Set for publication July 7, 2009 by Spiegel & Grau (a division of RandomHouse)
When Batuk Ramasdeen was just nine years old, her father took her from her home in a rural village of India and sold her into sexual slavery in Mumbai. Then, she didn’t know to be scared until it was too late. Now, six years later, fifteen-year-old Batuk has used her wiles to obtain a blue notebook and a pencil, which she uses to record her stories. Batuk cannot afford to allow herself to feel too deeply or to think about what her life has become, so she pours her thoughts and experiences onto paper.
James Levine’s debut novel The Blue Notebook alternates between Batuk’s writings about her past and her first-person narration of her current circumstances. She lives in a cell, her “nest,” in a brothel with four other girls and one boy, Puneet, who is the prized prince of the place and Batuk’s best friend. In her notebook, Batuk tells us of how she learned to read during her stay in a TB ward, and she reveals her intelligence and precociousness. She writes with vivid descriptions that allow us to feel the warm thickness of the city air and smell the odor of dirty bodies, animals, and waste with nowhere else to go. She brings us into her moments of “making sweet-cake” with her customers, telling us that she hates her job but strives to be good at it so her oppressors will favor her, and she reveals that she often wishes she were deranged or incapable of knowing the unbelievable truth about her life.
Batuk’s experiences are often painful and devastating to read about. She is raped and beaten multiple times, and she realizes with intense clarity that her body has become public property, that the men who desire her feel entitled to take her with or without her consent, and that they often enjoy it more when they take her against her will. Though she has certainly been forced to grow up too fast, Batuk reminds us that she is, in many ways, still a little girl. She has an active imagination, she likes to color, and she refers to her vagina as “Bunny Rabbit.” But she also enjoys being made up and dressed in finery, not as a form of playing pretend but because she understands the power she has over men and wants to hold onto it as long as she can. This contrast between girlhood and forced womanhood make clear the atrocities she is forced to endure, and they make for a very compelling story.
As Batuk writes about her experiences, she tends to relay the events and her thoughts very clearly, but she rarely touches on her emotions. This allows readers a small taste of her life, as we feel that we are there in the room with her but that we are, at the same time, distanced from her emotions and our reactions. Levine uses this technique effectively, but he often allows Batuk to express thoughts and philosophical insights far beyond the scope of what a fifteen-year-old—even one as precocious as Batuk—is capable of. I found it distracting and a bit irksome, and I think it would have been better to express those insights through third-person narration woven into Batuk’s first-person writings.
The Blue Notebook is a powerful and very sad read that reminded me in many ways of Memoirs of a Geisha. It gives a personal voice to an issue of global importance and forces us to pay attention to something many would prefer to ignore. James Levine has given us a solid debut that hints at the promise of great things to come, and booklovers will be drawn into his story about the refuge available to us in words and the release we can find in writing. 4 out of 5.
Filed under: Book Reviews | Tagged: Book Reviews, books, debut novels, fiction, james levine, reading, sexual slavery, the blue notebook
I was just devastated by this book. But one question I had – she goes into great detail about how she got the pencil, but I can’t remember and couldn’t find (when I was flipping back thinking I missed it) how she got the blue notebook. Do you remember anything?
You know, when I was writing the review, I tried to remember how she got the notebook and couldn’t. I didn’t flip back to find anything, but I don’t remember a story attached to it, either.
i’m not 100% sure, but i think she got the notebook from a customer.
i also thought this book was horribly sad. the publisher’s description and the advance reviews describe batuk and her writing as hopeful, but i did not feel that way.
just a note- james levine plans to donate all proceeds from american sales of the novel to missing and exploited children.
Thanks for reminding us about the proceeds being donated, Kristen, and thanks for lending me this book to read in the first place! Can you tell I was in the midst of a lazy and forgetful Sunday when I wrote the review? I totally meant to mention both of those things.
Okay, I guess when I read this book soon I need to figure out how she got the notebook so I can report back.
Glad to know you’re on it, Jen!
Another blogger (Alyce) was kind enough to send me this one so I will be reading it soon. It’s going to be a difficult read for me. Since having children I really get infuriated over books that center around child prostitution or molestation. However, I’ve been reading all of the reviews as a way to sort of ease me into it and I think I may start it next week.
I plan to read this one for my non fiction 5 challenge. Great review.
Diane, this is a fiction book–novel–just for the record. But it’s a great read, and you should pick it up even if it doesn’t count for your challenge.
I am posting my review of this novel on Wednesday. It was so sad and the scenes of her initiation almost did me in. I’m with Kristin that I didn’t find it to be very hopeful. It was a very good book, though. I am sitting here trying to remember how she got the notebook. I remember the pencil falling out from behind the madam’s ear and the way she got a pencil sharpener and then pen. The blue notebook escapes me, though. What is really interesting is that he saw a prostitute in Mumbai writing in a notebook and that is what sparked this novel.
I read that in the intro to the ARC….what a great imagination! It seems like it’s becoming increasingly common for doctors to become novelists (Abraham Verghese comes to mind)…wonder what the connection is.
You’ve been reading some heavy stuff lately. I know this will be a difficult book to read, but I’m still looking forward to it.
You’re right, Kathy! I need to find something a little lighter to put on the list soon. This is definitely a difficult read but very much worth it.
I remember reading about this one awhile ago…and it just sounds too bleak for me. bleak,…and hopeless.
Maybe I am shallow…but I just can’t take hopeless. Or at least in very small doses.
I finished this just a couple days ago. Such a devestating book and I didn’t find much hope in it either. And it was so very sad. You wrote a great review. I’m not exactly looking forward to writing mine!
I just read a book called “Sold” (can’t remember the author) that dealt with a similar theme: a thirteen-year-old Nepalese girl being sold into sexual slavery. It was written in verse, which I thought was interesting.
I really want to read this book. Your review was excellent and very insightful!!
This was a book that was difficult to read, but worth it. Thanks for the review.
I’m very much looking forward to reading this, although the subject does seem pretty dark, I think it will be a great story. It was listed as a recommended read for book clubs on my local libraries website resources – and I can see now that it could provide some excellent discussion topics.
This one is in my TBR stack. What an interesting story line, though it sounds like one that will be hard for me to read.
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