Review: "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" by Katherine Boo

Life in the slums of India is ruthless and cruel. The conditions are inhumane and the people are callous and insensitive to all but their own suffering; yet, people hold out hope for a better life. In Katherine Boo’s nonfiction chronicle of life from 2008 to 2011 in India’s Annawadi, the reader gets a small, painful glimpse of what this reality really is.

I liked this book because it was descriptive and made you feel as if you were actually there. You could almost smell the odors that permeate the shacks from the lack of water, the unwashed bodies and the sewage lake that flooded during the monsoon. Anything can be bought and the corruption flows downhill as the rich prey off the poor who prey off the poorer. My only difficulty with the story is that I am very bad with name so I did have a hard time following what was happening until about the third or fourth chapter till I had everyone straight in my mind.

If you are ready for an eye opening account of what life is like in just one of the hundreds of slums in India, please read this book. It is heartfelt and beautifully written. The author did an amazing job and you will feel not only the despair but the hope.