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James A. Levine
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Media
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Book
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Publisher | Weidenfeld & Nicolson | ||
ISBN | 978-029785561 | ||
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Reviewer
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Vicky
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Synopsis
THE BLUE NOTEBOOK, James A. Levine's first novel, tells the haunting story of Batuk, a 15-year old girl whose family, living in the Indian countryside, is in such poverty and debt that she is sold into sexual slavery and lives in a cage on the streets of Mumbai. Batuk is just one of many girls forced into prostitution, but against the odds, she manages to put pen to paper, writing stories of her life that help her transcend and make a certain sense of her daily existence. The novel is powerfully told in Batuk's voice, through the words she writes in her journal. Searing, moving, and surprisingly hopeful, THE BLUE NOTEBOOK explores how people, in the most difficult of circumstances, can use stories to understand and give meaning to their lives.
Review
The Blue Notebook is perhaps the most extraordinary and elegant books I have ever read. It tells the story of Batuk a 15 year old child prostitute from Mumbai's 'Street of Cages'.
Batuk is different to other child prostitutes - she can read and write and in her blue notebook we hear about her world in her own words. It is shockingly graphic and describes in detail what she does and how she feels about it. But she is able to write poetry and stories to help her rise above the despair of her position in the world. She shows how with determination she goes inside herself so as not to lose who she is and her spirit and the story of the Silver - Eyed Leopard is beautifully and eloquently told.
This is a book that will stay with you for a very long time and will make you wonder - why doesn't the Indian Government do something about these young children. In a supposedly democratic country why are these children left to the whims of society with seemingly no help at all.
As I said in the beginning this is an elegantly told story but even so it is still difficult to read and take on board that the author James A. Levine has based his story on what he saw in Mumbai's 'Street Of Cages' back in 2002.
The Blue Notebook deeply moved me and I feel it is set to become a classic of the future.
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