Sold, entry 2

Sold is an amazing book! I started it last night, and it moves quite quickly, but it's definitely not a "feel good" book. I feel so sorry for the main character. She's been sold into slavery by her stepfather and desperately misses her home in the mountains with her mother. She's so innocent, and it's hard to believe such situations exist today.

Patricia McCormick traveled to Nepal and India to research how young girls are sold into such situations to save their families. She has created a main character that pulls at your heart. She's definitely quite different from the other characters I've been reading about. I can't wait to get back to this book this afternoon.

A Later Update

I finished reading Sold just a few minutes ago, and it was phenomenal! The main character's name is Lakshmi which I think is a beautiful name. This reminds me of the NPR reporter that I hear so frequently in the mornings. Lakshmi is so amazingly innocent. She misses her pet goat and often refers to the pink of its nose and the brown of its eyes. When the goat follows her to school one day, Lakshmi promises her on the way home, "Next week, . . . we will work on our spelling." Details like this assure that I'm going to be attached to this main character.

I feel so sorry for Lakshmi. I just want to take her home and give her a bath and a safe place to live. Towards the end of the book, she says,

I shut my eyes tight. I don't know what to believe. I believed that the stranger in the yellow cloud dress was taking me to the city to work as a maid. I believed that Uncle Husband would protect me from the bad city people. I believed that if I worked hard enough here at Happiness House, I could pay down my debt. And I believed it was all worth it for the sake of my family. I am too afraid to believe him.

What a powerful book that reminds us that as we live our self-absorbed lives, there are so many out there suffering in unbelievable ways.

Has anyone else read this one?