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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
Very good read!
File under: expanded my consciousness, florid language, page-turner, shocking
Learned about: Mexico, rural Mexico, drug trafficking, human trafficking, prison, schools, girlhood/womanhood, AIDS, insects, jungles, technological influence, herbicide
File under: expanded my consciousness, florid language, page-turner, shocking
Learned about: Mexico, rural Mexico, drug trafficking, human trafficking, prison, schools, girlhood/womanhood, AIDS, insects, jungles, technological influence, herbicide
I would recommend this gem to all professors of college women’s lit classes. This authentic story written by a woman from Mexico City herself is set in a small mountain village in Mexico where drug cartels dominate and being a girl is inherently risky due to human trafficking. It was a glimpse into a world of human rights violations that we in the US don’t often remember. And, the main character is one of the strongest protagonists I have encountered in some time.
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
Technically this book rates 4 stars, but the story is so so sad. It goes makes you feel the despair of the women. The mothers whose children are stolen and never come back. The girls who end up dead or so broken they might as well be dead. There is a sort of hope at the end.
On our mountain only boys were born, and some of them turned into girls around the age of 11.
3.5 stars. This is a shocking but very beautifully written account of live in rural Mexico, especially looking at the women of the country. There were so many things I did not know before reading Prayers for the Stolen - for instance that so many men left for work in the USA, leaving all the women to fend for themselves Being in a place without men is like being asleep without dreams. Or that so many girls are still abducted and killed in current day Mexico. Since the Narco war started in 2006 - 28,000 people has dissapeared. This is a country where there's no-one that can help, as even the supposedly good guys are corrupted. My mother said that every person was a drug dealer including the police, of course, the mayor, guaranteed, and even the damn president of the country was a narco. It is obvious that Jennifer Clement has written four books of poetry, and her metaphorical prose contrasts vividly against the stark setting. I am looking forward to reading her next book.
This is where we are proud to be the angriest and meanest people in the world.
Written from a child's perspective with striking candor that at times feels satiric and always feels human. Clement makes it impossible not to empathize with Ladydi and the women in her life. Gobble this one up. It's a gem.
dark
emotional
fast-paced
This week I read Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement. I picked it up in our local library, and the story is much better and more complex than the blurb on the book jacket led me to believe. Jennifer is an American who grew-up in Mexico, and she has continued living there as an adult. Interestingly, she received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction for this book, which is spooky if you think about the timing with certain current events.
This book is a difficult read. The violence is disturbing and heartbreaking. The abuse of young girls is horrific. And what makes it even worse is that Jennifer Clement interviewed many women in Mexican prisons as part of her research for the novel. A big part of the book reminds me of Orange Is the New Black, and her plot point of hiding girls in holes actually stemmed from these interviews: Clement was told how one mother hid her daughter in a hole in a cornfield, and the prisoner explained to her how this was a very common practice in Guerrero. I think this is a very well-written book, and very important, too. I highly recommend it.
This book is a difficult read. The violence is disturbing and heartbreaking. The abuse of young girls is horrific. And what makes it even worse is that Jennifer Clement interviewed many women in Mexican prisons as part of her research for the novel. A big part of the book reminds me of Orange Is the New Black, and her plot point of hiding girls in holes actually stemmed from these interviews: Clement was told how one mother hid her daughter in a hole in a cornfield, and the prisoner explained to her how this was a very common practice in Guerrero. I think this is a very well-written book, and very important, too. I highly recommend it.
This novel was extremely shocking but, at the same time, seemed entirely honest. I am glad I got the opportunity to read a book that so vividly paints a portrait of an area such as rural Mexico- a place that, were not for the blurb of this book, do not believe I would have otherwise chosen read about.
I also really appreciated the exploration of how the harsh and unforgiving climate in which the women on the mountain were born and bred affected the way in they thought, spoke and behaved.
This is a powerful book.
I also really appreciated the exploration of how the harsh and unforgiving climate in which the women on the mountain were born and bred affected the way in they thought, spoke and behaved.
This is a powerful book.
This was such an amazing read. When I was reading what it was about and saw that they mentioned Guerrero, Mexico I knew I had to read it right away. My parents are from Guerrero and it is so cool seeing that it was a setting for this story. Thank you, Jennifer for describing the beauty and the horror that happens in a place I call home.