The Red Market: On The Trail Of The World's Organ Brokers, Bone Thieves, Blood Farmers, And Child Traffickers (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
The Devil They KnowFor a couple of years, an alarming piece of news about organ theft has gone viral throughout Chinese community, a fake story that a party girl was drugged in a bar, and then woke up in a bathtub finding her body cut open. A small note was left to instruct her to call 120. The story, such as it is, has shone the spotlight on the very darkness of society: THE RED MARKET. Perhaps, we are living a peaceful and happy lives. People in some areas, however, do give up their organs every day, most of time for money that, they assume, can help them out and better their living. Scott Carney, an investigative journalist, recounts the striking global market for human parts in his terrifying new book -- The Red Market: On the Trail of the World's Organ Brokers, Bone Thieves, Blood Farmers, and Child Traffickers.In Carney’s narration, chapters develop with a series of chilling facts. In exchange for a handsome compensation, some “donated” their kidneys, let out their uterus and even allowed their children to be “adopted”. Much too often, these poor people failed to get the life they wished, but ended up in declining health for rest of life or miserable death in theatre. Besides organ trades, Carney also did his investigation in fertility centers where allegedly harvested gametes (sperms and eggs) with generous payment. This book literally opens up a new window for the ordinary and raises public awareness of the Red Market. On the other hand, Carney did provoke a social dilemma – a tricky question whether it is moral to trade human parts. In daily life, we trade livestock and kill them for food. Is man a more scared being above animals? To go further, is trading human organs more evil than kill animals merely for food? As regards the book’s content, Carney’s did provide readers with a great number of gushy stories. These story, in some ways, transport reader to the very situation, and successfully arouse their compassion for the victims. On the flip side, The Red Market seems to unduly depend on the examples from India, where Carney spent most of his time on various probes. Admittedly, the examples is the most effective medium to hog readers’ attention and develop empathy between the readers and victims of organ trade. However, overwhelmed by affecting examples, the book lacks the sight of whole picture. The examples tries so hard to convey the shock and dismay of the situation that the objectivity of the investigation is hampered on one way or another. Regardless of the over-proportionated examples, the book still lumbers on its way. When readers finishing reading, they are flooded by information of the organ trades and haunted by a moral dilemma of severe distress. As a report, while The Red Market go to extraordinary length to inform readers of the horrifying condition, the controversial question it provokes has given no further exploration, nor elaboration.On the whole, The Red Market shall score 7.5 out 10. To be frank, I did enjoy this book very much, what with the mind-blogging information and the intriguing stories. To be specific, Carney get down to the details of the interviewed family and well conveyed their immense hardship in a sober but inflammatory manner. However, such a writing style, as far as I can see, is not the most appropriate way to inform the readers of how dreadful the red market is. The over-emotional expression may strike a deadly blow to the objectivity of the whole book. This book came to my attention through one of my favorite podcasts - NPR's RadioLab. Back in July they aired an episode that was all about blood (click here to listen). The author, Scott Carney, focuses on ways the human body, its organs, its blood, even its hair, are bought and sold around the world. He spent five years conducting research and travelling around the world, looking into the "red market" trade. The stories range from the selling of organs for cash in third world countries to blood farms, including one where farmers were held against their will while their blood was harvested and sold, to children being kidnapped and sold to orphanages for American adoptions.WritingI was predisposed to trust the author because I trust RadioLab, but I found his writing and journalism skills to be nothing less than what I'd expect. He has obviously done his research and put an enormous amount of time into investigating various claims from around the world. I was highly impressed. The writing is down to earth and easy to understand. I'd consider it to be more accessible than academic, although that shouldn't be interpreted as in any way discounting the author's obvious care in researching and reporting on the subject. It just means I found it a pleasure to read.Entertainment ValueAs I mentioned above this is a fairly easy read, and, I thought, fascinating. I feel like I learned something new from every chapter - from the Indian trade in hair to modern day body snatchers. The "red market" as a concept was completely new to me, but I feel like I learned so much from reading this, which to me, makes for a very successful book.OverallIf you're into popular science, if you like Mary Roach, if you're a fan of the RadioLab podcast, or if you just want to learn some shocking truths about the purchase of bodies and body parts, this is a great book for you to read.
What do You think about The Red Market: On The Trail Of The World's Organ Brokers, Bone Thieves, Blood Farmers, And Child Traffickers (2011)?
It's disturbing what goes on in the world while I continue living in my relative bubble.
—Bookworm
Extremely enlightening and well researched...and did I say disturbing?
—Bones
Super fascinating and not nearly as gross as I thought it would be.
—resantha
