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, …
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.
A sobering account of everyday life in Mumbai's slums. Katherine Boo captures lives in a very intimate manner which both illustrates all the complexities of individuals and betrays the hopelessness of the situation.
A sobering account of everyday life in Mumbai's slums. Katherine Boo captures lives in a very intimate manner which both illustrates all the complexities of individuals and betrays the hopelessness of the situation.
Review of 'Behind the beautiful forevers' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I'm still thinking about this book.
So much poverty. So much corruption. So much sadness. I am so glad I read this book. I am glad I live in America, and I feel a little guilty for the easy life I lead. I hadn't stopped to consider that so much of your start in life depends on your birthplace. The people chronicled in this book started out on the wrong side of luck and never found their way out. It's hard to believe that so many people live like this in Mumbai. A powerful story.
I'm still thinking about this book.
So much poverty. So much corruption. So much sadness. I am so glad I read this book. I am glad I live in America, and I feel a little guilty for the easy life I lead. I hadn't stopped to consider that so much of your start in life depends on your birthplace. The people chronicled in this book started out on the wrong side of luck and never found their way out. It's hard to believe that so many people live like this in Mumbai. A powerful story.
Review of 'Behind the beautiful forevers' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
The author writes for the New Yorker and has made a career of reporting from among poor people around the world. The story here is of several characters in a particular slum near the airport in Mumbai. The author lived with these people as explained in a prologue. The work obviously hasn't done as much for me as for others; it won the national book award for non-fiction this year. Some reviews claim that this book is non-fiction with human or heart-felt stories that rival fiction. Unfortunately, I mostly noticed a superficiality or brevity that one would only expect in weak fiction. A fictional account similar to this story would, after all, have much more character development. This is easier to do in fiction, since fiction is untrue. Fiction also has to tie its stories together, have a theme or themes, use imagery, etc. But this book is journalism. My …
The author writes for the New Yorker and has made a career of reporting from among poor people around the world. The story here is of several characters in a particular slum near the airport in Mumbai. The author lived with these people as explained in a prologue. The work obviously hasn't done as much for me as for others; it won the national book award for non-fiction this year. Some reviews claim that this book is non-fiction with human or heart-felt stories that rival fiction. Unfortunately, I mostly noticed a superficiality or brevity that one would only expect in weak fiction. A fictional account similar to this story would, after all, have much more character development. This is easier to do in fiction, since fiction is untrue. Fiction also has to tie its stories together, have a theme or themes, use imagery, etc. But this book is journalism. My problem is probably just that reviews of this book lead me to expect something else. One review compared the book to Dickens. That is laughable.
Review of 'Behind the Beautiful Forevers' on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
I would strongly recommend not listening to this, as it becomes even more visceral than it would in print. Amazing, simply incredible. I don't know what brought me down more-the idea that people live in this kind of poverty, or the feeling that nothing will change it.
I would strongly recommend not listening to this, as it becomes even more visceral than it would in print. Amazing, simply incredible. I don't know what brought me down more-the idea that people live in this kind of poverty, or the feeling that nothing will change it.
Review of 'Behind the beautiful forevers' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo, takes place in Annawadi, a slum cobbled together and located across the road from an international airport and a luxury hotel. Here, in Boo's narrative nonfictional account, we meet people who must struggle for basic sustenance, live the hardest of lives, but yet are hopeful of better things in the future.
As this story unfolds, we get to know several characters and learn of their aspirations. Most of them are very hard-working and goal-oriented, performing the kind of work most of us couldn't imagine. For instance, there are many teenaged boys in Annawadi who are scavengers, collecting and sometimes stealing trash that can be recycled. One of the boys we will follow is Abdul, who is a step higher than a scavenger--he appraises, sorts, and buys the trash the scavengers bring in, so he can turn around and sell the items to a …
Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo, takes place in Annawadi, a slum cobbled together and located across the road from an international airport and a luxury hotel. Here, in Boo's narrative nonfictional account, we meet people who must struggle for basic sustenance, live the hardest of lives, but yet are hopeful of better things in the future.
As this story unfolds, we get to know several characters and learn of their aspirations. Most of them are very hard-working and goal-oriented, performing the kind of work most of us couldn't imagine. For instance, there are many teenaged boys in Annawadi who are scavengers, collecting and sometimes stealing trash that can be recycled. One of the boys we will follow is Abdul, who is a step higher than a scavenger--he appraises, sorts, and buys the trash the scavengers bring in, so he can turn around and sell the items to a recycling plant. Abdul is actually able to support his family this way.
Unfortunately, unforeseeable trouble lies ahead for Abdul and his family, dashing what was their most prominent dream, and this tragic, distressful subplot is a case study in judicial corruption and greed. We also follow the scavengers through their difficult and dangerous days, and watch as they form alliances and "sort-of" friendships. These boys are endearing and vulnerable, leading such precarious lives.
People die, young and old, in sad ways--those who lose hope by suicide (especially young women), some of awful infections and illness, while still others are murdered or die in accidents. Few of these deaths are deemed worthy of investigation.
How does one go on when life offers so little and the hope of anything better is so slight and can be blown away so easily? Even Asha, Annawadi's most ambitious woman, with her political dreams and the very real hope of having a college-educated daughter, has sold her soul, debased herself, and become involved in the corruption herself, but may never get out of Annawadi.
Abdul and Asha may be polar opposites in most ways, but they are both survivors. This is a fascinating study of life in a desperate place that I would recommend to absolutely anyone.
