July 17

The Girl from Kathmandu: Twelve Dead men and a Woman’s Quest for Justice (2018)

By Cam Simpson

I thought this book would be an interesting read about Nepal so I started reading it.  Although it is, certainly about an event that centers around the lives and deaths of persons from Nepal, and although it features a brave and, in many ways unique, woman from that country – Kamla Magar – the book is really about Justice.  It is about justice and about the practice of justice.  It is a triumph of justice and the failure of justice.

Twelve Nepali young men are murdered by terrorists as they are on their way to be laborers for a subcontractor to the US Government in the conflict in Iraq.  It sounds as though the terrorists should be the bad guys here, and they are, but the bad guys are also the network of suppliers of labor and how this network practices human trafficking (slavery) even in service to the United States of America.

This is a book about how the legal system of the United States can be twisted to serve the interests of large corporations.  It is a story of how difficult it can be for lawyers to fight for years on difficult cases where they do not have huge amounts of money to keep things going, as careers, family, and exhaustion can all divert them from what seems like a noble cause.

And, of course, it is a book about the huge chasm that exists between farm villagers in Nepal with their culture that extends back hundreds of years, and the culture and values of our country.

It is a book that makes you think.  And one that makes you cringe about being a part of all these events.

Guest review by Dewey Christy.  Thanks, Dewey!