Response: Crossing the Wire by Will Hobbs

I have mixed feelings about this book. I don't think Crossing the Wire has enough emotional intensity. Perhaps my expectations are too high from reading Sold. Nevertheless, the book was an easy read and enjoyable read. I've done very little traveling and have lived in the same house for most of my life. So I'm trying to comprehend leaving home and traveling to a new dangerous country. There is a coming-of-age theme to this book because Victor has to grow up very quickly. At the age of fifteen, Victor is risking his life for a slim chance of earning a living for his family. When I was fifteen I was worried about passing driver's ed. Reading this story is somewhat humbling and makes me glad that I live in a country where I'm free to travel from state to state and not worry about starvation. That being said, I recall Victor's injury from jumping off the train and I noticed the hospital treated him free of charge. I think many foreign countries as well as some of our own citizens create this utopist image of America. And while reading the story I wondered how Victor would live in America. He would still be an outcast. The American immigration and border policies are inefficient. This story reinforced my political stance on the immigration problem. I want America to be secure but I don't want to dehumanize anyone. The border patrol spends all this time rounding up people like Victor instead of real threats. For the most part, the travelers Victor met were friendly and aided in his journey. Although, he did get mixed up with some smugglers. I was expecting Victor to get shot or maybe one of his friends would die but the author kept things on the lighter side. I laughed at one particular reference about how the Americans would have a better chance of finding Bin Laden than the drug mules. I checked the publication date and saw 2006. I liked how Victor is portrayed as just an average kid struggling to control fear and his responsibilities. He is an honest, hard-working guy that just wants to feed his family. It's hard to find a flaw on him. It reminded me of The Outsiders. Kids are forced to take on more responsibilities and drama than they should. And that's just wrong regardless of where they are from.  

Response: Sold by Patricia McCormick

Wow. This book is pretty heavy. The first few pages left me wondering if a proper story could be told with a few short journal entries and a couple lines of poetry. My skepticism was quickly put to rest. From the beginning, young Lakshmi's life is filled with challenges  The simple necessities like food, shelter, and even water elude Lashkmi and millions like her. What I found interesting was that her religion had aspects of Islam and traditional Himalayan beliefs. Her faith plays a prominent role in her line of thinking and I wonder if this does more harm than good. Her Islamic faith dictates that she shouldn't even be in the same room as a man. Would she have resisted and been beaten, starved, druged, and raped if her religion didn't have such strong taboos? For a while she blamed herself and then started blaming the people responsible like Mumtaz and the customers. However, I don't believe Lashkmi ever blamed her father even though he was the one that sold her and put all of this into motion. Lashkmi sill feels a sense of duty to her family which i don't know if I admire or pity. It's all but impossible to begin to fathom the best way to survive such atrocities  Readers should ask themselves how the would react but understand that there is not way of knowing without first hand experience.  I read a few reviews of Sold online and the consensus is generally positive. Nonetheless, a few reviews claim the book is simplistic and only deals with one problem/conflict. I saw issues of poverty, women's rights, police corruption, healthcare, and international assistance. Any one of these issues is worthy of a story and I am dismayed that anyone could downplay such a tragic tale.