Maximum City  (English, Paperback, Mehta Suketu)

Published in the year 2004, the book ,Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, is a non-fiction novel based on the city of Mumbai, which is located in India.

Summary Of The Book

In Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, the author recounts his experiences in the city of Mumbai, before he left the city in the year 1977, and the time he returns as an adult to his hometown. The author finds himself to be an outsider, as well as a native, as he spent a great deal of his childhood in the city.

The author left the city of Mumbai in the year 1977, and relocated to New York City, along with his family. When he returns to the city, he gives the readers an account of the problems faced by him, on an everyday basis, as he moves about in Mumbai. He also gives the reader insight about the state of slums in the city, along with a detailed account on politics.

He gives the readers insight on the breakup of the political parties due to hindu-muslim rivalry. He also throws light on the horrific bomb blasts that shook the city in the year 1993, along with the Mumbai Underworld criminal outfit. He also recounts his face-to-face meeting with a number of brutal killers.

Apart from that, he describes his meeting with Bal Thackeray, who is the chief of the Shiv Sena, which is the dominant party over the city. At the end of the book, there is a brief account of the life of a Jain diamond merchant family. The merchant himself decides to seclude himself from society and become a Jain monk, leaving behind all his wealth as well as his family.

Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found has been highly appreciated by its readers, having being the runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize in the year 2005. Apart from that, the book has also been given the Kiriyama Prize, which is given to authors of literary works that cover the life of people in the Pacific and South Asian sphere. The Economist also listed this book among the best for the year 2004.

About Suketu Mehta

Suketu Mehta is a renowned author, hailing from Kolkata, India.

Apart from this book, he’s also written Bombay Mix: Street Photographs.

The author was born in the year 1963, in Kolkata. However, he spent his childhood in the city of Mumbai, before relocating to New York. He completed his degree from New York University, and was a part of the Writer’s workshop conducted by the University of Iowa. Apart from authoring books, the author also contributed to writing the script for Mission Kashmir, which is a Bollywood movie. He has also written the script for ‘The Goddess’, which is an original. The author currently resides in Manhattan, writing a book based on his experiences in the city of New York. The author has won a number of awards for his literary works. His literary works have also featured in National Geographic, Harpers Magazine, Time, and New York Times Magazine.