Written in a series of almost poetic vignettes, Sold relays the confusion and immediacy of Lakshmi's situation and of her ultimate decision to allow herself to be rescued. Focusing on the life of Lakshmi, a young girl from a mountain village in Nepal who is sold into prostitution in India, the book is a powerful statement about the sex trade and one girl's ability to survive desperate circumstances.
and surely not to be missed.Sold (2006) is Patricia McCormick's third novel for young adult readers and the winner of a 2007 Quill Award. The result is both horrific and hopeful, terrifying and triumphant. She writes with a haunting immediacy – in this case, using the sparest prose poetry – that underscores Lakshmi’s desperate situation, as if the brevity of the sparsely powerful chapters is all that the young girl can reveal in between trying to stay alive. Patricia McCormick, who was a 2006 National Book Award finalist for Young People’s Literature for Sold, is certainly no stranger to difficult issues young people face, having tackled self-mutilation in Cut and drug addiction in My Brother’s Keeper.
In spite of the violence and abuse she suffers every day, Lakshmi manages to form life-saving bonds with her fellow slaves… and together, they dare dream of another life. She arrives to a shocking, harrowing new life, sold to a brothel as a sex slave, burdened with fabricated huge debts that she can never ever repay. Lakshmi’s stepfather decides she must leave the family, and somehow support the family.įor the promise of 800 rupees and a job as a maid, Lakshmi follows a “lovely city woman” down the mountain with hopes of saving her family.
But then the monsoons arrive, leaving behind only destruction and deprivation. Although her family is extremely poor, 13-year-old Lakshmi’s young life in a mountainous village in Nepal is not without moments of great joy and comfort.
0 kommentar(er)
