For most of us, an image or a vignette would be enough to. A former professor of mine once related to me a story of the time he escorted Brazilian educator and activist Paulo Freire, author of, Stare. According to Lonely Planet, there was a company that did it right, a "sensitive" tour. It is precisely what the National Theatre is for. You simply cannot walk away untouched. Se. There's a lot to say about this book and a lot to think about. Katherine Boo spent years reporting in the airport settlement of Annawadi, and the book unfolds like a novel. That’s the first thing I did after finishing reading it, and for quite a long time. But it's also because over the course of three years in India she got extraordinary access to the lives and minds of the Annawadi slum, a settlement nestled jarringly close to a shiny international airport and a row of luxury hotels. So much of the book echoed with what I know about the slums of Port au Prince, for example. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity Katherine Boo. “Much of what was said did not matter, and that much of what mattered could not be said.”, “What you don't want is always going to be with you, http://www.behindthebeautifulforevers.com/, Pulitzer Prize Nominee for General Nonfiction (2013), National Book Award for Nonfiction (2012), PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction (2013), Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism (2013), Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest (2012), Dayton Literary Peace Prize Nominee for Nonfiction (2013), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for General Nonfiction (2012), NAIBA Book of the Year for Nonfiction (2012), Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction Nominee (2012), Andrew Carnegie Medal Nominee for Nonfiction (2013), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Nonfiction (2012). The latter, a cripple, is also known as One Leg, and is famous in the slum for a sexual appetite her ageing husband can't satisfy. Apparently, it isn't enough that most are ill from their habitats and scorned by society. Favorite quote from the author: Mumbai is one of the world’s biggest and most complicated cities. Just from $10/Page. 10,915 reviews. "Every country has its myths," she says, "and one that successful Indians liked to indulge was a romance of instability and adaptation – the idea that India's rapid rise derived in part from the chaotic unpredictability of daily life." This book is quite an achievement. I wish I had a happy answer. Katherine Boo’s first book, “Behind the Beautiful Forevers”, points of interest the lives of the nationals of Annawadi, a little slum in Mumbai, India. Just couldn't get into it. Posted February 15th 2012 at 7:55 am by Alpita Masurkar in Book Reviews, Immigration and Migration Book Review: Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Tssk tssk. A day to bask in the amazing power of books to inform, amuse, educate, and alter our views and viewpoints. After the crisis, the lives of her subjects begin to unravel and the writing becomes more essayistic. That’s the first thing I did after finishing reading it, and for quite a long time. Behind the Beautiful Forevers (with Katherine Boo and Meera Syal) Hare has adapted decisively, skilfully cutting a swath of narrative from a myriad competing tales. While it started on a promising note and held my attention until about the halfway mark, I could sense a growing disappointment with both style and substance. For all those vicious thrashings and numerous marital abuses she stomached for a decade, she truly deserved the so-called posthumous alimony; although a pitiful sum. I am absolutely amazed at the way she was able to get into the hearts and minds of those she studied. The contrast between the economic “haves” and “have nots” is so blatant here. It has also been adapted into a play by David Hare in 2014, shown on National Theatre Live in 2015. Faces that I’ll see as I go to bed this morning, for time just passed as I immersed myself in this book. "'Tell me, bastard. Stare straight. I found it disjointed and strangely unaffecting for most of its length, and even boring some of the time. Shall I strip naked and dance for you now?'" One sensed the goings-on and exchanges inside them as one would a foreign world, without completely understanding what was being said, in spite of (unlike Boo) knowing the language. Here's four things I liked, and one thing I didn't like about the audiobook of. Order Essay. Nikhil Kumar. Bethany Schumacher, 128 TCCS. As an ethnology of Indian slum life, Behind the Beautiful Forevers is a masterpiece that ranks with Sonia Faleiro’s study of Mumbai’s red-light district, Beautiful Thing. This is her first book, in which she chronicles several years (from late 2007 to early 2011). What value could there be learning any more about their miserable lives? [Behind the Beautiful Forevers] plays out like a swift, richly plotted novel. The book describes a present-day slum of Mumbai, India, named … Boo won me over when she presented the impoverished people of Annawadi as individuals with worries, ambitions and desires as everyday as yours or mine rather than victims. But I wanted a more detailed look into a world I knew existed from films and other books so although the audio version wasn't a 5 star, my interest was kindled. In America and Europe, it was said, people know what is going to happen when they turn on the water tap or flick the light switch. I know it's a Pulitzer Prize winner, and I really tried. So much of the book echoed with what I know about the slums of Port au Prince, for example. I didn’t know what I was looking at, or more aptly, looking for – of course, there was this wall ahead, 3 feet ahead – but I wasn’t looking at it; I was looking for ‘faces’; faces that I’ve imagined floating between my eyes and the pages of the book while I was reading it; faces that don’t resemble anyone I know, but faces that might resemble closely with the people living right now, even a. Stare. Book review: ‘Behind the Beautiful Forevers,’ by Katherine Boo. Yes, I am glad I listened to it. The author herself narrates the afterword which explains the author's methodology. "(p.219) I have a feeling I will be thinking about this book for a long time to come. The shadow of a mighty passenger jet flies low over the Olivier stalls, the nearness of its deafening roar making the scalp tighten. Good Minds Suggest—Katherine Boo's Favorite Books About Inequality. Behind the Beautiful Forevers is a magnificent achievement, one that could not happen in the Commercial Theatre sector. --Yet--I waited long enough! Among the poor, there was no doubt that instability fostered ingenuity, but over time the lack of a link between effort and result could become debilitating. Behind The Beautiful Forevers tickets are not currently available. The crisp writing aims to punch you in the guts as the unrelenting sequence of misery and death unfolds page after page. I struggled a lot with how to review this because it's hard to separate the quality of the book from how it made me feel. It’s been a distressful morning. I first listened to an abridged version of this book and was intrigued. Very good question. The reason why I say so is the way author has put across the irony of our existences is quite shatterr, This book is not easy to read, let me be clear. It’s a great adaptation of a true story, pulsing with theatricality and human spirit. When resources are scarce to non-existent, humans generally resort to whatever means necessary to ensure their survival. Poverty without hope destroys humanity. Reviewed Nov. 18, 2014. She learned to report at the alternative weekly, Washington City Paper, after which she worked as a writer and co-editor of The Washington Monthly magazine. This is an amazing story about families who live and work in a Mumbai slum. This is one compelling read, and the truly stunning thing about it is that it is all true. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Yes, we have gross inequalities in our own society, but I doubt anything can touch what you will read in these pages. I had read that this book was well-written and would probably win some awards, which is why I picked it up. Surely the rising global economy of India will eventually float all boats, so why dwell on a few failed lives? It's National Book Lovers Day! Refresh and try again. Dear Lord! The first time allows you to listen to the details of the individuals and j. Saturday 02 June 2012 17:13. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. I was suspicious, at first, of this familiarity, her meticulous scene-setting, her blurring the line between interviewees and "characters" in a story. For three years and four months goo chronicled the everyday struggles of indiuiduals illegally squatting within the cramped quarters owned by the Mumbai Airport Authority. Behind a wall emblazoned with an ad for tiles that will be “beautiful forever”, about 3,000 people live in 335 huts out of site from users of the modern airport and its luxury hotels. I had three days to spend in Mumbai this February, and, reading my Lonely Planet guidebook, I considered undertaking a "slum tour." It won the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize among many others. To get the latest news, reviews, interviews, new show alerts and ticket offers, sign up to our weekly newsletter In spite of their loss of dreams and position, I was impressed by the resilience of most. I listened to the audiobook narrated perfectly by Sunil Malhorta. The reportage is thorough and passionate and careful and what it does best is reveal both the simplicity and complexity of absolute poverty. I spent the entire reading reminding myself that these were real people so that I would endeavor to feel something toward their story. I knew that Mumbai was impoverished, in the past. I read through practically in one gulp, hardly coming up for air. The writing, here, comes sharply alive; the madness of these scenes (a drunk man with TB helping Abdul with the work, falling from the weight of a stone he has to lift) shows Boo at her most economical – horror and comedy become inextricable. Only her intelligence – a novelist's intelligence, with a shrewd eye for vanity, and an understanding that everything is informed by compromise – keeps her tale from losing its grounding in reality. I was raised in great poverty, and have a first-hand understanding of its effects. Young Abdul is an expert sifter of garbage, selling discarded recyclable items with a degree of success that briefly transform his family's – his parents' and two siblings' – fortunes, while earning them the envy of their neighbour, Fatima. Wow! London Theater Review: ‘Behind the Beautiful Forevers’ National Theatre, London; 1,160 seats; £35, $110 top. I wanted concrete suggestions from the author. November 10, 2020. Flannery O' Connor's constricted universes, full of grotesques and buoyant improvisers, come to mind; Boo has the same concentrated vision, but more empathy. I want a further discussion of her ideas. A review of the 2012 book Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo in which she talks about life and dreams in a Mumbai Slum. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity is a non-fiction book written by the Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo in 2012. She learned to report at the alternative weekly, Washington City Paper, after which she worked as a writer and co-editor of The Washington Monthly magazine. The author herself narrates the afterword which explains the author's methodology. I KEPT ON ASKING HOW THIS COULD NOT BE FICTION. If you liked Slumdog Millionaire you will probably like this book. This is an astonishing book. But I had to ask myself who had what to gain by it. An Indian man I met had also recommended it. The family of six has to do with a makeshift shanty to prevent them from drowning in the dense showers of late night rains. Words are exchanged, then insults, in public; this relatively minor occurrence of fractiousness leads to life-changing decisions. Behind the Beautiful Forevers Review 2014 Forbidden Broadway used to have a great line about Les Miserables and its merchandising opportunities: ""Rich folks pay fifty bucks a shirt / that has a starving pauper on it. This American view of a Mumbai slum is impressive, Slum life … 'Boo's intelligence keeps her tale from losing its grounding in reality.' Opened Nov. 18, 2014. I read through practically in one gulp, hardly coming up for air. As others have said, it reads like a novel, the characterizations are so finely-drawn. Friends recommended that I listen to that first, which I did, but I listened to it again after completing the book. As Katherine Boo states in her Author's Note, This book leaves you feeling devastated. The well-considered thoughts with which she leaves us at the end of the story will haunt you: "Every country has its myths, and one that successful Indians liked to indulge was a romance of instability and adaptation--the idea that their country's rapid rise derived in part from the chaotic unpredictability of daily life. Oh! For this, her first book, Boo, a Pulitzer prize-winning staff writer on the New Yorker, spent much of her life between November 2007 and March 2011 in Annawadi, documenting events with "written notes, video recordings, audiotapes and photographs". The third family is Asha's. And this, in turn, produces a paradoxical masterfulness; we see that it isn't information or research that Boo is bringing to us, but a quality of attention. And I couldn't go through with it because it was a question I couldn't answer. I was raised in great poverty, and have a first-hand understanding of its effects. This is one compelling read, and the truly stunning thing about it is that it is all true. The second time, having completed the book, you can better judge the author's conclusions. Yet , I read about the growing middle and professional classes. Docudrama meets quality soap opera in David Hare’s latest truth commission. Boo took home the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2012 for this novel about the injustice and cyclical nature of poverty in India, so I imagine it is rather well read by my fellow Goodreadians. (I bought this book the first week it was released --hoping and waiting for my book club to 'choose' it). Reading this part twice is what I advise. Read in: 4 minutes. What does she suggest be done to improve the situation? Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. 1-Sentence-Summary:Behind The Beautiful Foreverswill make you more grateful for what you have, look for ways to tear down corruption in the world, and help the poor by sharing the experiences of people living in the Annawadi slum in India. Review: Behind The Beautiful Forevers. This book is quite an achievement. I was greatly moved, and mostly uplifted, by this narrative account of the daily life and careers of real individuals and families in a slum near Mumbai’s airport called Annawadi. Over the years, her reporting from disadvantaged communities has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize, a MacArthur “Genius” grant, and a National Magazine Award for Feature Writing. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Slum by Katherine Boo – review This American view of a Mumbai slum is impressive Amit Chaudhuri. Behind The Beautiful Forevers is a commendable attempt to dramatize a topical non-fiction story on a grand, Dickensian scale. Behind the Beautiful Forever’s Review. According to Lonely Planet, there was a company that did it right, a "sensitive" tour. This work, winner of the 2012’s National Book Award and written by Pulitzer winner Katherine Boo, is the result of three years she spent in Annawadi, a slum in Mumbai, India. Behind the Beautiful Forevers review – a triumph for David Hare and Meera Syal. Asha's daughter, Manju, is probably the most idealistic person in Annawadi, an undergraduate who helps run her mother's school (a side-business), and for whom a university degree in English and teacher training comprise the chosen route out of the slum into the realm of "first-class people". 2 stars for the abridged version. Mercifully, my chauffeur seems to have escaped from any such problematic liabilities. For most of us, an image or a vignette would be enough to make us feel a bit of pity and turn away. I would suggest that you buy the book without comparing it with any of your previous reads! Extreme poverty usually strips "civilized" behavior from individuals and groups. ... Why don't more of our unequal societies implode? It is here that I wanted a bit more from the book. I can't hear my radio!"' I was excited about reading this book after reading the reviews; however, it did not live up to the kudos. :), Very good question. The contrast between the economic “haves” and “have nots” is so blatant here. ", See all 11 questions about Behind the Beautiful Forevers…, New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2012 (fiction and nonfiction), Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License, Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation. In India, a land of few safe assumptions, chronic uncertainty was said to have helped produce a nation of quick-witted, creative problem-solvers. An Introduction. Welcome back. What is also striking is seeing how the people Boo writes about have hope in circumstances, that from the outside, seem so wholly hopel. Like the imperial monuments of the past, the airport always exists in the background, a crushing symbol. She worries that, as a foreigner, she lacks the "immersion" a native would have in their milieu; but maybe natives become disengaged, while outsiders inhabit their chosen spaces more fully. What is also striking is seeing how the people Boo writes about have hope in circumstances, that from the outside, seem so wholly hopeless, so impossible to overcome. You simply cannot walk away untouched. Covent Garden Odeon, London March 12, 2015. I even called the company. In this brilliantly written, fast-paced book, based on three years of uncompromising reporting, a bewildering age of … Sadly, the rich vs poor scenario has existed for thousands of years and can be found everywhere in th. After this, Boo goes back in time, describing life in Annawadi until, one third of our way into the book, we witness the events that led to Fatima's act of self-destruction. I was greatly moved, and mostly uplifted, by this narrative account of the daily life and careers of real individuals and families in a slum near Mumbai’s airport called Annawadi. However, I reckon shifting the spa-medic detoxification an hour later could comfortably ease the tea-garden brunch. But I had to ask myself who had what to gain by it. Boo has worked hard to amass her facts and get them right. As I wondered about the way in which Boo had rendered Asha's words ("when I describe the thoughts of individuals ... those thoughts have been related to me and my translators"), I was reminded of Muriel Spark's account of Miss Brodie's excursion with the "Brodie set" into the old town in Edinburgh, where the schoolchildren encounter, in effect, a foreign country, and can't make sense of what they overhear, although it's being said in English. All those poor little rich kids. I listened to the audiobook narrated perfectly by Sunil Malhorta. I found myself brokenhearted by the recurrent police and governmental corruption they must wade through in order to just exist. Her plausible rebuttal had me wondering what its Hindi or Marathi original might have been. The crisis of the book, where Fatima immolates herself to implicate her neighbour Zehrunisa's son Abdul, an absurd act of vengeance that goes badly wrong, is recounted at the beginning. Germany ranks only 22nd in the category ‘life satisfaction’ . The book often reads like a novel, although it may not be the kind of novel you'd want to read. Culture Books Reviews. I didn’t know what I was looking at, or more aptly, looking for – of course, there was this wall ahead, 3 feet ahead – but I wasn’t looking at it; I was looking for ‘faces’; faces that I’ve imagined floating between my eyes and the pages of the book while I was reading it; faces that don’t resemble anyone I know, but faces that might resemble closely with the people living right now, even as I write this and you read this, in Mumbai. Review. The Emilia Romagna Region and Its 3 Famous P's - Prosciutto, Parmigiano and Pavarotti! Behind the Beautiful Forevers paints a vivid picture of the corrupted slums of Annawadi. The corruption Boo details, corruption so deeply embedded at all levels of Indian society, is almost unbearable to read about but this information is shared without judgment and revealed, particularly for the residents of the Mumbai slum where Boo was embedded, as the only potential way out, however dim that potential might be. I was reminded that, though Boo was a foreigner in Annawadi, she is no foreigner to the poor, and has written much about the American poor as a journalist; the echoes of O'Connor confirm what Boo points out later, that there are revealing overlaps between the world's deprived areas. Personally, I suspect ALL unequal society eventually impload - they are just replaced with another slightly less unequal society until that replacement imploads...and so on. She gradually renounces the novelistic mode partly because she realises that, unlike the novelist, she can't possess her characters, not least because many of them – in particular, a constellation of children – end up dead; as a narrator, she must share with the residents of Annawadi the loss of control, of mastery, this entails. Over the years, her reporting from disadvantaged communities has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize, a MacArthur “Genius” grant, a. Katherine (Kate) J. Boo is a staff writer at The New Yorker and a former reporter and editor for The Washington Post. Her first book "Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, And Hope In A Mumbai Undercity" was published in 2012. While the book deconstructs this romance, Boo is concerned not only with the crisis and its aftermath, but with the period before Annawadi will be destroyed by the airport authorities. The slum they don't want anyone to see. • Amit Chaudhuri's Calcutta: Two Years in the City will be published next year. Stare straight. I found it disjointed and strangely unaffecting for most of its length, and even boring some of the time. How is it that a book about the poorest, most exploited, ignored, trodden upon people didn't evoke more feeling or sustain more engagement? We’d love your help. 'We try so many things', as one Annawadi girl put it, 'but the world doesn't move in our favor.' The shrill women voices are really spot on! I wish I had a happy answer. I hated Slumdog Millionaire and I didn't like this book. Yes, I am glad I listened to it. by Katherine Boo (Random House, 2012) Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2011. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. That's partly because Boo writes so damn well. While a novel might be a clear starting point for such a transformation, David Hare’s new play Behind the Beautiful Forevers instead bases its script on Katherine Boo’s vast work of non-fiction that documents a panorama of poverty and corruption in the slums neighbouring Mumbai airport. Though this book is set in a Mumbai slum, it could be about nearly any place in the Third World. Troublesome as it is for a detour to the supermarket for packaged milk, my domestic help decided to call it a day as it is the last day to confirm her receipt for a governmental pension of her deceased alcoholic husband. I'd seen the slums from the air, as we d. It's too easy to criticize this book. So instead of me telling you what the book is about (there's a synopsis) or acting like an expert on poverty (which I am not), I'll offer a list. There are 100s (thousands?) Behind The Beautiful Forevers: An Introduction Katherine Boo’s first book, Behind The Beautiful Forevers, details the lives of the citizens of Annawadi, a small slum in Mumbai, India. Among the works on this subject is the book entitled Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, which focuses on the life of the residents of Mumbai, namely the poorest of them, who are forced to live in the slums. Selfishness (for oneself or one's family) is often the only thing standing between survival and death. The author is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has covered social inequalities in the past. Can anyone compare it with The City of Joy? It's a fascinating look at how the underclass tries to survive and get ahead in a 21st-century economy. Troublesome as it is for a detour to the supermarket for packaged milk, my domestic help decided to cal. What a wretched day it is!! Since she doesn't know any Indian languages, she had translators throughout, one of whom must have helped her understand the sort of rejoinder that Asha made to Robert, ex-slumlord and one of her tormentors. Behind The Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death And Hope In A Mumbai UndercityKatherine BooHamish Hamilton 254 pagesRs499 At first, the stories, characters and situations will seem familiar, almost stereotypical. I started this book yesterday -- finished it this morning. I had three days to spend in Mumbai this February, and, reading my Lonely Planet guidebook, I considered undertaking a "slum tour." By Shashi Tharoor. What disturbed Me most about this book is that it didn't disturb Me more. Reviews. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Behind the Beautiful Forevers: life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity at Amazon.com. And I couldn't go through with it because it was a question I couldn't answer. Mirchi was impatiently awaiting his best friend, Rahul, a Hindu boy who lived a few huts away, and who had become an Annawadi celebrity. This is much scarier than any STEPHEN KING novel. The first time allows you to listen to the details of the individuals and judge their validity. Photograph: Rafiq Maqbool/AP, a large slum close to Sahar International Airport in Mumbai, Muriel Spark's account of Miss Brodie's excursion with the "Brodie set" into the old town in Edinburgh. The family of six has to do with a makeshift shanty to prevent them from drowning in the dense showers of late night rains. Behind the Beautiful Forevers is the story of Abdul (and about a hundred other residents -- try keeping all of them straight) and his life in Annawadi, an illegal settlement of trash, sewage and corruption outside the Mumbai airport. The reason why I say so is the way author has put across the irony of our existences is quite shatterring! This month, Rahul had done what Mirchi dreamed of: broken the barrier between the slum world and the rich world. Mystery/Thriller. Despair of this sprawling epic. Behind a wall emblazoned with an ad for tiles that will be “beautiful forever”, about 3,000 people live in 335 huts out of site from users of the modern airport and its luxury hotels. Start by marking “Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity” as Want to Read: Error rating book. So instead of me telling you what the book is about (there's a synopsis) or acting like an expert on poverty (which I am n, I've not read a ton of narrative nonfiction, but Katherine Boo's account of the Annawadi slum in Mumbai and the people who inhabit it makes for a thrilling and moving audiobook. In the prologue we meet Abdul Hussain, a teenager who scratches a living for his family by sorting scrap scavenged by his neighbours and selling it for recycling. A much hyped book - I had heard and read a lot about it including high praise from some usually trusty sources. I was left hanging and this was extremely unsatisfying. 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. For the last decade, she has divided her time between the United States and India, the birthplace of her husband, Sunil Khilnani. I am an Indian National and a lot of this is already heard of, and still the insight is profoundly beautiful along with a courageous display of hopes. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published When resources are scarce to non-existent, humans generally resort to whatever means necessary to ensure their survival. Katherine (Kate) J. Boo is a staff writer at The New Yorker and a former reporter and editor for The Washington Post. Rambling: A scene from Behind the Beautiful Forevers . For middle-class people like me who grew up in Bombay, forays into slums were infrequent. Reading this part twice is what I advise. Zehrunisa is impatient to put the money her family saved to use: a new window in the hut to "let out the cooking smoke", new tiles on the floor. I saw specials on TV, which showed beautiful new apartment complexes. It's certainly refreshing to see so … Based on the best-selling book by Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers is a dynamic, vibrant depiction of the dark side of India's rapid economic success. The milkman won’t be delivering the daily liter of milk; his house was razed by the local municipality.

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