Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
'Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity' by Katherine Boo is a narrative nonfiction book that provides a vivid portrayal of life in the slums of Mumbai, specifically in Annawadi. The book follows the struggles of the inhabitants living in extreme poverty, facing corruption, violence, and squalor. Through detailed storytelling and extensive research, Boo delves into the daily realities and challenges faced by the residents, offering a haunting glimpse into their lives.
The book is praised for its unique narrative style that reads like fiction, despite being nonfiction. Boo's writing is described as gripping and immersive, allowing readers to connect with the characters and empathize with their hardships. The author's ability to present the harsh truths of life in the Mumbai slums with authenticity and depth leaves a lasting impact on readers, challenging their perspectives on poverty, corruption, and survival.
Genres:
Topics:
Notes:
Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Triggers include extreme poverty, violence, corruption, death, suicide, and other disturbing realities of life in a slum.
From The Publisher:
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER
NAMED ONE OF TIME'S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE
"Inspiring . . . extraordinary . . . [Katherine Boo] shows us how people in the most desperate circumstances can find the resilience to hang on to their humanity. Just as important, she makes us care."-People
"A tour de force of social justice reportage and a literary masterpiece."-Judges, PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award
ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times
The Washington Post
O: The Oprah Magazine
USA Today
New York
The Miami Herald
San Francisco Chronicle
Newsday
In this breathtaking book by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human through the dramatic story of families striving toward a better life in Annawadi, a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport.
As India starts to prosper, the residents of Annawadi are electric with hope. Abdul, an enterprising teenager, sees "a fortune beyond counting" in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Meanwhile Asha, a woman of formidable ambition, has identified a shadier route to the middle class. With a little luck, her beautiful daughter, Annawadi's "most-everything girl," might become its first female college graduate. And even the poorest children, like the young thief Kalu, feel themselves inching closer to their dreams. But then Abdul is falsely accused in a shocking tragedy; terror and global recession rock the city; and suppressed tensions over religion, caste, sex, power, and economic envy turn brutal.
With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects people to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, based on years of uncompromising reporting, carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century's hidden worlds-and into the hearts of families impossible to forget.
WINNER OF: The PEN Nonfiction Award
The Los Angeles Times Book Prize
The American Academy of Arts and Letters Award
The New York Public Library's Helen Bernstein Book Award
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New Yorker
People
Entertainment Weekly
The Wall Street Journal
The Boston Globe
The Economist
Financial Times
Foreign Policy
The Seattle Times
The Nation
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The Denver Post
Minneapolis Star Tribune
The Week
Kansas City Star
Slate
Publishers Weekly
Ratings (8)
Incredible (3) | |
Loved It (3) | |
Liked It (1) | |
Did Not Like (1) |
Reader Stats (22):
Read It (8) | |
Want To Read (12) | |
Not Interested (2) |
1 comment(s)
A powerful book that shows you the relativity of good and evil in Annawadi, a slum by the airport in Mumbai. Even levels of poverty are broken down in the slum, and when an animal rescue league comes to rescue horses from Annawadi, the people left behind are baffled: from their perspective, the horses were the luckiest creatures in the slum. It isn't exactly an expose, but it does reveal how corruption and crime create a mini-economy in Annawadi and places like it. Dollars donated to an education fund end up going to the teachers, who start no schools; women's collectives meant to offer loans to women in poverty offer high interest rates in order to make a profit. Is there hope for trash pickers like Abdul or thieves like Kalu? It's hard to say from this book. Boo doesn't simplify anything about this complicated situation, doesn't shy away from the complexity of an economy where the rich fight to preserve their trash from the poor. Even their trash is somehow precious, that it has to be kept from recyclers. It's a sad book, but one well worth reading, even if she doesn't cite her sources in a traditional way.
What can you read after
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity?
About the Author:
Katherine Boo is a staff writer at The New Yorker and a former reporter and editor for The Washington Post. Her reporting has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize, a MacArthur "Genius" grant, and a National Magazine Award for Feature Writing. For the last decade, she…
When you click the Amazon link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commision, at no cost to you.
