This was a very interesting story that captured my imagination and stayed on my mind for days. Short summary: after being kidnapped and abandoned in the jungle at age 5, this young girl spends 6 years living in the jungle with the monkeys before she's taken again and sold to a brothel in a little town in Columbia. When she escapes the brothel, she lives on the streets as a thief and adventurer. Of course, this is only part one of this girl's story. Part two, the ghostwriter promises, has been written, but is yet to come.
It's hard to believe that anyone could survive this life and actually enter Western culture, transition into a "normal" life and then write a book about it all! It reminded me that the worst things in life don't happen to us because of acts of God or terrible diseases or other accidents, but happen as a result of the depraved behavior of other PEOPLE LIKE US. Never ceases to amaze me and motivates me to look inside myself to see if any corner of my soul is hiding potential for this kind of inhuman behavior. What people do to each other is too often absolutely unspeakable.
I remembered the question that I have often heard asked: how can a good God allow such bad things to happen to innocents (or to good people). Because it happens all the time. Bad things happen to good people. The author of this book questions the existence of a God that would allow these things to happen to children. I understand the question. I thought again about the two-edged sword that is our agency. People can choose what they do--God doesn't really stop anyone from behaving contrary to His will. We each get to choose. It's the ultimate freedom--our own ability to choose in any situation. Other people can limit our choices, but what choices exist in every situation are ours to make. It's a great gift that comes as part and parcel of being a person born on this earth. But. On the other hand, because we aren't the puppets of God and because I guess we all have the choice to choose depravity as easily as we can choose good, there are way too many people that choose that ugly behavior that is the hallmark of this lady's story. People are just as free to choose to be monsters as they are free to be saints. Why do so many people choose to be so awful? That was one of the things I found myself turning over in my mind after reading this very interesting and engaging story.
The book was fascinating and easy to read--Marina Chapman and her writers don't make it too gritty and unpalatable an account, for which I was grateful. I felt a deep sympathy for animals (as Marina herself clearly feels) and a gratitude for my own very nice childhood. I really would like to read the rest of Marina's story. How did she get from the jungle to secure married life in Britain? Seems like a pretty amazing leap. Anyway, it was a good read.
Sex: Nope. Well, except from what was observed by a very naive child while living at the brothel.
Bad Language: none
No comments:
Post a Comment