Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review this book. Although it was available on the NetGalley reader shelf, I grabbed it and feel lucky to review it. The first thing I want to say is that this needs a trigger warning list because heavy topics related to mental health were discussed in the first few pages, and some readers might not be ready for that.
The first piece showed how we are brought up; it changes from culture to culture. You can have the same situation in different parts of the world, but you might not get a second look; in others, it will be on the news or in court. As someone who only heard about the one-child-per-family law, I knew about it, but in the background, since it’s not easy to wrap your head around, it means giving up your child because you can’t afford the fee the state imposes. Especially if it’s a girl, which means they won’t be able to help with farm work.
I went into this thinking I would connect more with the poetry in here, but I was pleasantly wrong. I’m not a parent, but seeing the bravery and the pain the mother had to go through in the name of trying to give them a better life. The saddest part is when they get the better life their mothers dreamed for them, so their sacrifice doesn’t pay off. I don’t feel like rating this book since most of the writing seems very raw to the author. I wish the illustrations had a dash more colour.