I agree. The unfortunate story of deprivation and poverty surrounding the luxury enjoyed by a few in India is an ubiquitous truth every Indian is aware of. What is uncommon is the way in which the narrative has been structured. It does not focus on the poverty or the deprivation. It gives respect to the individual. In a land overflooded with billions, an individual's story is often tramped over in favour of a collective, especially if the individual belongs to cattle class. But kudos to Boo's...

Yes, this is not something the everyday Indian does not know about, Reading about the lives of the characters portrayed in the book, won`t excite you at all, won`t make you look up to them because you see this people everyday.

Reading first few pages for me was just flipping through pages, nothing new, yeah I know we do best in attracting news about our poverty. I am sure any non-Indian would read these accounts with two eyes pooped out.

The beauty of the book catches on you once you know ...

A great piece of work backed by thorough research, great language and the necessary sensitivity. Nowhere in the book the author tries to sensationalize the topic or characters. Wonderful non-fiction work coupled with fabulous narration.

Want an award? It's easy. Describe the slums of India in graphic detail - including the number of dead animals that have contributed to the filth, put in some amount of corruption, a few warped love stories - there you have it! A sparkling new award. Hats off to the work Katherine has done, but for an Indian, the book does not merit an award by any stretch of imagination. It seems more like a rehash of Slumdog Millionaire, without the protagonist ever becoming a millionaire. It has all ...

This book does give an non-mumbaikar a much better view of what happens in the financial hub of the country. Good insights but at times becomes repetitive to an extent one is wondering if we are reading some people's short essays of depressions and voyeuristic views or is it a story about triumph over adversity. Well neither are expected with a reader left to keep visualizing oneself in the setting. My only suggestion to all buyers of this book is to tread it with some caution while it does ...

As beautiful and heartbreaking as any book you'll ever read. A book that will stay with you, and will make you want to go back to page 1 the moment you have finished it.
The book reads like a novel, but it is not. It is a tremendous work of non-fiction, one which was made possible by years of back-breaking research and video-footage. A stunningly good read.

I am going to keep it really short.
Its one of the best book if not the best book I have ever read. And it is saying something because I have read quiet a few bestsellers(more like 59)
very strange this book has only 3.8 rating here!!

The book is brilliantly written. In the initial stage when I was reading the book I was to re-confirm if the author was an Indian or not.

She has brilliantly captured the series of events that occur during the period of the book. Its just unbelievable how well she has researched to bring every small detail/ mention in the book.

A must read.

Katherine Boo's first book "Beyond the Beautiful Forever" rises beyond journalism as it follows the life of a group of youngsters for a while in a slum called Annawadi near Mumbai's Sahar airport.

The book has gathered great reviews already. Joseph Lelyveld called it the "best piece of journalism to come out of India in the last fifty years". Shashi Tharoor and Jonathan Shinin, the editor of Caravan, have very high praise for it.

The lives of the children are blighted by the utter lack of p...

This is the true narrative of people in a Mumbai slum called Annawadi. While this may be something new or shocking from a westerner's point of view, I think every Indian knows this story. We hear it in our everyday news reports, we see it in the daily lives of lesser privileged people around us. I guess the motive of this book is to make people sensitive to the issue of poverty and the cycle of corruption and greed, but like I said its not that we Indians are not aware of the issue, its just ...