Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity – Katherine Boo

Mumbai is one of the largest and fastest-growing cities in the world, heralding globalization, international interest, and the promise of a better future. Unfortunately, many of the people drawn in by hope and possibility instead find self-interested corruption that disparages communities, families, and dreams. Beyond the gleaming airport and shiny advertisements selling a “beautiful forever,” thousands of people live on pavement or in ramshackle huts in the slum of Annawadi, struggling to survive in an “earn-to-eat” lifestyle. Abdul, as the eldest son and primary wage-earner in his family of eleven, first seeks meaning then settles for any small profit in his business of sorting and recycling trash. Manju, the first female slumdweller to attend university, strives to improve the lives of children in her neighborhood and also defy her mother by providing the free education promised by the corrupt slumlords with whom her mother associates. United, the potential political power of everyone living in poverty could possibly have an impact on Indian policy, but larger political decisions are more likely to be forgotten amid personal concerns and neighborly disputes. Life in the slums stands in stark contrast to the hope promised by the city; sometimes that hope survives, and sometimes it is overwhelmed, like everything else, by the sheer reality of life in the slums.

“Behind the Beautiful Forevers” by Katherine Boo is a thoroughly documented accounted of life in poverty in Mumbai. Boo focuses on a small group of community members, and knows when to bring in other players to emphasize friendship, family ties, corruption, hope, or whatever other aspect of slum life to which she wants to draw attention. The story of Abdul, Manju, their families and the community unfolds over several years, which Boo condenses into a logical and uninterrupted series of events. Her narrative poignantly captures the sense of hope, desperation, and futility that accompanies life in the slums. Her reporting humanizes life in poverty as a series of daily occurrences and difficult decisions rather than an unfortunate and overwhelming set of circumstances. The overall effect of her narrative reporting results in an intimate portrayal of vulnerability without being overly intrusive, creating a story full of compassion, hardship, and the indomitable human spirit.

This book is fabulous. However, the author’s note comes at the end of the book and I would have preferred some kind of foreword to clarify the context. Boo’s narrative style of reporting confused me early in the book because it easily reads as a work of fiction instead of a nonfiction account of life in poverty (Boo admits to paraphrasing and summarizing when recounting the internal monologue of people in the book). Which also makes for great reading. Her descriptions are vivid and detailed, sometimes graphically so, the people in her book have understandable and relatable motivations, and the storyline progresses clearly with no extraneous points. Easy to read, compelling, and fascinating.