Yasuko Thanh's story demonstrates in the most heartbreaking way what can happen to a life, to a soul when it isn't shown protective love or care. From a young age, and particularly after the birth of her brother, Yasuko was ignored. Her mother wanted nothing to do with her but doted on her brother, and her father, suddenly afflicted with a myriad of allergies and sensitivities, retreated to his bed.
At fifteen, she found the streets. She sold her body for money, for shelter, for food. She found couches to sleep on or sometimes the cold, hard streets themselves. She found friends, but the hazards of living life in the fast lane meant that these friends had issues of their own: many overdosed, moved onto the next city or died of AIDS. Yasuko herself was running away from a family who didn't care about her and towards people she thought did. She found solace in men who offered her what she thought was love. She was too young and inexperienced in life to know that a pimp is only out for himself. That a crackhead puts their addiction to crack above everything else, no matter what reassuring platitudes come out of his mouth. That a schizophrenic boyfriend whose increasingly frantic delusions weren't something she could help with on her own.
So she moved to different cities, even a different continent, to try to find peace within her broken soul, but eventually learned that it's impossible to outrun matters of the heart. Everything catches up eventually. The one thing that was truly a positive outlet for Yasuko was her writing. After giving up prostitution for good, she felt a compulsion to write. One habit replaced another. Unfortunately, as her writing career started gaining traction, her relationships continued imploding and she felt her body and mind attacking her already fragile sense of self.
Yasuko has a way with words that draws you into her story. I can only imagine the assumptions people on the gritty East Vancouver streets would have made of her on first glance - the six-inch stilettos, the dirty clothes, the marks on her body - never knowing that a beautiful garden of a mind resided under her tattered facade. It takes a certain amount of bravery to tell a story that doesn't fall within society's mainstream expectations, but it takes an equal amount of bravery to reveal a heart's deepest pain. Yasuko did both and after reading her story, I'm hopeful that she finds peace and happiness to replace all of the hurt she has endured so far.
Judge the cover: 4/5
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