Review by Lee-Ann20 -- Elastic Girl by Olivia Rana

[Lee-Ann20]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Elastic Girl" by Olivia Rana.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Elastic Girl by Olivia Rana is the story of Muthu Tikaram, a young Indian girl who is born cursed by her grandmother but who has talents all her own. Muthu’s sisters are given special treatment for reasons unknown to her, while Muthu is forced to sell roti to passersby. One day, she falls into a polluted lake and is saved by her contortionist skills. These skills give Muthu’s father the idea to bring her to The Great Raman Circus of Chennai and sell her to the circus, in order to save the family from abject poverty. Muthu, being an innocent child believes that the circus can catapult her to fame and glory like her Bollywood idols, but she soon discovers that circus life is not all that it is promised to be.

I really enjoyed this book. While it was not an overly happy story, the whole of Muthu’s journey was inspiring. Muthu is a strong and relatable character. She is a young girl who is sold into the circus when she is eleven. She has been told her whole life that she is a curse and a burden on her family. This coming from her grandmother, a person who is supposed to be a loving force is a child’s life. By joining the circus, Muthu believes that she is saving her family and lifting the curse from her life. Muthu is unaware of the ways that she can be taken advantage of on her own, but she quickly learns. Even though she is young in age, her experiences make her lose her childhood innocence too soon. While Muthu may make incorrect decisions, they are true to the character’s age and situation. Readers who are looking for a realistic novel of what happens to Indian girls would enjoy this novel. I wonder how much of this is a true story.

Readers who are looking for a crime novel, science fiction or anything light may want to pass on this novel. This novel is very realistic and gritty. There are many depictions of child abuse, sexually and otherwise. There is drug abuse, homelessness and prostitution. This does not make this a bad novel at all, but if a reader is not looking for these elements, they should skip this book.

This book was so well written. The secondary characters were superbly sketched out and you really felt for Muthu when she loses these characters in her life. The evil characters are so creepy that I was squirming uncomfortably when reading the scenes with him in them, knowing his ulterior motives. I could not find any grammar or spelling mistakes during my reading of this book.

I would give Elastic Girl by Olivia Rana a 4 out of 4 stars. This was a compelling book about child trafficking when you really got down to the nuts and bolts of this novel. The revelation at the end of the book about Muthu’s heritage added another layer of intrigue and realism to the book. The author’s note about Child Rescue Nepal also brings to light the facts hidden in the fiction of Muthu’s story.

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Elastic Girl
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