Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER - NAMED ONE OF TIME'S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE

"Inspiring . . . extraordinary . . . Katherine Boo] shows us how people in the most desperate circumstances can find the resilience to hang on to their humanity. Just as important, she makes us care."--People

"A tour de force of social justice reportage and a literary masterpiece."--Judges, PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award

ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times - The Washington Post - O: The Oprah Magazine - USA Today - New York - The Miami Herald - San Francisco Chronicle - Newsday

In this breathtaking book by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human through the dramatic story of families striving toward a better life in Annawadi, a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport.

As India starts to prosper, the residents of Annawadi are electric with hope. Abdul, an enterprising teenager, sees "a fortune beyond counting" in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Meanwhile Asha, a woman of formidable ambition, has identified a shadier route to the middle class. With a little luck, her beautiful daughter, Annawadi's "most-everything girl," might become its first female college graduate. And even the poorest children, like the young thief Kalu, feel themselves inching closer to their dreams. But then Abdul is falsely accused in a shocking tragedy; terror and global recession rock the city; and suppressed tensions over religion, caste, sex, power, and economic envy turn brutal.

With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects people to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, based on years of uncompromising reporting, carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century's hidden worlds--and into the hearts of families impossible to forget.

WINNER OF: The PEN Nonfiction Award - The Los Angeles Times Book Prize - The American Academy of Arts and Letters Award - The New York Public Library's Helen Bernstein Book Award

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New Yorker - People - Entertainment Weekly - The Wall Street Journal - The Boston Globe - The Economist - Financial Times - Foreign Policy - The Seattle Times - The Nation - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - The Denver Post - Minneapolis Star Tribune - The Week - Kansas City Star - Slate - Publishers Weekly

Author: Katherine Boo
Publisher: Random House
Published: 02/07/2012
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.30lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.50w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9781400067558

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 7.8
Point Value: 14
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 156642 / Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity


Award: New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association Award - Winner
Award: National Book Awards - Winner
Award: National Book Critics Circle Award - Finalist
Award: Pulitzer Prize - Finalist
Award: Guardian First Book Award - Nominee
Award: Helen Bernstein Book Award - Winner
Award: ALA Notable Books - Winner
Award: L.A. Times Book Prize - Winner
Award: Literary Award - Winner


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 09/15/2011 pg. 52
Publishers Weekly 10/17/2011 pg. 61
Kirkus Reviews 12/01/2011
Entertainment Weekly 01/06/2012 pg. 77
Booklist 01/01/2012 pg. 20
Entertainment Weekly 02/03/2012 pg. 114
Library Journal 02/15/2012 pg. 118
People Weekly 02/13/2012 pg. 53
New York Times Book Review 02/19/2012 pg. 22
New York Review of Books 04/05/2012 pg. 22
Books & Culture 05/01/2012 pg. 19
Entertainment Weekly 08/03/2012 pg. 77
Publishers Weekly Best Books 11/05/2012 pg. 33
NY Times Notable Bks of Year 12/02/2012 pg. 26
Kirkus Best Nonfiction 12/01/2012 pg. 7
LJ Top 10 Book 12/01/2012 pg. 23
People Weekly 12/31/2012 pg. 48
Entertainment Weekly 12/28/2012 pg. 105
SLJ Best Adult Bks 4 Teens 12/01/2012 pg. 38

About the Author
Katherine Boo is a staff writer at The New Yorker and a former reporter and editor for The Washington Post. Her reporting has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize, a MacArthur "Genius" grant, and a National Magazine Award for Feature Writing. For the last decade, she has divided her time between the United States and India. This is her first book.