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I Cried to Dream Again: Trafficking, Murder, and Deliverance

I Cried to Dream Again: Trafficking, Murder, and Deliverance

by Sara Kruzan

Pantheon ·2022 ·208 pages ·Memoir
Near the Top
Near the Top
I Index
71/99
Near the Top

71/99

Critics

Near the Top

71/99

Readers

n/a

Scholars

90/99

Rating

52/99

Volume

92/99

Rating

50/99

Volume

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About This Book

There is perhaps no crime more disturbing than the abuse of a child—and no court cases as upsetting as those in which juveniles who have faced abuse are tried for fighting back. In this gripping memoir Sara Kruzan, a survivor of childhood abuse and sex trafficking, tells the honest, disturbing, and ultimately empowering story of her journey from abuse to incarceration without parole for killing her abuser to finally gaining her liberation. Sara is currently an advocate for the rights of incarcerated women and children, and the inspiration behind Sara's Law, a bill currently in the House of Representative seeking to protect children of abuse from facing life sentences. "I was eleven when I first met GG. I realized later that he had to have been aware of the chaos that was my life because he played me perfectly. I was walking home after school ... I heard a red Mustang purring like a huge lion behind me as I turned onto my block. When it caught up with me, a man leaned out of the window and motioned for me to come closer. 'Hey, excuse me,' he said. I approached the window and politely and cheerfully replied, 'Yes?' He said, 'I've been noticing you a lot, and I just want to talk to you. I'm gonna go get some ice cream and go to the park. I would love for you to come and join me. We won't be gone long. Is that okay with you?' Ice cream! I found his offer irresistible. GG leaned over and opened the passenger door, 'What's your name? People call me GG.' 'Sara,' I said shyly.'"—from I Cried to Dream Again


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Reviews

"In a poignant chapter, Kruzan describes several suicide attempts ..."

Nadia Owusu· The New York Times Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Kruzan encountered a new set of social, emotional, and logistical challenges when reentering society."

Courtney Eathorne· Booklist Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Activist Kruzan debuts with a stirring account of her harrowing experience as a victim of child sex trafficking...Writing with power and clarity, she asserts 'the most important reqiurement for preventing the sexual exploitation of...victims of trafficking is empathy.' Her testimony rings out as a searing critique of a broken criminal justice system and a galvanizing call to the end the violence it permits."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"A testament to both the capricious nature of the American criminal justice system and the power of hope, Kruzan's book, co-writen by Thomas, is a harrowing and eye-opening account of how easily things can go wrong...Kruzan describes her life in unflinching but compassionate detail...The narrative moves fast, giving readers a palpable sense of Kruzan's helplessness to stop what was happening as she was swept up in physical and sexual abuse and groomed by GG to be a trafficked child...A must-read for parents, civil servants, and activists."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"She uses sophisticated words and ideas to describe the horrors of her life as a pre-teen that she could not possibly have known then."

Jane Constantineau· The New York Journal of Books Read review ↗ Near the Top

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