Age Range -
Mature Young Adult
Genre -
Adventure
LitPick Review
Age at time of review - 42
Reviewer's Location -
De Soto,
MO,
United States
View juliesaraporter's profile
At 8-years-old, Yuna was kidnapped from her impoverished Mongolian home. She and several other children escaped from the kidnappers, and she was rescued. Unfortunately, she was rescued by Tuya and Xanadu, two people who appeared to be helpful but revealed their real intentions when they reached Chiang Rai, Thailand. Yuna was then sold to a brothel. She and other girls were abused by their customers and employers. Yuna spent two years at the brothel before she was sold to a wealthy Bangkok pimp. In Bangkok, she fights to escape to freedom.
Opinion:
Daddy's Curse by Luke G. Dahl is a moving heart-breaking book about a young Mogolian girl who becomes a victim of human trafficking. It is a truly graphic book with various paragraphs that would bring tears to even the hardest of hearts. Yuna described various moments of servicing clients, most of whom are middle-aged or older. She was frequently raped and made to perform numerous sex acts before she was even ten years old. She was given drugs by clients and escaped into them to avoid the pain and shame that surrounded her.
Yuna's transformation from a sweet naive kid to a hardened, cynical young adult unable to trust anyone is among the most heart-breaking. The worst moment that truly broke her was when she finally learned how she was sold in the first place and that she could never go home again.
The ending is open-ended as we learn that Yuna escaped but not much else about where she ended up nor how she passed her story along to Dahl. The important thing is that she did and that her story has been told. This book sheds light on the crime of human trafficking.
Explain your content rating:
Child prostitution, slavery, violence, children in frequent danger, rape, drug use
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