T. Louise Brown

3,5

Its been some time since I read this book.But it still remain fresh in my mind.Its a sordid world the author presents,with young girls who become prostitutes,sometimes even guided into the world by their own mothers.Seems there is a tradition of that sort of thing in Pakistan More about that here

Womens emancipation has come a long way since we got the vote. That is in the western world. But if you are poor and female in that part of the world...things arent so great.

The author debates with herself throughout the book if she should break her role as an objective observer and step in to help some of the girls she encounter.

She does try to talk with the mother of the family about their sitation,but its clear that the mother is unable to understand her viewpoint.To them this is their way of life that has been going on for generations.

I would recommend this book,despite its grim premise its a riveting read. You really start to care about the persons the author meets and interacts with.And your heart breaks for them.



… (mais)

I do not think I’ve read a book - fiction nor nonfiction - that took place in Pakistan before. And, getting a glimpse into the lives of people who are probably not often talked about was an opportunity I’m very glad I got by having this book introduced to me. There are parts of the book that are written very well and do much to convey a sense of what life is like for those in Heera Mandi.

However, some of Brown’s choices made me consider not finish reading the book. One of the main ones being the way she describes and talks about certain people. While it makes a lot of sense when she comments how the people and society would perceive the appearance of someone, when she continues to make it a focal point about a person being ‘fat’ or ‘ugly’ it began to feel a bit unsettling because the majority of the time these points had no bearing on anything else that happened and the text would have felt more like a glimpse into the lives of those she talked about, but instead became more and more like an opinion piece filled with biases.

Another aspect of the book I think was not executed well was her use of Urdu and Punjabi words. Most of the time, her use helped ground the story in its setting and were things that did not translate well into English. But, she also uses Urdu or Punjabi words for things like ‘lane’ and ‘intersection.’ And I just do not see what that adds to the text because if there is a nuance in those words which do not exist in the English, there is no indication in the text itself nor in the glossary at the end of the book.

The final thing that makes this book a bit hard to get into is the large number of people she writes about. While it is good to be introduced to a wide range of people who live in the area she writes about, the structure of the book is such that it becomes rather challenging to remember who certain people are because they are brought up only occasionally and each mention is rather far removed from others. Though, on the whole, the chronological structure does work well because the majority of the focus is on one family.

If this is a topic you are interested, it is a book worth reading, but if it’s not something that you are interested in, I wouldn’t recommend trying to get through it.

Content Warnings: physical and emotional abuse, especially of people under 18 years old, animal abuse, and mentions of rape and people - in particular girls under 18 - being forced to have sexual contact with significantly older men, drug abuse, etc.… (mais)

Like reading about the horrors the Nazi doctors perpetrated upon the Jews at the concentration camps, this book was an incredibly depressing and yet eye-opening expose of sex trafficking in Asia, but it worth every emotionally difficult minute for the perspective, insight, and education it gave me on this problem. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be awakened and informed about the enormous problem of sex trafficking in Asia. Depressing book. I don't rate it 5 stars because I like the subject, but that I now appreciate the gravity of the sex trafficking situation in Asia due to this book's excellent exposition of it.… (mais)

A beautifully scripted heart wrenching saga on the turbulent life of Maha( a veteran in sex trade) in the illustrious red light area of Heera Mandi /Diamond Market in Lahore, Pakistan.

Heera Mandi once famous for its artistic aura of courtesans known purely for their dancing and singing skills has now been reduced to a commercial sex factory. A similar fate experienced by the courtesans of Lucknow (India) and the Geishas of Japan.

Brown’s protagonist Maha who is at the dusk of her career (prostitution was looked as a profession), fights the dilemmas of her burdensome life encompassing struggles from being the sole breadwinner to being a mother to five children. Her family is yet to find the respect privileged to the so called civil world. In her prime, Maha was sold to a wealthy Arab in Dubai at the age of 12. A few years later she donned the role of a mistress to a wealthy Pakistani man. As years passed by, she was disowned by her wealthy benefactor compelling Maha to live on the charity of an opium addicted businessman. Moreover, her daughter’s incidental attraction to her world worsens her dilemmas.

Maha’s story does not have a happy ending. It is not a fairytale but a reality that overwhelms many lives of young innocent victims of sex-trade. Brown’s characterization of Maha is an eye opener which exposes the dark underbelly of a civilized society. Maha is one the countless blameless outcasts of a situation created by lecherous sexual elements.

… (mais)