Helpful Score: 4
Lakshmi the 13 year old narrator is fictional, but she is heartbreakingly the composite of thousands of Nepali girls sold by their families and trafficked into the brothels of India. Sold is told in short chapters--most not even a page long, some reading like verse--which eloquently captures the voice of a girl not used to having much free time, having her voice heard, or too sad to say much at once. Nonetheless, an voice of innocence dimmed but a spirit not extinguished shines through. We first meet Lakshmi living with her family on the slopes of the Himalayas, eking out a precarious existence but full of simple pleasures and maternal love. However, a monsoon and her disabled stepfather's gambling habit conspire to send Lakshmi away to the city for a "maid's" job with a stranger for 800 rupees. Taking in the new sights and sounds with wonder en route to India, Lakshmi is brutally introduced to her real position as an underage prostitute by the calculating brothel owner Mumtaz, to whom the debts of sexual indentured servitude will never be worked off. Nonetheless, she retains her love of learning and make friends--including fellow sex workers with similarly heartbreaking stories--who might enable her to escape this hopeless existence. Given the subject matter, it's a bit surprising Sold is a young adult book, but the violence and sex at the brothel are not graphically portrayed. The story ends abruptly, but one can only hope that means Lakshmi and the girls on whom she is based are no longer living as commodities sold and used. It's a story very deserving of being a finalist for the National Book Award in 2007.
Helpful Score: 2
This book is extremely well written BUT ... I would not allow my young teens to read it. And I wouldn't let my older teens read it alone. It is something that needs to be read together & discussed. This is not a topic that most teens are equipped to handle on their own especially as you near the end of the book. I would recommend it to any adult that cares about horrors these Nepali girls face. I wish the author would have included a list of the ministries battling this problem
Helpful Score: 2
I read SOLD in one sitting. The story of Lakshmi, a young girl sold in to sex slavery, is heartbreaking. What is even more gut-wrenching is knowing that her story is similar to many others around the world. I highly recommend this book.
Helpful Score: 1
I loved this book and I loved the style it was written in. The authors use of often times only a few paragraphs per page made it read like a diary.I could feel Lakshmis pain, her misery, her despair as I turned each page. It was simple, straight-forward and very hard hitting! The plight of these girls will break your heart. I have read many other books on this subject and even though this isn't a "per-se" memoir, it is based on the authors extensive study of girls forced into the sex trade and is one of the best I have ever read. Very nicely done! Excellent read and highly recommended for anyone intersted in this subject.
Helpful Score: 1
So Powerful. Concise, clear writing. I read this one straight through in a couple of hours. It is one of those that once you pick it up, you can't stop. I really felt for 13 year old Lakshmi, who comes form the dirt-poor mountains of Nepal, and due to her family's dwindling circumstances gets sold to a slave trader for money. Tragically, she ends up in a brothel in Calcutta. Her strength of spirit is admirable as she struggles to find her way in a nearly unbearable, new life and looks for any small hope of a way out.
