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This Enhanced eBook features exclusive video footage shot over the course of three years by the author and several children of the Annawadi slum.
From Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo, a landmark work of narrative nonfiction that tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the twenty-first century's great, unequal cities.
In this brilliantly written, fast-paced book, based on three years of uncompromising reporting, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human.
Annawadi is a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport, and as India starts to prosper, Annawadians are electric with hope. Abdul, a reflective and enterprising Muslim teenager, sees "a fortune beyond counting" in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Asha, a woman of formidable wit and deep scars from a childhood in rural poverty, has identified an alternate route to the middle class: political corruption. With a little luck, her sensitive, beautiful daughter-Annawadi's "most-everything girl"-will soon become its first female college graduate. And even the poorest Annawadians, like Kalu, a fifteen-year-old scrap-metal thief, believe themselves inching closer to the good lives and good times they call "the full enjoy."
But then Abdul the garbage sorter is falsely accused in a shocking tragedy; terror and a global recession rock the city; and suppressed tensions over religion, caste, sex, power and economic envy turn brutal. As the tenderest individual hopes intersect with the greatest global truths, the true contours of a competitive age are revealed. And so, too, are the imaginations and courage of the people of Annawadi.
With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects human beings to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century's hidden worlds, and into the lives of people impossible to forget.
This enhanced eBook features exclusive video footage shot over the course of three years by the author and several children of the Annawadi slum.
From Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo, a landmark work of narrative nonfiction that tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the twenty-first century's great, unequal cities.
In this brilliantly written, fast-paced book, based on three years of uncompromising reporting, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human.
Annawadi is a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport, and as India starts to prosper, Annawadians are electric with hope. Abdul, a reflective and enterprising Muslim teenager, sees "a fortune beyond counting" in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Asha, a woman of formidable wit and deep scars from a childhood in rural poverty, has identified an alternate route to the middle class: political corruption. With a little luck, her sensitive, beautiful daughter-Annawadi's "most-everything girl"-will soon become its first female college graduate. And even the poorest Annawadians, like Kalu, a fifteen-year-old scrap-metal thief, believe themselves inching closer to the good lives and good times they call "the full enjoy."
But then Abdul the garbage sorter is falsely accused in a shocking tragedy; terror and a global recession rock the city; and suppressed tensions over religion, caste, sex, power and economic envy turn brutal. As the tenderest individual hopes intersect with the greatest global truths, the true contours of a competitive age are revealed. And so, too, are the imaginations and courage of the people of Annawadi.
With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects human beings to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century's hidden worlds, and into the lives of people impossible to forget.
Anonymous
Posted February 23, 2012
I'm only 1/2 way through the nook book so far, but I had to stop to let readers know that the enhanced version is worth it. There are several short videos that allow you to see the slum and its' people, including many of the characters from the book. They're beautifully edited and a fascinating way to see into the lives of the slum inhabitants.
31 out of 33 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 13, 2012
Wonderful read, depressing subject. Slowly you enter this slum and eventually.you are there. Tragic but I could not stop reading
26 out of 26 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 8, 2012
Beautifully written, fast-moving, and touching - this is a gem.
25 out of 27 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 20, 2012
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This is beautifully written with humor and sensitivity. The characters come alive and you quickly care very much about them and their attempts to leave the Annawadi. The subject matter is sometimes grim, but the author shines another light on it with intelligence, wit and humor. It's a fast-paced story showing the courage of these poor people. I recommend this excellent book because there is so much for people to learn here and be grateful for the good things in their own lives. You will have a heavy heart when you finish.
22 out of 26 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 12, 2012
The book is well written,but I have not read anything that offers hope so far. Everyone is corrupt except maybe the young boy Kabul. Any to think these conditions are right next to the big airport and the extravagant high rise hotels. If India is so up and coming why do they not help the poor and provide healthy hospitals.
18 out of 26 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 18, 2012
An excellent book; best book I've read about India since City of Joy. Boo is an amazing author drawing you into the lives of each of her friends of Anawadi. She'll open your eyes, break your heart, and drive you to prayer.
16 out of 17 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 3, 2012
There are moments of innocence, and a bit of unexpected wit amidst the descriptions of horrific suffering, abject misery and violence that are juxtaposed against each other and accepted as a normal way of life by the residents of Annawandi, an unbelievably impoverished community of the poor in India. It sits just adjacent to opulent, luxury hotels on airport property, built for the rich and famous. The squalid huts barely provide shelter or privacy for the inhabitants as they scavenge the leavings of these monuments and its dwellers. The contrast is stark and unforgiving. Envy is in no short supply there, and they each prey upon the other, the weak on the weaker, the poor on the poorer, simply to survive. Children are commodities, education is minimal, girls are not as valuable as boys, blame is always assigned someplace else rather than on one’s own shoulders and few accept responsibility for their own behavior and its consequences.
The jobs of the poor create a hierarchy in the community. Each different level earns a different small amount of respect for residents. There seemed to be little that was beyond the pale regarding what these poor souls would attempt in order to live another day. Suicides were common in the face of such hopelessness. What made it so hard to read was the realization that this story is based on real families; it is non-fiction; your hair will rise as you realize this is really happening in this day and age, in a culture still steeped in prejudice and memories of the hateful caste system. Their superstition is evidenced in statements like this: “He beats his wife but lets her live.” This is supposed to be commendable.
Abdul is a young Muslim man who makes his living as a waste collector. His family has been moving up the ladder of success, saving for the day when they can become landowners, in a community of Muslims, where they will be treated with respect and have a better life. In huts with walls, sometimes no thicker than paper separating families, the residents will do anything necessary to earn money. They turn against each other, they are superstitious, they are cruel and vengeful, looking to blame someone for their troubles, even, and often wrongfully, never turning back even after they realize they have committed a grave injustice. It is important to maintain appearances, even in the face of such squalor; lies flourish.
Separated by only a few inches from the one legged woman who filled with envy and anger, falsely accuses his family of setting her aflame, Abdul and his family must enter into a nightmare scenario simply to survive the corruption and graft necessary to earn their freedom and end the injustice. Even though Fatima’s young daughter witnessed her self-immolation, the wheels of justice are not just, but are filled with low-lifes, frauds of all stripes, corrupt police who beat innocent victims, dishonest and dishonorable advocates encouraging neighbors to lie so they may then offer bribes that they swear will guarantee their innocence, if only they will pay. Whom shall they pay? They have no money; they can't afford to squander any of it on a chance, not a guarantee. Each player in this wicked game tells a greater lie, simply to get paid for services often worthless and never rendered. It feels very much like Kafka's trial, a hopeless situation without solution.
The author, married to a native of India, spent several years investigating these residents, and she has written a beautifully crafted rendition of their lives, albeit steeped in corruption and disaster, as they simply try to survive in a nearly impossible situation. She has captured the texture of their lives and the tone of their conversations, clearly illustrating the struggle they endure daily. Although the hopelessness of their lives appears to be largely of their own making, they are unable to stop the pendulum from swinging back and forth, from disaster to disaster, as they victimize each other. She does not paint a pretty picture and consequently it is difficult to look at it objectively, without disliking many of the characters, even as you understand the motives for their reckless behavior. They are uneducated and backward, and they are unable to see the pain they cause or the disastrous end results approaching for their own future. There is often more concern for animals than people and investors in charitable projects, sponsored by the government, are often corrupt, stealing from the very charity they support and inhibiting even the lackluster efforts of the government.
One can only hope that, as India prospers, the wealth and benefits will trickle down beyond the borders of the airports wealthy hotels and the neighborhoods of the rich and famous; but these people seem so blind to the plight of the masses of indigent people, it is really hard to imagine.
11 out of 19 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 24, 2012
An amazing true story, not just about abject poverty, but about people-simply beautiful and amazing and lyrical writing, don't miss this fantastic new author!
6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.There were times reading this book that I had to remind myself that the events taking place had actually happened, so easily does it all seem like fiction. In introducing the reader to a group of Mumbai slum dwellers, the author reveals what it's like to be at the bottom of the heap in one of the world's fastest growing economies. But, in the midst of people working furiously to carve out a living from collecting garbage (and finding a measure of success), tragedy strikes two families. A woman has died, and her neighbors are accused of killing her. What follows is a labyrinthine journey through bureaucratic red tape, widespread graft and cover-ups. Shining a light on a kind of poverty that doesn't exist in this country, the author gives voice to the voiceless. Finishing the book, I was left wondering if India's rise to global power is in spite of itself and how a society can succeed when even the nuns are willing to trample those beneath them.
5 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.From the opening pages Katherine Boo presents a world few of us could imagine; a world of contradictions, extreme wealth and extreme poverty. This is how it is when you live in Mumbia, India. This is the running narrative of 3 individuals; a teenage garbage trader, a woman who has political aspirations and a young scrap-metal thief. More than anything this is a story of survival in slums of Annawadt which are next door to luxury hotels that divide this area. Boo spent three years researching and living here among the people. This is one of those extraordinary books that will stay with you forever.
5 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 1, 2012
A beautifully written book that I could not put down. Katherine Boo brought you into the world of each character and made you care. I didn't want it to end.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 10, 2012
The author has sccomplished something extraordinary. She has gotten inside the lives of marginalized people and made us feel them as real. India is a multiverse. This book deals wirh an India we hear about and even if we see, seldom understand. This book does not condemn, justify, or explain. It reveals.
3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 25, 2012
Very moving, tragic but insightful read. Depressing story that needed to be told. Makes you very grateful for the life you have.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 16, 2012
Katherine Boo's book is one of the finest I've ever read. Her prose is both lyrical and sharp, and she does not indulge in sappy (and inappropriate) pity for the people of Annawadi. She brings their lives to us, thoughtfully and respectfully sharing the bonds she's developed with them and with the culture of this under-city over three years. A tour de force--don't miss it.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 30, 2012
This is, without a doubt, the most well-written, powerful book that I have ever experienced. Because of the author's way of recording in consequential story form, one truly becomes engaged in each person's life, and notes the radical difference from our own. Not being able to put this book down, I was also impelled to complete it in order to share with my neighbor, who will appreciate just as much, having been to the Mumbai airport...
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.It was good. If you are looking for a glimpse into the undercity of Mumbai, India this will be an eye opener and works well. This is a book that held my interest but wasn't a book that I simply couldn't put down. It is worth a look though and I recommend the enhanced edition.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 15, 2012
Nothing comes close to this book when it comes to grasping the feel and taste of India's under-cities. What Katherine Boo has done here is provide the reader with a true world experience of life in the slums and the back burners that play a critical role in shaping Indian society.
A masterpiece, and a must read to understand the hidden realities of India.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 30, 2012
This is a very good book that left me with mixed emotions. I had never imagined the poverty that these people live in. It made me realize that the lifestyle of our poor people, would be like winning the lottery for them. I thought about the corruption that happens everyday, and is an expected part of life. I hope you will read the book, it is well written and thought provoking.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 15, 2012
I bought this book based on others reviews however, i just could not finish it. Two thirds of the way through i quit reading and moved on to another book. This was definitely not a book that i ha trouble putting down.....dissapointed.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 14, 2012
The book was educational and matched my experiences in India. This is not a light read and my book group all agreed that at times the poverty and poor treatment of people within and outside the slums was unimaginable. Survival of individuals and families is the underlying theme from the beginning to the end. Once more my awareness of the difficulties of life for others on our planet was heightened.
The author researched her material well and presented it in a very readable book.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Overview
This Enhanced eBook features exclusive video footage shot over the course of three years by the author and several children of the Annawadi slum.
From Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo, a landmark work of narrative nonfiction that tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the twenty-first century's great, unequal cities.
In this brilliantly written, fast-paced book, based on three...