Nancy A. (Chocoholic) reviewed Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity on + 291 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
This is the sort of book that a reader picks up on a whim, finds unable to put down, and thrusts into the hands of another when they're done, saying, "you have to read this." Because you do. You have to read this. This slice of life book is written so well that the characters come to life and the reader tends to forget that this is a work of nonfiction. This stuff actually happened. The book focuses on one slum of Mumbai, India and its inhabitants. There are good people and bad. All of the people are flawed in some way or form. At the end of the book, I found myself wanting to know more, wanting to know what happened to the families the author had caused me to care so much about over just a few hundred pages. Read this book. You won't regret it.
Laurel C. reviewed Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity on + 10 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A beautifully written account of the lives of several Annawadi slum dwellers, and of their attempts to raise their standards of living. A few do it by fair means, but most by foul. The level of corruption is astonishing, but in their eyes necessary for survival. This is not for the faint of heart, but it is a valuable look into a world few of us will ever see firsthand.
