The Road of Lost Innocence: The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine [Paperback]

Somaly Mam (Author), Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Introduction), Nicholas D. Kristof (Foreword)

Book Description

Release date: July 28, 2009

A riveting and beautiful memoir of tragedy and hope–by a woman named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world

Born in a village deep in the Cambodian forest, Somaly Mam was sold into sexual slavery by her grandfather when she was twelve years old. For the next decade she was shuttled through the brothels that make up the sprawling sex trade of Southeast Asia. She suffered unspeakable acts of brutality and witnessed horrors that would haunt her for the rest of her life–until, in her early twenties, she managed to escape. Unable to forget the girls she left behind, Mam became a tenacious and brave leader in the fight against human trafficking, rescuing sex workers–some as young as five and six–offering them shelter, rehabilitation, healing, and love and leading them into new life.

Written in exquisite, spare, unflinching prose, The Road of Lost Innocence is a memoir that will leave you awestruck by the courage and strength of this extraordinary woman and will renew your faith in the power of an individual to bring about change.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The horror and violence perpetrated on young girls to feed the sex trade industry in southeast Asia is personalized in this graphic story. Of mixed race, Khmer and Phnong, Mam is living on her own in the forest in northern Cambodia around 1980 when a 55-year-old stranger claims he will take her to her missing family. Grandfather beats and abuses the nine-year-old Mam and sells her virginity to a Chinese merchant to cover a gambling debt. She is subsequently sold into a brothel in Phnom Penh, and the daily suffering and humiliation she endures is almost impossible to imagine or absorb (I was dead. I had no affection for anyone). She recounts recalcitrant girls being tortured and killed, and police collusion and government involvement in the sex trade; she manages to break the cycle only when she discovers the advantages of ferengi (foreign) clients and eventually marries a Frenchman. She comes back to Cambodia from France, now unafraid, and with her husband, Pierre; sets up a charity, AFESIP, action for women in distressing circumstances; and fearlessly devotes herself to helping prostitutes and exploited children. The statistics are shocking: one in every 40 Cambodian girls (some as young as five) will be sold into sex slavery. Mam brings to the fore the AIDS crisis, the belief that sex with a virgin will cure the disease and the Khmer tradition of women's obedience and servitude. This moving, disturbing tale is not one of redemption but a cry for justice and support for women's plight everywhere. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Sold into slavery as a young girl—first as an indentured servant to a surly, violent older man, then, at 16, to a brothel—Mam could have lived a life of misery and defeat. Instead, she found freedom and security while keeping her remarkable spirit intact. This unflinching, searing memoir tells Mam’s story, from her early childhood as an orphan in the mountains of Cambodia to her current role as cofounder and president of the AFESIP (Acting for Women in Distressing Circumstances) and the Somaly Mam foundations, which have rescued more than 3,400 women and children throughout Southeast Asia. Mam’s voice is humble, matter-of-fact, and wrenchingly real. Her passionate refusal to let other girls suffer as she did spurs her to action. She began by gathering money to help distribute birth control as a precaution against AIDS, then moved on to rescue young women and girls, taking them into a shelter and teaching them employable skills—all against extraordinary odds. The story of Mam, nearly a twenty-first-century Mother Teresa, both inspires and calls to action. --Emily Cook --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Spiegel & Grau; Reprint edition (July 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385526229
• ISBN-13: 978-0385526227
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (100 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Globalization

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 51 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Devastating story of a woman's rise from a life of abuse to rescue others September 19, 2008

By Christina Lockstein TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam is a heart-breaking story of a woman's fight out of slavery and her quest to save others from suffering as she did. Somaly was raised in the forests of Cambodia in a primitive tribe without electricity or running water. Living in the remote jungles, her parents abandoned her and left her with a grandmother who then died before Somaly could remember any of them. She raised herself until the age of eleven, sleeping in a hammock, fishing for some meals, and receiving some little care from the rest of the villagers. At eleven, a man claiming to be her grandfather took her to a larger city and used her as slave labor, beating her and forcing her to work for others as well. She learned how to read at a small school run by a man who claimed to be her uncle and tried to do his weak best by her. At fifteen, her grandfather sold her into a violent marriage with a soldier, until he disappeared, and the grandfather appeared again to sell her into a brothel in Phnom Phen. There Somaly was raped and beaten until all of her will was driven out of her, and the fight to survive overcame the desire to be free. Eventually a French aid worker came to her aid, and Somaly was able to break free of this devastating life. But Somaly is more than the average women. She was unwilling to let other women suffer as she did, so she began distributing condoms to the brothels, and then opened a home to take in girls who fled their life of forced prostitution. She has faced threats, including the kidnapping of one of her daughters, but has emerged unwilling to bend again. Her story is amazing and awful, not something that is easily considered. It's much easier to skim over the details and refuse to internalize them. But when I read about men raping 5 and 6 year old girls and then pimps sewing the girls up again so they can be sold as "virgins", and then look at my own 5-1/2 year old daughter, my heart is broken. I can't imagine the degradation that these girls suffer daily. Somaly tells her story in raw, harsh words. They are not prettied up, nor does she gloss over what she has faced. This book needs to be read to expose the world to the truths about what is going on in Cambodia to these young girls. A portion of the profits from this book go to Somaly's charity that helps free girls from their abuse, and I know that her foundation is one that I will be donating to in the future.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This woman is amazing September 15, 2008

By Ann Olswang

Format:Hardcover

Wow. I want to say there are no words to describe what this book will make you feel, but I'm going to try anyway.
Somaly Mam is the kind of person we all hope we could be, were we faced with the horrors she has lived. Sexual slavery, rape, abuse - she survived all these and has been brave enough to share her story with us. She recounts her experiences in a raw, unflinching tone, experiences which could break the strongest of us. And although Somaly escaped her own dark path, she has never left that world behind, but instead returns time and again to rescue other girls trapped in brothels, girls sometimes as young as four or five, girls who have been sold into sexual slavery.
Her story is amazing, the world she describes is horrifying, and in the end if you have not been moved to tears, then you are not human.
But this book is not just intended as a voyeuristic window into a world we should condemn. It is a necessary education for those of us who are lucky enough to live in a world where sexual slavery is a remote problem. And if, like me, you finish the book and find yourself enraged at what is being done, then you might do what I did and google her name, and find her foundation's website: www.somaly.org. There is something we can all do to help, and after reading this book you just might need to.

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Only a total of 24 reviews??? October 16, 2009

By Patee333

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is not getting enough notice. People need to read this book!!! There should be hundreds of reviews for it, but there's only a total of 24 including reviews for the hardcover as well. Someone needs to market the hell out of this book like RIGHT NOW!!! I have recommended it to all my friends and co-workers, in hopes to just get people to know about the horrors that are happening in Cambodia, and all over the world. This book was an eye-opener into a world that I was completely ignorant about. It's despicable that people exist to have brutal sex with poor innocent young children. Somaly Mam's book details the horrors in graphic detail and really makes you think! THINK!!! Here I am sitting and browsing online book reviews while a dozen innocent young girls are being brutally raped every minute in some filthy brothel in Cambodia or other countries. Is this what the world is coming to? The sex slave trafficking industry is one of the top three earning billions of dollars illegally....yet somehow, all governments are turning a blind eye to it. People like Somaly are trying to their best to help but the situation is just so daunting and out of control, I really don't know if it can ever be stopped or fixed. That's the horrible truth behind it. Young girls as young as 4-years-old are sold into brothels and savagely gang raped over and over again by men who are demons from hell. Pimps torture the poor girls to make them submit and to kill their spirit. People in the US need to seriously sit down and THINK. Quit complaining about what you don't have and how we suffer because of a bad economy. We have it 1000 times better than 99% of the world, yet we want more and we whine and complain. Americans need to educate themselves and not turn a blind eye to the horrors around the world. Ignorance is NOT bliss!!!