Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercityNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NAMED ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE “Inspiring . . . extraordinary . . . [Katherine Boo] shows us how people in the most desperate circumstances can find the resilience to hang on to their humanity. Just as important, she makes us care.”—People “A tour de force of social justice reportage and a literary masterpiece.”—Judges, PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times • The Washington Post • O: The Oprah Magazine • USA Today • New York • The Miami Herald • San Francisco Chronicle • Newsday In this breathtaking book by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human through the dramatic story of families striving toward a better life in Annawadi, a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport. As India starts to prosper, the residents of Annawadi are electric with hope. Abdul, an enterprising teenager, sees “a fortune beyond counting” in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Meanwhile Asha, a woman of formidable ambition, has identified a shadier route to the middle class. With a little luck, her beautiful daughter, Annawadi’s “most-everything girl,” might become its first female college graduate. And even the poorest children, like the young thief Kalu, feel themselves inching closer to their dreams. But then Abdul is falsely accused in a shocking tragedy; terror and global recession rock the city; and suppressed tensions over religion, caste, sex, power, and economic envy turn brutal. With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects people to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, based on years of uncompromising reporting, carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century’s hidden worlds—and into the hearts of families impossible to forget. WINNER OF: The PEN Nonfiction Award • The Los Angeles Times Book Prize • The American Academy of Arts and Letters Award • The New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New Yorker • People • Entertainment Weekly • The Wall Street Journal • The Boston Globe • The Economist • Financial Times • Foreign Policy • The Seattle Times • The Nation • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • The Denver Post • Minneapolis Star Tribune • The Week • Kansas City Star • Slate • Publishers Weekly |
Contents
PART ONE undercitizens | 1 |
Annawadi | 3 |
Asha | 17 |
Sunil | 31 |
Manju | 50 |
PART TWO the business of burning | 69 |
Ghost House | 71 |
The Hole She Called a Window | 84 |
Proper Sleep | 166 |
PART FOUR up and | 175 |
Nine Nights of Dance | 177 |
Something Shining | 190 |
The Trial | 200 |
Ice | 213 |
Black and White | 221 |
A School a Hospital a Cricket Field | 233 |
The ComeApart | 99 |
PART THREE a little wildness | 133 |
Marquee Effect | 135 |
Parrots Caught and Sold | 152 |
AUTHORS NOTE | 247 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 255 |
Other editions - View all
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity Katherine Boo Limited preview - 2012 |
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity Katherine Boo Limited preview - 2014 |
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity Katherine Boo Limited preview - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
Abdul airport Annawadi Annawadians arrived Asha Asha's asked beat become began better boys brother called considered Corporator daughter decided didn't door eyes face father Fatima felt fight garbage girl hand happened he'd head hear heart hoped hospital hour hundred Husains husband Indian inside judge Kalu Karam keep Kehkashan knew later learned less lived looked maidan Manju matter Meena Mirchi morning mother moving Mumbai Muslim neighbors night offi officer once parents police poor Rahul reporting returned road rupees scavengers seemed seen she'd sister slum sometimes Sonu stand started station stopped Sunil talk tell thing thought told took trial tried trying turned wall wanted weeks wife woman women young Zehrunisa