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Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Mar 26, 2017sgcf rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I read this book immediately after a 3-week visit to Mumbai which included a private walking tour of the Dharavi slum which was a fascinating look at the ‘hustle’ work ethic and highly organized routines around garbage and recycle processing. It made me think of an open-air ‘factory’ spread over many acres. I was impressed. But Boo’s ethical probe in this book cracked it wide open to all the unseen facets of utter poverty within a flourishing India, the pros and cons of globalism and corruption, the dog-eat-dog nature of their communities. Her journalism reads like a compelling story, without judgement or moralizing, drawing us deeply into the lives of some of the players, and the loss of their talents and intelligence and control. Yes, it was depressing. But necessary.