Review of Sold by Patricia McCormick

Sold by Patricia McCormick is a story told in short chapters, sometimes as few as three sentences per page. Often it reads like verse. Time and location are abstract concepts in the limited narration of the book, giving it a chilling feel due to the dark nature of the book. The book revolves entirely around a girl’s life in a brothel. This subject matter is not easy to read, but somehow the book flew by in what seemed like no time at all.

 I read it in two sittings and found myself completely engulfed by the language. Each moment written had unique importance to the character’s life. Some lines were so shocking that it was painful to imagine, but the perspective gave joy to the smallest things and underplayed the evil inherent to the world of sex trade.

When I finished reading Sold I got on Goodreads to add it to my list of books I have read. I was frankly surprised by the negative feedback the book had received. Reviewers were often shocked by the content and uncomfortable with the minimalist writing style. One review I did not consider was a discussion over the portrayal of Americans. ***spoiler alert*** The book ends with Americans raiding the brothel where the main character is captive. She comes out of hiding and it is insinuated that she is rescued by them. Despite the warm hearted feeling this gave me when I read it, it does beg the question, would this really happen? A reviewer on Goodreads said, “oh great, another ‘America saves the day’ story.” This may be a tad cynical but they do have a point. Many of the girls in the sex trade die of diseases or end up destitute and homeless. Some even enter the trade at a higher level and begin trading in girls themselves. This is not how the book ended however. The book ended with the tall handsome American hero saving the day.

Is it right for an American to write this story? Does this book do any good? It’s very hard to know the answers to these questions. The book draws considerable attention to a brutal topic of world importance, however the book ends by saying, “everything is fine though, America fixed it.” I thought long and hard about how I would feel if the book had ended in death or something darker in the main character and ultimately I agree with the author’s decision to write a book that offered a modicum of hope to an incredibly dark topic. It deserves to be noted though that Americans are far from faultless when it comes to sex trade and the organizations that do help, barely scratch the surface of the problem. As Americans books like this help us compartmentalize the brutality and evil of the world and make us believe that we are the faultless heroes of the world. I hope beyond hope that American heroes do save children from the slave trade around the world, but I will also never forget the thousands of children who are not saved and never will be.