A review by yodamom
Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement

4.0

I read this at the request of my daughter. It is not something I would ever had read otherwise. It was a beautifully written book about a horrible life. I will never think about illegal immigrants the same way again. I've heard the tales of them coming here to avoid their horrible lives but I could not relate and still can't really. I was born here in the USA and dang grateful for it. Living through these nightmares with this young girl, even if made up has shown me how horrible the horrors could be.
The book is about a young girl living in the mountains outside of Acapulco. It is a very remote village, where there are no men only women and children. The men are off working in another city or country or have run off for good. The woman struggle to make do, and to hide their pretty daughters. There are no female children here only little boys till puberty, little girls are stolen. Pretty girls are owned by the cartels that use them sell them or kill them. The mothers make their girls ugly, bury them in dirt holes and pray. We follow this girl while she watches the horrors of her life stumble and crash.
This is not a pretty book, there are no dances, no happy smily faces, no rainbows. Reality, the dark side of corruption and the drug trade in Mexico.