Customer Reviews

The Dancing Girls of Lahore: Selling Love and Saving Dreams in Pakistan's Pleasure District (P.S.)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Unique, important and beautifully written. Louise Brown is clearly an expert in her field. Not only are we transported to life in Heera Mandi, the ancient brothel quarter of Lahore, but we are introduced to Maha, a middle-aged courtesan and her children, Nisha, Nena, and Ariba, who take to Brown immediately.

It seems at one moment we are heartbroken and devastated by the reality of these women's lives, and at another intrigued and in awe of their ability to have some happiness, however small.

Brown's flair for description, and wondrous sense of humour brings this Walled City and its activities to life, creating a invigorating and wonderful read.

It is amazing that one human-being can find the courage, bravery and determination needed to record Heera Mandi, a world un-known to western culture, and its inhabitants. This book should be read for its sheer importance, not only for Brown's exquisite novelist's touch.

This book had me captivated within its first 10 pages. Rarely have I come across a book that is so unforgiving in giving me the actual violence and filth that befalls one of the most pariah segment of a Pakistani society.

Most of the Pakistanis will not talk about the Heera Mandi. In one of the many complex and idiosyncratic treatments towards sex, the Pakistani society will waste no time in classifying them as lowest of the lows, yet will also use them to help their essentially messed up sexual lives. This book spares nothing in portraying the almost unbelievable living conditions that the "tawaifs" are facing on a daily basis. You will also get to see the poor as they struggle to live on a day to day basis. The treatment of city sweepers, who are generally relegated to be treated as almost untouchables, is an eye-opener. This is not Rohington Mistry's account of a low class Sub-Continent fiction; this is very real, and it happens every day in the Red Light District of Lahore.

I love this book. Louise Brown lived in wretched conditions to observe the life of Maha, a woman in her 30s who has retired in an industry where rookies are as young as 10 years old. Occasionally, you get to see the dilemma that Ms. Brown passes through; when a young 14 year old is shipped to Gulf to be a mistress for an old Arab, who has a thing of young virgins, the author wonders whether she should actively get involved in stopping that illegal and dangerous trade from taking place. Another interesting part is the social hierarchy that exists within the Heera Mandi prostitutes, where one is "Shareef" or respectful because she commands 10,000 Rupees per night, and not 200.

Above all, this book is an ode to the human spirit. Ms. Brown spent months with the women and eunuchs at the Heera Mandi, yet had nothing but praise for their hospitality and respect towards her. At the end, they are humans who had the misfortune to be born in that part of the society, and they are doing the best they know of; keeping their traditions alive, and surviving on a day to day basis.

The Dancing Girls of Lahore has a fascinating premise: looking at the lives of dancing girls (prostitutes) in Pakistan. Technically forbidden under Sharia law to engage in sex, these women lead what can best be described as shadow lives -- physically, metaphorically and spiritually in the murky margins of a society in which women have strictly (read: narrowly) proscribed roles. There are some very interesting (and also heartbreaking) bits here -- anecdotes, throwaway lines, etc. But that's the problem, really. We never come to understand what it is exactly that drew the author, British writer Louise Brown, to spend four years (off and on) living amongst the prostitutes of Lahore. As a result, what could have been a really fascinating study of lives not lived becomes a bit of a rag-tag collection of daily anecdotes.

I had the strong feeling that this would have made a wonderful magazine piece for, say, The New Yorker. Something with heft and something that would have allowed for 5,000 or even 10,000 words. As a book, however, one begins to feel the lure of skimming as a way through because it all starts to sound the same. We are not engaged enough in the lives of the women profiled; there isn't enough real detail about them, nor is there any sense of genuine dialogue. Descriptions of urine-filled streets, rats in the house, cough syrup overdoses, etc., are not engaging enough over 250+ pages to keep at least this reader emotionally connected and committed.

I haven't read the book yet. But I am anxious to find out what is this Heera Mandi about? I'm from Pakistan Lahore and I have spent my childhood years in Lahore. I used to hear things from my friends about guys in my school are going to Heera Mandi and spending money on girls to sleep with them(and I'm assuming going to Heera Mandi while in school only applies to rich and spoiled guys). So us girls would talk about things like that and hate girls from heera mandi and give them bad names. Why give them bad names? Well! Because that's just how it is in Pakistan. One day my friend told me that her brother brought a girl home and is keeping her in a separate house because her parents didn't agree to keep her in their house. Later on I found out that the girl was from Heera Mandi and she is very pretty and the guy married that girl. The parents abandoned their son and I don't know what's going on in their family now. When I told this to my mother and asked her what is Heera Mandi really about and why does it exist? She was really mad at me for asking her such questions because it's considered disrespecting and really wrong to ask about prostitutes or to even discuss them. After all they are considered curse to our society.
It is sad how and what women give-up and become prostitutes because of no support of their parents or whatever the reason makes them one. I hope this book can help me to expose the things I want to know about "Heera Mandi".

A stunning, heartbreaking and amazing book, that reveals the shocking depravity that lies beneath convential Islamic Pakistani society -- the generation prostitution, sexual slavery, abuse of underage children of both sexes, appalling poverty, filth and disease.

Besides making one profoundly glad to be have been born into Westernized civilization, this book raises many very relevant questions about modern Islamic society -- especially the contradiction between the very strict and upright interpreation of the Qu'ran resulting in extreme female modesty and chasity and the resulting opposite, which is a society based on degrading sexual abuse and slavery of an utterly dominated female "second class" of citizen.

Ruthless, wealthy older men prey on young women...paying great sums of money for the virginity of girls as young as 12. By the time these girls have "aged out" to their 20s, they are virtually worthless and must in turn raise their own daughters to be prostitutes. Without any ability to earn money from anything but sex (with the very youngest girls), this degradation carries on from generation to generation, often with grandmother, mother and daugther all prostituted to the same depraved wealthy men.

With a absurdly exaggerated "cult of virginity" and a tradition of polygamy, men are able to not only accumlate several wives but keep mistresses who are a kind of second-class wife or concubine. They are also able to marry women on a "short term, renewable" contract, which is accepted as a kind of marriage and legitimacy for children, while enabling the men to continuously disgard women as they age into their 30s. Under this arrangement, children concieved this way must be supported by their fathers, leading to families comprised of children who are all treated very diffently based on the status of their fathers...the lowest caste children being horrifyingly neglected, even to the point of dying of easily treatable medical problems. Virtually all the women and children are entirely illiterate, with no way out of their situation.

This excellent, no-holds-barred book raises a lot of questions about Islamic tradition and Pakistani society in particular. Why does this go on? Why is nothing being done about it? Where are the missionaries and social agencies while all this is going on?

It also calls for us to take a closer look at our own culture -- don't we have some of the same source problems, with our obsession with youth and physical perfection? the way we dismiss women when they are no longer young and beautiful? the way "no fault" divorce allows men to enjoy "sequential monogamay" with progressively younger and younger partners throughout their lifetime?

A treasure trove of fascinating ideas and arguments here...a fabulous book which demands more than one reading, and discussion if at all possible in a group. HIGHLY recommended for book clubs!!!!!

This book takes you on a journey into the hera mandi of lahore or the pleasure district. Having studied in Lahore for a few years and lived near the walled city or inner city, it was treat to read an outsiders views on, the way of life, just not in hera mandi but in pakistan in general . She potrays a fairly accurate picture of how the pakistani society works(especially in relation to the happenings in Hera Mandi), and she was able to potray the class system of pakistan which exisits through her writings. What some of the readers have to realise though is that her views are concerning the prostitues of pakistan not the general problems of the male/female relations in our society. Yes, it does sound horrible and it is, but there are women who also go to schools, colleges and univeristies and work besides their male counterparts. This book defines a certain part of the pakistani society and cant be taken as how women are generally treated in pakistan.
This book takes a no holds barred approach towards a dark spot on the pakistani culture (exploitation of women) that most people in pakistani culture try to avoid even discussing. Hopefully it will not only help the western people in understanding the problems faced by women, but also help break the barrier for pakistani people to look at the problems that women face.

I cant say enough about this book. Its soooo good and riveting. I have lived in Pakistan all my life and never known that part of Lahore- just heard about it. So its naturally interesting to me to learn of what actually transpires there. I am also amazed at the courage of these women. The fact that they have nothing and can still enjoy life is just amazing to me- makes me realise that living in the moment is truly an art. I think I have enjoyed it more because I am from that part of the world but perhaps and outsider would find it sad. The key thing that hits you is that we are all similar with the same aspirations and desires no matter where we are from. Good job Louise- I am proud of you for have written this book.

Louise Brown goes where no other woman would dare go and she takes us there with us. Wonderfully written, heartbreaking, fascinating, eye-opening, and just so amazingly human, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in women issues in South Asia (or anywhere really). Extremely interesting cultural study.

Although I found this book to be almost too depressing to continue reading, this was a very interesting, well written book. Louise Brown gives an in-depth point of view of daily life in Lahore, following the lives of several characters and families as she personally visits them over a seven year period. Through her portrayal of their lives, one can gain a great understanding of a world and culture so completely different from our own. I found it very sad to learn that children are really truly being exploited in that part of the world and because it is just so accepted as a norm, the cycle continually repeats itself.

Very well written, honest, and truthful.

WOW! An amazing well-written documentary on life in Pakistan's prostitution business. Not only does Louise Brown clearly describe what life is like for these women and girls, but she makes a great effort to be non-judgemental and give you enough background information about why they continue this existence. From a Western perspective it is hard to comprehend. Reads like a great novel - you want to know what's going to happen next. Even if the subject is not something you would normally read, this book is definetely worth your time.