“On our mountain only boys were born, and some of them turned into girls around the age of eleven. Then these boys had to turn into ugly girls who sometimes had to hide in holes in the ground.” (4)
In the mountains of Guerrero, Mexico, being a girl – especially a pretty one – is a dangerous thing. For these poverty-stricken families, daughters are disguised as boys, made ugly, and are hidden in the ground to avoid being taken and sold by the drug traffickers who control the area. Once a girl is “stolen,” she never comes back. Jennifer Clement’s Prayers for the Stolen pays homage to their stories.
Prayers for the Stolen follows Ladydi, a smart and determined teenage girl living with a revenge-driven mother who does her own version of stealing. Ladydi shares this terrifying reality with her three closest friends: the tall and fearless Estefani, harelipped and safe Maria, and Paula, the only girl to ever return after being stolen. Each day they live in fear of deadly scorpions, the cartels’ black Escalades, and the government’s poisonous pesticide being dropped from the air, with no hope of escaping this life or any thoughts of tomorrow. Tragedy after tragedy hits Ladydi and her mountain and still she carries on, learning “the mercy of a killer.”
The style of writing was a little rough to adjust to, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll find that it really is like reading the mind of a teenage girl. Ladydi is very likable; her thoughts are simple and honest and while she, herself, is very compassionate, she is also a realist. A survivor. Her story and that of her friends is a heartbreaking tale of innocent victims in an unjust war and one that is, unfortunately, based on the true experiences of far too many girls and women.
Twisted Talk: How does culture define beauty for women? Will you read Prayers for the Stolen? Discuss below!
