The Road of Lost Innocence (2005)

This book is honest, brutally, painfully honest and that is really why it can make a difference. With every page I felt Somaly Mam's struggle with the prostitution that was a big part of her past and how the very same past has propelled her forward. I feel lucky, extremely lucky, because I know had I lived the life she has I would have been completely broken and not able to stand up for righteousness like she has. She is a true hero.

In many ways the story of the little Cambodian girls sold by their very own parents, owned like commodities by different people in different points in their lives, I find those stories similar to the untold stories of little Nepalese girls in the forgotten villages of my country. It has made it easier for me to empathize with the horrors described in the book. This book shows Mam's strength as a human being and her story is one that deserves to be told.

In many ways it is not the writing or even the content of the book that will draw the reader in; it is the brutally honest way that the story is written that will leave a lasting impression. One can feel the pain Mam was feeling, see the horrors that she was encountering from her past while writing this book. The fact that she completed this book no matter what it cost her to go down the memory lane is what makes this even more commendable.

It is a must read for every person of every gender who want to know how deep the roots of sex slavery, prostitution and human trafficking go into our society. ( )

When I started to read the book, noting the curiously flat tone and simple language, I thought I was in for another one of the books like [b:Slave|2929235|Sklavin|Mende Nazer|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21U93KReBBL._SL75_.jpg|1116999] by Mende Nazer (a 5-star book) or even Halima Bashir's [b:Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur|3170677|Tears of the Desert A Memoir of Survival in Darfur|Halima Bashir|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1267830964s/3170677.jpg|3202798] (another 5-star read). I've read a lot of these books of Black men and women taken by the Arabs in Sudan as slaves or victims of a civil war and I'd reached the point where I only wanted to read another one if it was going to be radically different. This one is.

Somaly Mam didn't have a good start in life and it went rapidly downhill after that with her as a young girl being sold to a 'grandfather' as a slave, a man who would repay his debts at the local shop by selling her virginity in a violent rape. The downhill acceleration picked up from there.

But then she met a man, a typical European traveller who likes working abroad and mixing with the locals and doesn't much mind if he pays for sex or not. Becoming his mistress saved her life. Eventually she forms a powerful and very successful charity to save other girls, estimated to be 1 in 40 of all the girls in Cambodia, who have found themselves with nowhere lower than death to go, and even in that, Somaly Mam is there for them. It's the story of her life and how it changed with this man that is the most interesting part.

I've seen sex slaves. My son and I were in Bangkok and went to the Patpong market, a night market. Down the centre of the broad street were stalls back-to-back selling t-shirts and jewelry and down the sides were shops and bars. The bars had their doors propped half open and inside some, dancing on round tables were exquisite doll-like girls with dull, dead eyes, swinging slowly around their stripper poles as they waited for the customers to come inside.

I'm glad I've read the book, its fleshed out the statistics I've read on sex slavery in the Far East, and given life to those girls who looked like they had none or didn't care if they did or not. I wouldn't have chosen that market for my son to see at only fourteen, but then why not, he was the same age as those dead-eyed girls.



( )

Somaly Mam IS an inspiration to women around the world. Her story of being sold into sexual slavery and then managing to get out of it AND to make it her life's work to help other girls (some as young as eight years old) to escape the slavery in Cambodia is something that every single person should read about.

Slavery is still happening in the world today and it is hidden because it is glamorized as an exotic thing for tourists to do. It needs to stop and these women and girls who have been terrorized by it need to be freed. ( )

A grim yet heartening memoir by a non-Khmer Cambodian woman who was sold into sexual slavery. After getting out of Cambodia, she ultimately returned and now assists women and children. Mam is a good writer and if a book with this content can be said to be enjoyable, this one is. ( )

Somaly Mam was sold into prostitution at the age of about 12 years old, after having already been beaten and raped by multiple men. [The Road of Lost Innocence] is Mam’s memoir, detailing her years in the brothels of Cambodia, her eventual escape, and the national aid organization she founded to help other victims escape. Mam recounts the nightmare of her life in simple and straightforward language, never shying from the awful details of the sex industry in Southeast Asia. The story is ultimately one of sheer will to survive, as Mam didn’t really do anything special to escape, except outlasting her tormentors. The real story of the human spirit is Mam’s later work to help other victims like her escape and live safe, full lives.

Bottom Line: A story that should be read by all, but one that not everyone will want to read.

4 bones!!!! ( )