The Road of Lost Innocence: As a girl she was sold into sexual slavery, but now she rescues others. The true story of a Cambodian heroine.
 | Average Customer Rating: Recommend A portion of the proceeds of this book will be donated to the Somaly Mam Foundation.A riveting, raw, and beautiful memoir of tragedy and hopeBorn in a village deep in the Cambodian forest, Somaly Mam was sold into sexual slavery by her grandfather when she was twelve years old. For the next decade she was shuttled through the brothels that make up the sprawling sex trade of Southeast Asia. Trapped in this dangerous… Product details and pricing info |
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11 Customer Reviews Posted
- Heartbreaking, necessary reading
- Some books are dangerous; reading them opens your eyes and makes you see the world around you in a different way. After reading them this new understanding of reality lingers and is not easily dismissed. Stories like these drive you to action, serving as a call to take up arms. Somaly Mam's memoir, The Road of Lost Innocence, is one such book.
Born in Cambodia during years of political turmoil, Somaly never knew her parents - she still doesn't know what became of them. Left by her grandmother in a tribal village, her early years were spent outdoors, roaming amongst the huts looking for food. These years were happy compared to those that would follow after leaving northern Cambodia with a man who claimed to know of her parents at the age of six.
This man, her "grandfather" would proceed to beat and molest her, sell her virginity to pay his debts at the age of 11, marry her to an abusive husband at the age of fourteen and finally sell her to a brothel at 16. As you can imagine Somaly's story is not an easy, feel good read. The list of travesties, betrayals and corruption she has known is far too lengthy to detail here.
Catching glimpses of a better life, Somaly is eventually able to escape from the bondage of sexual slavery. Using the only currency at her disposal she begins to make alliances with foreign men - those with wealth and power - and uses them to begin her slow ascent out of prostitution. After achieving her freedom the girls she left behind haunt her. Knowing the devastation trafficking in girl-flesh wreaks she cannot stand motionless while atrocities are committed; hopefully you won't be able to either when this story comes to a close.
Presented in spare, matter of fact prose the writing itself mimics the Cambodian attitude towards life; silent, understated. Coming from a people who disguise their emotions to the utmost - simply writing this memoir is a break with traditional Cambodian culture. Somaly however, has long since ceased to be a traditional Cambodian.
The words seek to describe without betraying the depths of emotional pain behind them, but it still seeps through. Between each and every line, in the silences and pauses the pain is there alongside the fear and anger. The Road of Lost Innocence is the anguished soul cry of a woman who has never truly been loved, the heart breaking sobs of a shattered little girl.
Somaly brutally exposes the truth of modern sexual trafficking in south-east Asia through her own story and that of those she has rescued from slavery. She outlines the beginnings of her non-profit organizations that rescue girls and women from brothels, sketching out plans for their reintegration into society. Free of her physical bonds and able to offer hope to those in chains, she remains a broken woman. The aching sadness created throughout her life's circumstances is still present; only slightly mitigated by her relentless drive to rescue the weak and defend the defenseless.
She tells her story not to evoke sympathy for herself, though her pain is apparent. She writes, offering herself up to the public eye to draw attention to the plight of the girls and women who are still captive; taken against their will and viciously used. Somaly truly wants nothing for herself other than the opportunity to continue working with the victims of sexual trafficking and to draw awareness to their plight.
Truly, every responsible citizen of the world should engage Somaly's work. The difficult stories need to be told, more than that - they must be acted upon. Only with eyes opened to the atrocities surrounding us can we step out in faith, reaching into the darkness to rescue those bound there. - 2008-11-16, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Excellent book...difficult to read at times emotionally.
- This was a very good book on giving an overview of the sex slave industry and what is done to many young woman and children all over the world. There were times I had to put it down and come back later; especially during the victims chapter. A good read and very eye opening.
- 2008-11-11, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- The most incredible book, EVER!
- I just returned from a mission trip to Cambodia where we visited orphanages & womens' shelters who have been rescued out of sexual slavery. This book is a MUST read, & I'm so thankful People magazine ran an article on the book, or I may never have heard of it. Incredible memoir of an outstanding woman, Somalay Mam is a true heroe!
- 2008-11-10, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- A story you will never forget!
- Somaly Mam's poverty-stricken and orphaned childhood may have begun without promise, but this woman fought her way to survival and is now changing the lives of many young girls and young women. I believe the reason she is so effective is because she was subjected to the same brutality as the young women she is saving. I know that her story might be hard to believe, but I believe every word. As someone who has spent a lot of time in Thailand and who personally witnessed the plight of young girls sold into sex slavery Mam's story brought all the cruelty and horror back to me. My main source of sadness has to do with the fact that over the years the brutality has increased, with the girls taken to be repeatedly raped becoming younger and younger! At what point will the depraved start stealing female infants and sell them for sex to stupid men who believe that sex with a virgin is a guarentee against AIDS! And, to think that women themselves are a big part of the problem, as they buy the young girls and put them to work servicing customers! I really cannot understand the women who foster the sex slave trade.. These women are mothers themselves! And any man who can rape a child who is weeping and pleading to go home to her mother is nothing less than the vilest creature on earth. To stop the sex slave trade of children, the world needs thousands and thousands of people like Somaly Mam. We should all support her in every way possible. One way is to buy this book and spread the word, and the other is by sending her financial support to carry on her most important work... Somaly Mam, you deserve our total respect and support! Jean Sasson Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
- 2008-11-09, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- You Will Want to Do Something
- I can NOT imagine anyone finishing this book, putting it down, and moving on in life without reacting practically. Without helping with at least a token monetary effort to improve the world described in these pages. The unflinching manner in which Mam relates the stories of sexually enslaved Cambodian women and children simply smacks you in the face.
Mam suggests an explanation for why Cambodia has reached such a point of moral deterioration. "Three decades of bombing, genocide, and starvation and now my country is in a state of moral bankruptcy. . . . During the Khmer Rouge regime people detached themselves from any kind of human feeling, because feeling meant pain. . . . To avoid going mad, they shrank to the smallest part of a human, which is 'me.'"
Read this book and you will step outside that smallest part of a human. You will want to help. That, in itself, is an excellent reason for Mam's having written her story. - 2008-10-14, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
