On Inequality and Hope

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Katherine Boo’s non-fiction work, “Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity” is a gripping expose of life in one of India’s poorest slums. Annawadi is a slum that grew beside the expansive Mumbai International Airport complex. Boo’s story follows the lives of several Annawadi families as they churn through their own dramas and through the shockingly sad case of The One Leg.

“Behind the Beautiful Forevers” reads like a well-paced novel. Reminding myself that this isn’t just a story, that this is a true account of these real people’s lives, made the tale all the more horrifying and heart wrenching. Boo writes the characters beautifully and honestly. You feel like you really know these people who live in unimaginable squalor. Despite their social status, experiences, living conditions and work, most of them maintain an admirable hopefulness about the future. They struggle every day to bring themselves a speck closer to their goals.

I highly recommend this book. I couldn’t put it down, and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know these amazing Indians. Though the story isn’t a happy one, it is vital to the understanding of global inequality. Annawadi is a perfect example of the same wealth and poverty disparities seen in major U.S. cities, and large cities around the world. These people live across a busy road from some of the wealthiest residents and tourists of Mumbai. They are constantly gazing at the City’s most successful, but the gaze is not returned. The residents of Annawadi need you to know them. Their invisibility in Mumbai is a large part of their plight. The more people know and care what happens to them, the more opportunity will be afforded them.

So pick up the book and get to know Abdul, Sunil, Asha, and so many others. And don’t skip the Author’s Note at the end. Her goals and interests are not irrelevant to the story.


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Book Review--"A Suitable Boy"

I just finished a fantastic novel, by Vikram Seth, entitled, "A Suitable Boy." This book is not for the light reader; it is nearly 2,000 pages and involves a lot of detailed politics of the newly democratic India. However, for those who enjoy learning new things from their novels, or love novels that take the time to fully develop a whole cast of characters, this book will enchant.

"A Suitable Boy" is a generational story that takes place in India shortly after the death of Gandhi. It closely tracks the lives of several extended families who are joined together through love, honor, friendship, politics, history, and marriage. Vikram Seth delves into the minds of his heroines with an accurate intimacy and poignancy that is rare. His heroes have flaws and strengths, and before long, all of the characters in the novel begin to feel like members of your own family.

The main thread of the novel belongs to Lata Mehra. She is a college student whose mother has decided that it is time for her to marry. Her life touches the lives of nearly all of the other characters in the book. But the quest for a suitable boy for Lata is only one of the stories that unfolds. Another is the story of friendship between two families of diametrically opposing views, or the story of a young man's maturation, or the tales of love lost, of religious freedoms and tolerance, of the political evolution of one of the largest democratic countries in the world, and of every day life in India in the late 1950s.

I highly recommend reading this book. I felt lost and saddened when I came to the end of it, because I had gotten so used to spending time with the Mehras, Chattergis, and Kapoors every day, and suddenly, this relationship is at an end. So pick it up at your local book shop--you'll be glad you did. You can tell Lata and Mahn than I miss them.