Review of SOLD

This was probably one of the most saddest stories I have read in a very long time. The moment I started reading this book I was surprised at so many things. Not only were the living conditions in which Lakshmi lived surprising, but the family structure and roles. The stepfather was a no good, lazy, not worth anything, drunk, gambling kind of guy who didn't care about anyone, but himself. The mother on the other hand not only supported her family and took care of them, but she would basically bow and kneel at the feet of her husband and yet he was ungrateful dumb-ass (for lack of a better word). I still couldn't understand how the mother would tell her daughter Lakshmi that having a man in the house despite his behavior is better than no man at all.

There was a point in the story that I felt like slapping the stepfather when he talked about the difference between a son and a daughter. He basically compared a girl to a goat saying that basically all they were good for was for providing and nothing else. This idea was also confirmed by the mother when she said that a son is breastfed for four years while a daughter is only breastfed for a season in hopes of trying to conceive a boy. With this you can see that women aren't valued as much as men and there is a gender inequity.

As I continued reading the book I highlighted so many things because Lakshmi was so good at describing her surroundings and feelings once she was sold by her stepfather and brought into this human trafficking business under deception. I was literally able to feel what she was feeling and put myself in her shoes. All I remember thinking is that I wanted her to escape and be freed as soon as possible. I wanted police or some sort of help to come to stop that lowlife of Mumtaz. How could a woman do this to another girl or woman? I just didn't understand.  Of course Lakshmi made friends with some of the girls there which made it a bit easier to bear this cruelty, but as they started to disappear you can see how Lakshmi was starting to feel even more and more alone.

It was also disappointing to hear that Monica--one of the girls at the Happiness House who had returned home-- was rejected by her family. She thought that after helping them so much with medicine and surgeries etc. that they would be grateful and take her back, but instead they begged her not to because she would shame their family and her father beat her with a cane. And to top it all of they told her daughter that she was dead. That right there was heartless and cruel especially when the family are the ones that sell these children in the first place. I wish I could strangle them all, it makes me so angry that there are people out in this world doing these things to other people. There are no words to describe this sort of act. 

I saw how after everything she experienced trust became an issue for her. When the American men came and asked her questions and would leave and pay just to talk, she was wondering whether to believe them or not since she already did that once and this is where it led her to. Eventually, she believed and waited for their return. Once the American men came back she was saved and hopefully taken to a much better place.

The only two things that I probably enjoyed in the book were her rescue at the end of the book and her relationship with her pet goat at the beginning of the book. Those were the only times where I felt she was truly happy.