10 Year Blogversary - My Favourite Book from 2014 - Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement

 

Now we make you ugly, my mother said. She whistled. Her mouth was so close she sprayed my neck with her whistle-spit. I could smell beer. In the mirror I watched her move the piece of charcoal across my face. It's a nasty life, she whispered.

It's my first memory. She held an old cracked mirror to my face. I must have been about five years old. The crack make my face look as if it had been broken into two pieces. The best thing you can be in Mexico is an ugly girl...

***

On the mountainside in rural Mexico where Ladydi lives, being a girl is dangerous. Especially a pretty one. If the Narcos hear there is a pretty girl on the mountain, they steal her. So when the black SUVs roll into town, Ladydi and her friends hide in the warren of holes scattered across the mountain, safely out of sight. Because the stolen girls don’t come back.

Ladydi is determined to get out, to find a life that offers more than just the struggle to survive. But she soon finds that the drug cartels have eyes everywhere, and the cities are no safer than the mountains.

***

Continuing with my ten year blog anniversary celebrations, here is another of my favourites of the decade. Today I am publishing my favourite read from 2014 and was originally posted on 17th February, 2014. I read it on Kindle at the time and I noted the price as costing £6.02 that day. Today the same edition would cost £4.99 from the same retailer so is in fact less expensive today than it was nine years ago. 

This book has stayed with me since then. I have updated the review a little so there is more information about the book and the author but essentially the review is as it appeared that day.

This novel deals with some difficult issues.  Every year in Mexico women go missing, stolen by drug cartels to be used as prostitutes or slave labour. Jennifer Clements has based her novel on the lives of these women and she unflinchingly faces this issue head on.

However, whilst this novel makes the reader look at the harsh realities facing these women Ms. Clements writes intelligently and sensitively ensuring that this was a book that had me completely hooked.  She skilfully humanises real life victims through her portrayal of her characters whom she has created with a detailed realism. Whilst we experience the hardships facing the women and girls of this community they are never self pitying and are always brutally honest.

The prose is impeccable and not a word is wasted.  The subject matter ensures that this is not a comfortable book to read. The author packs a hard punch in this novel but does so whilst gently guiding her readers through it so that the subject matter never becomes overwhelming.  She is a very skilled writer and I am convinced that this is a book that will be being discussed amongst readers and critics long after the publication date.

I shall certainly be re-reading it at some point as it has so much to offer.  A book rich in humanity and insight, powerful and thought provoking and that is also beautifully written deserves a place on everybody’s bookshelf and I would strongly encourage you to read this.

ISBN: 978 0099587590

Publisher: Vintage

Formats:  e-book, hardcover and paperback

No. of Pages:  240 (paperback)

About the Author:

Jennifer Clement is President Emerita of the human rights and freedom of expression organization PEN International and the only woman to hold the office of President (2015-2021) since the organization was founded in 1921.   

Clement is author of the novels A True Story Based on Lies, The Poison That Fascinates, Prayers for the Stolen, Gun Love and Stormy People as well as several poetry books including Poems and Errors, published by Kaunitz-Olsson in Sweden.  Clement also wrote the acclaimed memoir Widow Basquiat on New York City in the early 1980’s and the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat, which NPR named best book of 2015 in seven different categories.  Her memoir The Promised Party will be published in early 2024. Clement’s books have been translated into 38 languages and have covered topics such as the stealing of little girls in Mexico, the effects of gun violence and trafficking of guns into Mexico and Central America as well as writing about her life in  the art worlds of Mexico and New York.

Jennifer Clement was raised in Mexico where she lives.  She and her sister Barbara Sibley founded and direct the San Miguel Poetry Week.  Clement has a double major in anthropology and English Literature from New York University (Gallatin)  and an MFA from University of Southern Maine (Stonecoast). She was named a Distinguished Alumna by the Kingswood Cranbrook School.

(author photo and bio courtesy of the author's website https://www.jenniferclement.org/)

(all opinions are my own)