zamyatins_fears's review against another edition
2.0
This would have been more impactful with less of the narrative and more of the non-fiction. It was *so* far on the narrative side that it was a struggle to remember these were real people. The stories were interesting but I think the author did the people involved a disservice by leaning too hard on the narrative side.
theshaggyshepherd's review
5.0
This book started slow and I was not the biggest fan of the narrator at first (I listened to the whole book), but the more we got into the story, the more both the narrator and I really got into the telling of and listening to the story. The lives of the slum dwellers are hard and this book does a great job of conveying this. This book had me emotional, it taught me much, and it left me wanting to know more about Mumbai and India itself.
tnanz's review
3.0
Not gonna lie, I didn't really love this. It was fine, there was nothing particularly dreadful about the writing, you can't deny the importance of the subject matter (urban poverty in India), but at the same time this is framed as a novel. As a novel, I think it fails. The plot didn't particularly captivate me. The characters felt forced (though not superficial).
So if you really love reading about contemporary India, you might like this book. Otherwise, I'd skip it.
So if you really love reading about contemporary India, you might like this book. Otherwise, I'd skip it.
rachel_mft's review
4.0
Life-changing. Not a "fun" read by any means, but I will never look at the world the same way again...and certainly never take for granted my luck at having been born in this country.
nakedsushi's review
3.0
I found it difficult to get into this book. On the one hand, there's nothing technically wrong with the writing. On the other hand, I couldn't convince myself that this was non-fiction because of the tone. My mind kept slipping into "I'm reading a third person fiction novel" mode. Maybe that's why others liked this book so much.
The stories of the people in living in the slums were brutally honest and I appreciated that there was no sugar-coating of things. What I didn't like was how the latter half of the book was structured. The first half seemed to focus on one person or family at a time. Then it started jumping around in the second half and got distracted by the court proceedings.
I felt the book could have had a stronger finish.
The stories of the people in living in the slums were brutally honest and I appreciated that there was no sugar-coating of things. What I didn't like was how the latter half of the book was structured. The first half seemed to focus on one person or family at a time. Then it started jumping around in the second half and got distracted by the court proceedings.
I felt the book could have had a stronger finish.
phunter22's review
4.0
If you think your life is hard, or the government or people in general are corrupt, it will never be as bad as these people have it.
abrswf's review
5.0
A remarkable piece of nonfiction. It reads like a novel, but it is not one. I learned a great deal about Mumbai, India, and Muslim and Hindu culture, but as the author points out, the extreme gap between rich and poor in Mumbai is hardly unique to India. It exists in nearly every major city. The inability of poor people to support each other's hopes and endeavors is fairly universal, too, for reasons this book makes very clear. This is a must read for anyone who cares about people in poverty, but it is also a very gripping and compelling piece of writing.
emilyusuallyreading's review
5.0
This book was breathtaking. It was written in a style that reminded me of Khaled Hosseini (one of my favorite authors). In fact, I thought this book was fiction until I read the back cover about halfway through and realized that it was journalistic reporting.
Katherine Boo is brutally honest in her depictions of life in the Annawadi slum, but she also shares the stories of individuals in a way that does not victimize them. So many stories about poverty makes the reader simply feel bad for those who are trapped within that bitter cycle; it makes it audience pity a distant and faceless "them." And while Boo shows clearly how the human beings in her book are trapped in poverty and struggling to find any change at all, she also shows them as they are: strong, innovative, resilient, intelligent, courageous.
I strongly encourage anyone to read Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Excellent narrative.
Katherine Boo is brutally honest in her depictions of life in the Annawadi slum, but she also shares the stories of individuals in a way that does not victimize them. So many stories about poverty makes the reader simply feel bad for those who are trapped within that bitter cycle; it makes it audience pity a distant and faceless "them." And while Boo shows clearly how the human beings in her book are trapped in poverty and struggling to find any change at all, she also shows them as they are: strong, innovative, resilient, intelligent, courageous.
I strongly encourage anyone to read Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Excellent narrative.
backgaminnn's review
1.0
I could see giving this a 2, I mean I finished it at least. And it does show just how horrible/corrupt/depressing the slums of Mumbai are. But beyond that there wasn't much that I could grab onto here. I might just have a problem with the genre of narrative non-fiction. It's less of a story than a novel, but it doesn't feel as real as true non-fiction (lots of stories told from memory and also lots of interior dialogue of the characters that feels made up). But I felt like if someone just gave me a paragraph saying how bad it was in the slums I would have walked away with the same amount of knowledge/fulfillment as I did after having read this whole book.