Title: The Blue Notebook
Author: James A. Levine, MD
Date: 2009
Levine's first novel is told from the perspective of Batuk, a fifteen-year-old prostitute in Mumbai. Unlike most girls in her position, Batuk has learned to read and write, and finds solace and enjoyment in keeping a diary. Throughout the novel, she chronicles memories of the family who gave her away, the brutality she faces from her employers and clients, as well some of the happier moments she shares with her friends, namely Puneet. Puneet is a young male prostitute who receives more clients than his female counterparts, and possibly even crueler treatment.
The story can become graphic as Batuk offers details about her job and the violence she faces from those who exercise their power over her through beatings and rape. The author, James A. Levine, is a medical doctor who was inspired to write the novel after interviewing homeless children in Mumbai, including a prostitute he saw writing in a notebook, as part of his work for the Mayo Clinic. Nevertheless, Batuk seems believable, at least in so far as Levine captures the voice of a young, imaginative and intelligent girl who is suddenly forced into a harsh, adult world. When one of Batuk's clients asks why she writes, she responds, "I like to see my thoughts because otherwise they are invisible." It's a powerful statement, knowing that Batuk's thoughts are irrelevant to most people in her life, and that her journal is her only refuge. There is the sense, however, that Levine hopes to give a voice to the many real children who share Batuk's fate. (And all of his US royalties from the book are donated to the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children.)
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