The book is narrated by a man, and is in some ways his own coming of age story -- so perhaps an odd choice for a book club focused on women's human rights.
But the core of the book is a violent attack on the young man's mother, an attack in which the attacker remains out of reach and the woman and her family confront the personal cost of violence against women. As we have read elsewhere, rape is not a "women's issue" (it's a human issue) and it is not a "third-world issue": it is a global issue that has long-reaching cost to men and women, to communities and economies, and to governments.
In case readers would like to consider how widespread or current this issue is, HRW just released preliminary information on a report they have been working on in Canada. Violence against native women there, as is also often the case in the USA, has not been taken seriously. We may have a better idea of why after having read the book, but from the HRW article, we know that there are disproportionately high numbers of indigenous missing and murdered women and girls in Canada, and that their numbers are not even being tracked now due to budget cuts.
We should have the opportunity to confront some really challenging questions about the intersections of race, gender, culture and violence in the US through this book, following up on our readings about juvenile justice, integration in the southern US, and modern underage prostitution.
