dikisahkan dari sudut pandang si Laksmi sendiri.
Buku setebal 310 halaman saya selesaikan dengan semalam karena ternyata isinya cukup ringan dan gaya penulisan yang beda dari novel biasanya.
Laksmi, diiming-imingi bekerja sebagai pembantu rumah tangga di kota cukup dengan permen manis ia sudah sangat senang. Kaki tangan sang pemilik rumah bordil memberitahukan Laksmi, "saat melewati perbatasan, engkau harus memanggilku suami!"
Laksmi yang polos, menurut saja apa kata si paman dan mereka berhasil melewati India dengan aman. Lucunya, di pikiran Laksmi, paman itu sekarang ia panggil dengan paman suami.
Ketika tiba di rumah bordil, tiba waktunya Laksmi berpisah dengan paman suami, nah bagian-bagian ini membuat saya merinding. Tidak terbayangkan bagaimana rasanya seorang Laksmi, 13 tahun dipaksa melayani lelaki berbibir ikan.
Pria berbibir ikan itu melepas gaunku.
Kutunggu diriku untuk melawan. Namun tak ada yang terjadi.
Lantas dia di atasku, dan sesuatu yang panas dan menuntut ada di antara kedua tungkaiku.
(hal 162)
Kira-kira seperti itulah cara penulisan Patricia di novel ini dari awal sampai akhir. Kalimatnya cukup singkat, tapi sudah berhasil membuat saya terentuh, berdebar-debar, bahkan hampir menitikkan air mata.
Rumah bordil, yang di sini disebut dengan rumah kebahagiaan berhasil merebut masa gadis Laksmi, masa di mana ia seharusnya bermain dengan teman-temannya, mengerjakan pr di sekolah. Laksmi mulai terbiasa membutakan segenap panca indranya, agar ia buta dengan wajah para lelaki yang membayarnya 30 rupee (seharga dengan 1 kaleng coca cola), agar hidungnya tidak mencium bau amis para lelaki berperut gendut.
Lakmi memiliki beberapa teman di rumah kebahagiaan, salah satunya bocah berbaju David Beckham, seringkali ia mengamatinya.
(hal 204)
Aku tahu, dari segala kegiatannya bahwa dia hanyalah laki-laki biasa.
Namun, sesekali kutemukan diriku membenci dirinya.
Aku benci dia karena memiliki segala buku sekolah dan teman bermain.
Karena memiliki seorang ibu yang menyisir rambutnya di pagi hari.
Dan, karena kemerdekaan untuk datang dan pergi sesukanya.
Namun, kadangkala aku membenci diriku sendiri karena membencinya.
Hanya karena dia seorang anak laki-laki biasa.
Dan si laki-laki biasa ini mengajarkan Laksmi menulis dan membaca, sampai suatu ketika ia memberikan Laksmi sebuah pensil.
(hal 244)
Sebulir air mata bergulir di pipiku.
Aku telah dipukuli di sini,
dikurung,
dianiaya ratusan kali,
dan ratusan kali lagi.
Aku telah dibiarkan kelaparan,
dan ditipu,
dijebak,
dan dipermalukan.
Betapa anehnya, aku telah luluh sepenuhnya oleh kebaikan hati seorang bocah lelaki dengan sebatang pensil kuning.
Baca buku ini kebetulan juga dengan maraknya perkosaan anak kecil yang terjadi di Bali. Betapa saya mengutuk pria ini, karena ia tidak sekedar merobek selaput dara si anak, tapi sekaligus menghempaskan masa depan anak kecil tak berdosa dalam waktu 5 menit saja!!
July 24, 2018
Harrowing.
July 28, 2016
Can't say I liked this one.
It's obviously popular, but not exactly truthful.
Spoilers below--
I had the same issues with this book that I had with Memoirs of a Geisha. Basically, that was obvious from the writing and main character's actions that the author had not lived in, experienced, or really told the side of the culture they were writing about.
Here in Sold McCormick (who is, unsurprisingly, a white American) makes her American characters into gods and beacons of hope who can easily wade through the layers of corruption and tradition and culture to whisk away any poor young girl in need.
Not only was this portrayal unrealistic and vaguely insulting to the other cultures described in this book, it isn't 100% true.
There were so many plot holes in this book but the worst was probably the white knight American rescue. First of all, how did the Americans find and convince golden-hearted police officers to help them? Did they pay them? And also there would be people protecting the brothel and its money, so why didn't they stop the Americans? And why did they go through all this trouble and only save one girl at the brothel? Why not just save all of them? And do they have security at this safe house? Are they just going to leave her in a house in the same city as these people and expect her to be safe? And if they did want to get her out of the country, how would they do that? Because these answers would ruin McCormick's fairy tale.
Not only was the rescue a huge plot hole, but it was obvious that McCormick struggled with writing about Lakshmi's life after she became a prostitute. She didn't introduce or describe any other real main characters, and Lakshmi, despite being a prostitute for over a year, doesn't go outside, doesn't learn people's names, and doesn't know a single thing about where she is living or how the brothel is organized. I get that Lakshmi is young, and writing that way made sense for a while, but after her world explodes and she ages overnight (her own words), why doesn't her thought process change to mirror that? She didn't develop at all as a character. She didn't talk to anyone. She didn't even leave her bed most of time. She forgot about her family and never really mentioned them. And, most of all, she isn't really all that curious about the world around her. If it wasn't for her situation she would be the absolutely worst main character for a novel.
I understand she is in a horrible situation and a lot of this novel is meant to be shocking to raise awareness, but it would have been more memorable and meaningful coming from someone who could describe the culture, the set-up of the brothel, the city, the religion, and the world these girls lived in. McCormick could only provide a couple examples of Lakshmi's life and just repeated them over and over and over and over....
And REALLY, these girls really believe that its the Americans who do honor killings and punishments?! That was incredibly stupid. These girls would know, especially if they come from Nepal, what these killings and punishments are and who does them. This was a perfect example of an author overstepping her bounds in a subject matter she is not familiar with.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/wo...
In conclusion, McCormick failed to mention the Indian caste system or really explain anything about the culture. This was a cheap novel meant to shock and garner awards because no one wanted to say bad things about a book on this depressing topic.
If you want a good book about India, read The White Tiger or another one of the dozens of books written by Indian authors who can describe India in a realistic and educated way.
It's obviously popular, but not exactly truthful.
Spoilers below--
I had the same issues with this book that I had with Memoirs of a Geisha. Basically, that was obvious from the writing and main character's actions that the author had not lived in, experienced, or really told the side of the culture they were writing about.
Here in Sold McCormick (who is, unsurprisingly, a white American) makes her American characters into gods and beacons of hope who can easily wade through the layers of corruption and tradition and culture to whisk away any poor young girl in need.
Not only was this portrayal unrealistic and vaguely insulting to the other cultures described in this book, it isn't 100% true.
There were so many plot holes in this book but the worst was probably the white knight American rescue. First of all, how did the Americans find and convince golden-hearted police officers to help them? Did they pay them? And also there would be people protecting the brothel and its money, so why didn't they stop the Americans? And why did they go through all this trouble and only save one girl at the brothel? Why not just save all of them? And do they have security at this safe house? Are they just going to leave her in a house in the same city as these people and expect her to be safe? And if they did want to get her out of the country, how would they do that? Because these answers would ruin McCormick's fairy tale.
Not only was the rescue a huge plot hole, but it was obvious that McCormick struggled with writing about Lakshmi's life after she became a prostitute. She didn't introduce or describe any other real main characters, and Lakshmi, despite being a prostitute for over a year, doesn't go outside, doesn't learn people's names, and doesn't know a single thing about where she is living or how the brothel is organized. I get that Lakshmi is young, and writing that way made sense for a while, but after her world explodes and she ages overnight (her own words), why doesn't her thought process change to mirror that? She didn't develop at all as a character. She didn't talk to anyone. She didn't even leave her bed most of time. She forgot about her family and never really mentioned them. And, most of all, she isn't really all that curious about the world around her. If it wasn't for her situation she would be the absolutely worst main character for a novel.
I understand she is in a horrible situation and a lot of this novel is meant to be shocking to raise awareness, but it would have been more memorable and meaningful coming from someone who could describe the culture, the set-up of the brothel, the city, the religion, and the world these girls lived in. McCormick could only provide a couple examples of Lakshmi's life and just repeated them over and over and over and over....
And REALLY, these girls really believe that its the Americans who do honor killings and punishments?! That was incredibly stupid. These girls would know, especially if they come from Nepal, what these killings and punishments are and who does them. This was a perfect example of an author overstepping her bounds in a subject matter she is not familiar with.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/wo...
In conclusion, McCormick failed to mention the Indian caste system or really explain anything about the culture. This was a cheap novel meant to shock and garner awards because no one wanted to say bad things about a book on this depressing topic.
If you want a good book about India, read The White Tiger or another one of the dozens of books written by Indian authors who can describe India in a realistic and educated way.
September 29, 2016
If an author is a feminist, does it mean that their writing is automatically regarded as feminist literature? Does nothing but the feminist message radiate from their being? Are they capable of bringing anything less than that into the world? Feminist writers write feminist writings. But it is not always the cut and dry “How To Be A Feminist Handbook 101” type of book. No, sometimes it can touch on problems like sex trafficking and involve a female character’s near constant abuse, as seen in the story of Lakshmi in Patricia McCormick’s Sold.
Now who dares read about the sexual, physical, and psychological abuse of so many female characters and has the gall to call it a feminist work? Well…. The reason why this novel was written must be taken into consideration before the subject matter. This novel was written to call attention to the injustices towards going on in other parts of the world. Because, while fictional, Lakshmi’s story is one that many girls can very closely relate to. Lakshmi’s life is one pieced together by bits of reality. The novel takes place mostly in a brothel located in India after Lakshmi had been sold by a family member in Nepal, a practice not too uncommon in that part of the world. Lakshmi speaks for all the girls who have been sold. The author’s note ends by saying that “it is in their-” the Nepalese girls and women brought into the life of sex trafficking- “honor that this book was written” (265).
The novel was written in a way that makes it seem genuine, with Lakshmi as the narrator. It is the carefully crafted voice of this character that gives the writing an alarmingly real feeling. The short chapters, simple wording, and constant misnomers she would use such as calling a light bulb a “tiny glass sun” (3), or saying “metal wagon” (63) rather than ‘car’, or “palm frond machine” (95) instead of ‘fan,’ they all show her to be this naive little girl in awe of the world around her and it makes the reader feel sympathy for her, even before the sex abuse starts.
The writing and use of language in this novel seems to have been very carefully chosen. It was written very well for what it was. There was a line, a line of graphicness, that could have been crossed but it hadn’t. And that made it eerily beautiful and hard not to put down. McCormick wanted her reader to get through this novel with a certain level of disgust that never bubbled up far enough to put the book down but just enough to want to do something. Something to stop these things from ever happening to another girl ever again.
This piece of literature is a genuinely heartbreaking read. Furthermore, it is most definitely a feminist piece of literature as it was written for the purpose of finding justice for these women and girls.
Now who dares read about the sexual, physical, and psychological abuse of so many female characters and has the gall to call it a feminist work? Well…. The reason why this novel was written must be taken into consideration before the subject matter. This novel was written to call attention to the injustices towards going on in other parts of the world. Because, while fictional, Lakshmi’s story is one that many girls can very closely relate to. Lakshmi’s life is one pieced together by bits of reality. The novel takes place mostly in a brothel located in India after Lakshmi had been sold by a family member in Nepal, a practice not too uncommon in that part of the world. Lakshmi speaks for all the girls who have been sold. The author’s note ends by saying that “it is in their-” the Nepalese girls and women brought into the life of sex trafficking- “honor that this book was written” (265).
The novel was written in a way that makes it seem genuine, with Lakshmi as the narrator. It is the carefully crafted voice of this character that gives the writing an alarmingly real feeling. The short chapters, simple wording, and constant misnomers she would use such as calling a light bulb a “tiny glass sun” (3), or saying “metal wagon” (63) rather than ‘car’, or “palm frond machine” (95) instead of ‘fan,’ they all show her to be this naive little girl in awe of the world around her and it makes the reader feel sympathy for her, even before the sex abuse starts.
The writing and use of language in this novel seems to have been very carefully chosen. It was written very well for what it was. There was a line, a line of graphicness, that could have been crossed but it hadn’t. And that made it eerily beautiful and hard not to put down. McCormick wanted her reader to get through this novel with a certain level of disgust that never bubbled up far enough to put the book down but just enough to want to do something. Something to stop these things from ever happening to another girl ever again.
This piece of literature is a genuinely heartbreaking read. Furthermore, it is most definitely a feminist piece of literature as it was written for the purpose of finding justice for these women and girls.
May 31, 2016
This book ended with Lakshmi, the main character, leaving the happiness home. The happiness home is the "trap house" for girls that are forced into the sex slave industry. They are usually brought from poor families in order to pay off their families' debt. In reality, however, Mumtaz, the mistress, is cheating them of their money. So they are forced to sleep with multiple men, with no reward and lost dignities.
This book tends to lean towards the darker side of the general public, and tends to be more taboo. Even though this is realistic fiction, things like this are happening today. This is one of my favorite books because it focuses on one specific character, the life she has, the challenges she has to endure, and what she does to overcome them.
I think that this book is good for almost any type of reader. This book includes action, adventure, and a deep sense of reality. This book will keep any reader on their toes, as well as keep them inferencing on certain plots. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would recommend it whole-heartedly.
This book tends to lean towards the darker side of the general public, and tends to be more taboo. Even though this is realistic fiction, things like this are happening today. This is one of my favorite books because it focuses on one specific character, the life she has, the challenges she has to endure, and what she does to overcome them.
I think that this book is good for almost any type of reader. This book includes action, adventure, and a deep sense of reality. This book will keep any reader on their toes, as well as keep them inferencing on certain plots. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would recommend it whole-heartedly.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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