Take a photo of a barcode or cover
momadvice 's review for:
Girls Burn Brighter
by Shobha Rao
This book was absolutely brutal and has scarred my heart a lot as I have thought about this brave debut novel.
Poornima & Savitha are poor and ambitious girls. After Poornima's mother dies, she is left to care for her siblings until her father can find another suitable match to raise them. Savitha ends up coming to work for their family and she and Poornima fall into a fast and beautiful friendship. Poornima finds herself inspired by Savitha's bravery and independence and the two begin to imagine a life that is beyond arranged marriages.
Unfortunately, something terrible happens to Savitha that suddenly drives her away, leaving behind a heartbroken Poornima. Poornima will stop at nothing to find her friend and her journey leads her on one heartbreaking turn after another, living in the underbelly of India's darkest corners.
This book is not for the highly sensitive reader as it explores human trafficking in the most brutal of ways. Rao is unflinching in her storyline and doesn't give her reader a single moment of glossed over happiness within this heartbreaking world of sex trafficking.
I can read just about anything without reservations, but I had to step away from this novel at points and even had nightmares regarding this storyline.
That said, my belief system is that we should know and talk about this stuff, perhaps, not to the brutal lengths this story went, but it lead me to really read more into human trafficking and try to understand this issue more. This novel gave me a deeper understanding of how easy it is to get into and how impossible it is to get out.
My main complaint with this novel wasn't the horrific story, but the unsatisfying ending that Rao chose to end the story with. As a reader, I felt owed a simple two sentence conclusion that would have brought me more peace of mind with these characters. I am still stumped why Rao left this story so open ended unless it was to lead to a sequel.
Overall, I'm glad I read it and I will be thinking about Poornima & Savitha for a long time.
Poornima & Savitha are poor and ambitious girls. After Poornima's mother dies, she is left to care for her siblings until her father can find another suitable match to raise them. Savitha ends up coming to work for their family and she and Poornima fall into a fast and beautiful friendship. Poornima finds herself inspired by Savitha's bravery and independence and the two begin to imagine a life that is beyond arranged marriages.
Unfortunately, something terrible happens to Savitha that suddenly drives her away, leaving behind a heartbroken Poornima. Poornima will stop at nothing to find her friend and her journey leads her on one heartbreaking turn after another, living in the underbelly of India's darkest corners.
This book is not for the highly sensitive reader as it explores human trafficking in the most brutal of ways. Rao is unflinching in her storyline and doesn't give her reader a single moment of glossed over happiness within this heartbreaking world of sex trafficking.
I can read just about anything without reservations, but I had to step away from this novel at points and even had nightmares regarding this storyline.
That said, my belief system is that we should know and talk about this stuff, perhaps, not to the brutal lengths this story went, but it lead me to really read more into human trafficking and try to understand this issue more. This novel gave me a deeper understanding of how easy it is to get into and how impossible it is to get out.
My main complaint with this novel wasn't the horrific story, but the unsatisfying ending that Rao chose to end the story with. As a reader, I felt owed a simple two sentence conclusion that would have brought me more peace of mind with these characters. I am still stumped why Rao left this story so open ended unless it was to lead to a sequel.
Overall, I'm glad I read it and I will be thinking about Poornima & Savitha for a long time.