BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS

Behind the Beautiful Forevers - What a beautiful title for one of the more powerful stories I've read lately. It's about young and old people and families who make their lives in a slum near the Mumbai airport. Each character becomes someone you know and might understand in some way. As I read, some events were so emotional that I was glad they were taking place in a book. Right? Abdul, Asha, Manju, Kalu, One Leg and some of the other Muslim and Hindu garbage workers, as well as their slum, Annawadi, are a powerful statement of modern day poverty in what surely is still a third world country despite it's presence on the modern world economic stage. There was a surprise for me at the end of the book which made me even more sad, but which also causes me to recommend the book even more highly. Stories about life in India are so rich. Do read this one.