Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

Le colis by Anosh Irani

5 reviews

cian_'s review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Medical content, Trafficking, and Abandonment

Moderate: Confinement, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Alcohol, and Classism

ludon5681's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The Parcel is a deeply reflective, compassionate novel about prostitution, trafficking, gender, and deprivation set in Kamathipura, a destitute red-light district of Bombay. The story is told from the point of view of Madhu, a 40-year-old Hijra (person of the third gender - akin to a transgender woman who has been castrated) who had been a sex worker and is now a beggar. Mahdu has a very distinct voice dripping with dry, dark humour and understandable bitterness for the way her life had turned out. Her deeply and carefully rendered character - along with the characters around her who make up the rich landscape of the novel - is a highlight of the book, and the character development and depth of the characters was by far my favorite part of the novel. The writing was more matter-of-fact than I would have liked; there were fewer passages which took my breath away than I was expecting there to be, though there were still some beautiful ones. I also found the ending to be a bit abrupt - it's possible it was foreshadowed in ways that I didn't immediately pick up on, but it didn't seem to follow from a clear arc of character development in the way I would have hoped. Lastly, of course, it is best to go into this book informed - it is very much "dead dove: do not eat" territory, and while it is a gorgeous, resonant novel, it is also a lot to take in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Medical content

kanjichris's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Transphobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Death, Violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Classism

tshepiso's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

The Parcel is a book I wouldn't have touched with a 100-metre pole if it hadn't been assigned reading for a uni course. It's the kind of literary fiction marketers describe as "raw" and "unflinching" that can best be summed up as graphic misery put to the page. I don't deny that the subject matter Anosh Irani tackles in this book, the sex traffic of children in Mumbai, isn't an important or worthy subject matter for a book but I am definitely not this book's target audience.

The Parcel follows a Hijra sex worker turned beggar Madhu as she is solicited by a brothel madam to "prepare" a Nepalese child for life as a sex worker. The book is ambling and expansive as we get the history of Madhu and her fellow sex workers' lives in Kathumapura, the red light district of Mumbai.

To describe this story as bleak is an understatement. The centre of this novel is the emotional tumult of our protagonist as she unpacks the ways her family and society as a whole discards her and people like her. Madhu is coarse and vulgar as she sifts through a lifetime of horrific trauma and Irani rarely pulls punches when he describes the gruesome realities of violence, rape, and abuse in the underbelly of Mumbai.

This book is visceral, occasionally vile and reads like an endless onslaught of misery. I don't doubt The Parcel is a well-crafted novel but it couldn't be farther from the kinds of books I enjoy reading and had a thoroughly unpleasant time with it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Rape

Minor: Suicide

annabunce's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is a hard book to review. Was the writing amazing? Yes. Was the story compelling? Yes. Did I learn something about a culture I know nothing about? Yes. Was it hard to read and upsetting? Yes. Am I glad I read it?.... yes. A hard read but ultimately a good one. Check the content warning though - this book could be very triggering to many folks. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Transphobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, and Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty