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Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found

3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 · rating details · 3,993 ratings · 419 reviews

A native of Bombay, Suketu Mehta gives us an insider’s view of this stunning metropolis. He approaches the city from unexpected angles, taking us into the criminal underworld of rival Muslim and Hindu gangs; following the life of a bar dancer raised amid poverty and abuse; opening the door into the inner sanctums of Bollywood; and delving into the stories of the countless...more

Paperback, 560 pages

Published September 27th 2005 by Vintage (first published 2004)

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Dec 31, 2007 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: social-commentary, india

I toyed with creating a new category for this book: "Nonfiction Stranger Than Fiction." But no. Some of the stories and experiences of people that this book chronicles do seem very far-fetched (say, to mention just one out of several dozen, the former newspaper cartoonist who becomes boss of one of the strongest Hindu fundamentalist parties in the country – an Indian Rush Limbaugh – and who provokes some of the most violent riots in the country’s history.) But it is all believable once you recog...more I toyed with creating a new category for this book: "Nonfiction Stranger Than Fiction." But no. Some of the stories and experiences of people that this book chronicles do seem very far-fetched (say, to mention just one out of several dozen, the former newspaper cartoonist who becomes boss of one of the strongest Hindu fundamentalist parties in the country – an Indian Rush Limbaugh – and who provokes some of the most violent riots in the country’s history.) But it is all believable once you recognize that the world is a far meaner, violent, corrupt, or at least a far different place than one would probably imagine living in one of the wealthier countries on the planet.

Although the Maximum City of the title is Bombay, this book is also - and I would say primarily - about poverty, more precisely, the extremes of existence that poverty creates; extremes of tolerance and intolerance, violence and benevolence, community and isolation. Even in chapters that do not directly deal with poverty, such as the excellent chapter on the Indian film industry, the desperate masses are never far from the author’s focal point.

One of my dozen-or-so favorite episodes from this book is "Adjust," a passage about the Bombay train system. Toward the end of this section, a man whose job it is to monitor communal violence and religious flare-ups within the Bombay slums - in short, someone who regularly sees some of the worst aspects of humanity - is asked if he is pessimistic about the human race. He responds "Not at all.... Look at the hands from the train." He is referring to all of the hands that stretch out of the train cars when someone is running alongside the train car, reaching to pull you in. It is one of several very beautiful passages, and all I can do is quote from it at length:

“Your fellow passengers, already packed tighter than cattle are legally allowed to be, their shirts already drenched in sweat in the badly ventilated compartments, having stood like this for hours, retain an empathy for you, know that your boss might yell at you or cut your pay if you miss the train, and will make space where none exists to take one more person with them. And at the moment of contact, they do not know if the hand that is reaching for theirs belongs to a Hindu or Muslim or Christian or Brahmin or untouchable …. All they know is that you are trying to get to the city of gold, and that’s enough.”
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Sep 02, 2007 Suresh rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Indophiles Travel readers history buffs south-asian enthusiasts and watchers

I had heard about the book for a while now but just managed to pick the book few months ago at the airport during a business trip.

I loved the book mostly because I am from bombay as well and just like Suketu, I have moved to Bombay and back few times in my life. Everything in the book was very real for me and there were times when it felt like he literally took words out of my mouth. I would highly recommend this book to Indophiles, Travel readers and even history buffs. There are few things I...more I had heard about the book for a while now but just managed to pick the book few months ago at the airport during a business trip.

I loved the book mostly because I am from bombay as well and just like Suketu, I have moved to Bombay and back few times in my life. Everything in the book was very real for me and there were times when it felt like he literally took words out of my mouth. I would highly recommend this book to Indophiles, Travel readers and even history buffs. There are few things I would like to critique about this book :

A) I think the author's style of writing comes too close to V.S.Naipaul's style and he admits in the prologue that he did prepare for ths book by reading lots of V.S.Naipaul. I am not totally turned off by it because VS Naipaul happens to be one of my favorite authors too but it may be off-putting for other readers.

B) At about two thirds into the book I suddenly developed fatigue and found myself skipping pages and sections till I found something that picked up my interest. For example I found it bit tiring when he goes on and on about the bar girls and at times the narrative became extremely draggy.
I then jumped to the bollywood sections and the momentum picked up.

C) The mood of the book swings wildy from humor to tragedy to violence and at times even engages in sensationalism that I began questioning the "truth" in the narration. But the narrative bounces back by redeeming itself after those brief spells of incredulity.

D) Even though the book is supposed to be non-fiction I found the author very manipulative in style like a fictional story teller. For example he keeps the dates of his encounters with the characters bit nebulous and goes back and forth to some characters using their quotes mixing it with his own commentary to present a very romanticized or sensational story that mirrors his own personal view on the subject. For example it tends to reinforce the stereo types that most of us may agree with such as "Generally the mafia in bombay are most Muslims", "Gujaratis are business minded", "Hindu criminals though equally bad are slight better because they suffer from guilt and are god fearing", "Bollywood stars and directors are shallow and superficial", "Bombay is a filth pit of pollution and shit" etc. This paints some of the characters and situation in bad light without telling you all the sides of the story. Its this style that makes the book seem like fiction at times and honestly for some maybe even the charm of the book.

It may also be that perhaps he had lot of research material to sift thru but he deliberately selected the stories to suit his hidden agenda of coming up with a best seller for the international audience. And he chooses his stories based on his own personal convictions rather than telling them objectively purely from the character's view point.

I read somewhere that after the book was published his relationship with one of the bollywood characters in the book (Vinod the director) soured and they are estranged now.

I personally dont care about this since I am from bombay and consider myself knowledgeable enough to seperate fact from fiction, I just wanted to caution the readers here: Beware the author is extremely intelligent writer and if he manages to manipulate your consciousness and sway your opinions, then its intentional. And maybe that only indicates that he is an extremely good writer. More power to him in that case:-)

I sincerely hope that this book encourages more south asians to adopt this style and genre of writing and we get to read more interesting books on India which is itself on the dawn of transformation and progress. There are millions of fascinating stories and live drama occurring in the streets of india every day that just needs to be captured in a medium that the world may find fascinating and can watch or read about in this century. Don't be surprised if this book is made into a movie or documentary.
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Aug 30, 2007 Maura Finkelstein rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who likes pornography

I'm fascinated by the hype over Mehta's travelogue. This book portrays women as objects, poor people as criminals, and the Bollywood elite as deserving the resentment of a bitter New York based writer who can't quite find a place in the city of his youth.
So I'm struggling to understand what all the hype is about.
This is not, contrary to what reviews would lead us to believe, a book about Bombay. Instead, it's a book about being an outsider, and it does a decent job grappling with alienation and...more

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Sep 07, 2007 Lena rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

This book was a mixed bag for me. There is some great narrative in Mehta's tale of his return to the city of his youth as an adult. His description of learning how to navigate the corrupt bureaucracy in order to get enough cooking gas for his new flat was priceless. But as he begins to delve more deeply into explorations of politics, organized crime and the sex trade, particularly his growing friendship with a bar girl, the narrative outlasted my interest. I really enjoyed certain sections of th...more

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Jan 12, 2008 Jonathan rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Indophiles

Shelves: travel, india, non-fiction

Mehta returned to his native city as an adult and wrote this book over a couple year period. In it he spends time with police detectives, gangsters, political demagogues, bar room dancing girls, and Bollywood directors. The book gives a fascinating overview of one of the most densely populated, corrupt, polluted, and absurd cities on the planet.

Having just returned from two weeks in Bombay, where I finished this book, I looked at the city informed with Mehta's portrait. Walking next to me on the...more

5 likes · like · see review

Dec 07, 2007 Liza marked it as will-i-ever-finish-these-books

I'm having a difficult time finishing this book. I usually read it for a few days and then need a break due to the overwhelming detail and drama that Mehta inserts into his prose. I honestly liked the beginning of the book in which Mehta made me feel as though I could see Bombay: crowding around a street stall for the best food in town, the need to bribe every public official for every little (and big) convenience, the dearth of toilets, the omnipresent din, the rich, the poor, etc. But now I'm...more

3 likes · like · see review

Sarovar I agree with you about the "male gaze" part, it was one of those things that bothered me about the book. But I did get the sense that he was trying to...more
updated Nov 25, 2008 03:57am

Liza Thanks, Sarovar. You comment is timely, because I was just thinking about this book last night after seeing the film Slumdog Millionaire, which takes...more
Nov 25, 2008 06:20am

Sarovar Thanks, glad someone read the comments on here! No, I feel I had the same problems and after so many people I know praised this book, I was wondering...more
Nov 26, 2008 02:41am

Apr 15, 2008 Zeenat rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: South Asian lit buffs

A native-Bombay boy returns to the newly christened Mumbai after living in New York. Started out as a wonderful narrative that reflected my own thoughts, criticisms and fears of returning to the homeland. Its an interesting read but requires some patience to get through.

Mehta delves into various aspects of the underworld and its control over the city of Bombay - which is fascinating, but I echo Sabrina's sentiments - homeboy could have used an editor. There were stretches of pages that were qui...more

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Dec 18, 2009 Matt rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Friends, people interested in India/South-Asia, folks who love reading about cities

Shelves: nonfiction, favorites

I rather haphazardly stumbled across Maximum City in an airport bookshop a couple months back and boy am I glad I did, because it perfectly hits one of my literary sweet spots: a fascination with modern cities. It's a well-researched and very detailed look at Bombay (or, as many call it now, Mumbai) as it exists today in all its tremendous beauty and unparalleled horror. Suketu Mehta has a wonderful talent for downloading a tremendous amount of information while also writing utterly fascinating...more

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Jun 01, 2007 Naresh Tanna rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Adults

Very interesting if you care to learn how the streets/underground works in Mumbai. The book does a great job in describing Mumbai as if it were a living, breathing animal. Tons of history can be learned as well as interesting behaviors/facts about the crazy city.

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Mar 07, 2009 Pam added it

Shelves: non-fiction

I'm officially giving up on this book.... Too many other things I want to read, so I'm done being tortured! I'm rather tired of the violence of this book. You feel overwhelmed by the force that keeps everything from working right in Mumbai and the sheer violence is so awful. One of the guys at work whose family lives in Mumbai fortunately said it is much better now. The underworld has imploded and computerization has made it more difficult to go around randomly killing people. What I like about...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Praj rated it 3 of 5 stars

Circa 1992. It was a regular school day on a lovely December morning(winters are warm not cold in Bombay).With just an hour left to mid-morning recess, there was a sudden flurry of anxious announcements calling certain students to report immediately with their belongings at the Principal’s office. After being little nosy about the happenings I go back to my daydreaming. Suddenly, I see my mother hurriedly demanding that I go and collect my younger sister from her classroom. As I walk through th...more Circa 1992. It was a regular school day on a lovely December morning(winters are warm not cold in Bombay).With just an hour left to mid-morning recess, there was a sudden flurry of anxious announcements calling certain students to report immediately with their belongings at the Principal’s office. After being little nosy about the happenings I go back to my daydreaming. Suddenly, I see my mother hurriedly demanding that I go and collect my younger sister from her classroom. As I walk through the school compound frantic parents rush in and out of the school premises with their children. As we walk towards the car I see my father tensed and horrified to some extent. He had just escaped death(which we knew later that evening. Four men had hurled bombs in front of him at a nearby housing development while my father was driving through traffic). A riot had broken in the streets nearby as we frantically rushed home, I could see shutters closing at the speed of light, people scattering, some flinging acid bulbs and destruction of harmless developments. That was the day the Hindu-Muslim riots let a demon loose for which innocents had to pay with their humble lives in the coming horrendous months. I still remember those days vividly for I have been a front row spectator to the bloodshed occurred in the name of religion ignited by few political rivals. I lived among trepidations that lasted for years to come by. Lost people I knew and religion once again became a crucial factor in our mundane lives. The citizens of Bombay (I resist from calling it Mumbai, always) bravely faced those murky days, which I witnessed closely with resilience and banishing all prejudices imposed by political cults. Over decades the city has seen its share of political violence and inter-religion hatred, but its people have always made it through with smiling faces.

Thus, when an individual who summons his exploration of a nostalgic hometown proclaiming that he has seen enough murderers and questioned their virtues, it irks me.I am not denying factual comprehensions of this book, as it would be utterly preposterous to overlook the shame that Bombay once faced or has not being able to strike an equilibrium in honored survival, however I do question the validity of his sentiments to a place he calls “Maximum City” where he once unreservedly wandered as a kid. Mehta says he left the city in 1977 only to be back after 21years to find him in a state of utter shock. There is no falsehood, no dramatic sequences to define the underbelly of my home city, nevertheless I get annoyed each time I open the pages and read those words. Rarely a book touches me on a personal note, but these words dishearten me as they are negative of a place and its people who strive hard for a living. Fair enough, there are vast discrepancies in the standard of living. There are some who die homeless in scorching heat whereas others never travel without an air-conditioned comfort. There are some who demand beluga caviar on toast for tea –time and indulge in La Prairie Cellular serums while others barely make it through the day without a proper meal. It is extremely difficult to rationalize these disparities that hit you in the face in the most mysterious ways. But, these do not define all. Why wasn’t there a prose about people striving everyday braving obstacles with dignified audacity to make a better living. About individuals determined to make a dignified and prosperous future come what may. People amalgamating into one joyous mass rejoicing each cultural festival with the same magnanimous excitement banishing all ethnic prejudices.

The chapters on “Bollywood” signify braggart purposes. It is a film industry for crying out loud; an entertainment business where almost all actors are purely performers and not artistic geniuses that venerates the true meaning of art. Nothing can be gained from it rather that a minority percentage of artistes that depart frothy amusement to make assiduous lives cheerful. Most art films (movies depicting social causes and instabilities) do not fare well with common psyche. This very attitude shows the annoyance of a mind resisting it to shun “moralistic virtues” performed by artistes that have been rehearsed to achieve precision. Is it disheartening? Not really. When it comes to choosing authenticity over illusionary realism, the latter is always preferred.

One would refute my caustic words claiming that with my privileged lifestyle I must be the last person to comment on the imbalanced financial and educational status of this city. I have never lived without food, shelter or money. Then how would I know the depth of a suffering. One does not have to be poor to know what poverty is. One does not have to be fraudulent to know what corruption is. I was born in Bombay, schooled here and I presently live in this city all hale and hearty. Unlike the author, I have been away from Bombay for a span of 9 years, while I was studying in the US. But, that does not give me the right to condemn the city mechanics or garner negativity. As you cannot expect a child to stay a child forever, you cannot anticipate a burgeoning city to stay in its purest unscathed form. From what I observed, the author seems perplexed with his distinctiveness. He tried finding a sense of belonging in New York stressed through the binding stereotypes only to come back to the place of his origin and see it modified into a strange land that once again botched a sense of belonging.

Bombay will always be my home come what may. I have traveled around many superior worldly cities, yet the imminent landing announcement at the Bombay airport somehow makes me warmly smile every freaking time. The city is heavily crowded, poverty and richness juxtaposes every road that spirals into politically corrupt governing display of unreliable loyalties and prone to religious debates. But, this does not define its landscapes, its populace. It is a city where dreams are built; life is raw imparting valuable teachings of resilient determination, where people smile even in the most tedious times, ethnicities are celebrated with joyfulness and life is seen at it nastiest and its finest. It is a place where I grew up and took long walks with my grandfather relishing every aspect of this marvelous city. Bombay is not a place full of murderers or politically agitated goons, it is haven of magnificent, soulful people who fight all odds and nurture a ravishing tomorrow. Now, this is what I would term as “Maximum City”.

Lastly, one question that troubles me is why only those who bring together pessimistic opinions are the ones who have stayed away from the core of Bombay nudging stereotypes in a foreign land?

Praj, why after such scathing opinion would you bestow a 3-star rating on this book? Is this you being diplomatic or commiserating the author’s hard slog? Ah, I get it. This book makes you defensive about your home city and makes you affectionate for something you disregarded that this book interleaves in you.
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Jun 21, 2011 Mohit added it

Maximum City @ The Review Cafe

If you are fascinated with Mumbai (just as I am) and you need to dive right into this vibrant city, look no further. Suketu Mehta takes us on a whirlwind tour of the city from his early days as a school going kid to the time when he comes back from US to write his book.
He takes us through the lives of different characters which are totally different from each other. Just to give you an example, he meets a successful film director, an underworld don,...more

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Oct 09, 2012 Babak Fakhamzadeh rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoires

A portrait of Bombay.
The author grew up in the city, but left and spend some 20 years in western cities, around the world, before returning for a two and a half year period, with his family. The book consists of three parts: One on the Bombay mafia, "Power", one on the entertainment industry, both sex and movies, "Pleasure", and one part called "Passages"�, a collection of portraits which didn't fit in the other two parts, the largest of which is about a family turning Jain monks (walking the w...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Abhishek rated it 4 of 5 stars

There are very few books meant to hit both your head and heart at the same time. Maximum city can safely claim that space. This is one book where author doesn’t just play mere spectator, but gets involved with his characters.
Mehta just doesn’t bring out Mumbai to detail, its culture- he peels it off, layer by layer. The book merits heavily from Mehta’s witty writing and at the end of 500 pages, you’re left with urge of wanting more. As the cliché goes “It creates page turning urgency”.
Unwaverin...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Shashank Garg rated it 5 of 5 stars

A scintillating jewel of a book about the most intrinsic mechanizations withing the heart of a city, and hearts of those within. While the author follows the characters with the medium of direct interviews only and limits himself to making short and precise observations wherever necessary, the book turns out to be an extremely edible enterprise, plainly for the fact that Suketu Mehta is as great in reporting hard facts as he is skilled in touching soul of the reader with some heavily nostalgic l...more

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Jul 20, 2012 Amey Nadkarni rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone who lives in Mumbai or aspires to.

Ever since I heard about this book, I have been wanting to read it. On various occasions I did come across it, picked it up, browsed through it, liked it, yet never bought it! Until finally 14 days ago, I entered the book shop to buy something entirely different and ended up walking out with Maximum City- a book about Bombay: a city I was born into and of course, a book about Mumbai: a city I grew up in!!

As I began ravenously reading it, I cursed myself for not procuring it all these years. A ho...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Ramesh B rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a book I shouldn't have read. But I did, and now I have to live with it.

I now live in Navi Mumbai - that's the area initially slotted for the expansion of Mumbai, later sabotaged by the bigshots and now just a satellite city of Mumbai. I came here six months ago, and I had grown to love the place. I had decided everything they say about Mumabi must be hype or slander - I mean, if Navi Mumbai is this good, Mumbai should at least be a shade better, shouldn't it?

After reading the book, I'v...more

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Nov 27, 2011 Nick D rated it 4 of 5 stars

If Mexico City is, as my wife says, the PhD of cities, then Mumbai must be the post-doctorate. Suketu Mehta spent a few years there, describing it in a fluid, occasionally powerful prose. Between a beginning that describes it as the City of No and an ending on its most marginal occupants are some extraordinary set pieces. The first describes Mumbai's thriving gang world, including the favors the gangsters do for politicians. Vikram Chandra, who was working on the same themes and appears in the b...more

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Jun 14, 2011 Avidreader rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book is pathetic. All the author did was rent a bunch of hindi movies and rehashed them in detail. I simply can't understand the positive reviews--especially those of Indian readers, who have probably seen these movies over and over. The similarities are so striking, some of the dialogs have been quoted--verbatim. Not to mention the drivel at the beginningof the book-Mr.Mehta should be ashamed of himself for delving onmicro castism. In today's day and age only an incredibly regressive kind...more

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Jan 25, 2011 Harish Rajamani rated it 4 of 5 stars

As someone who grew up in Bombay (yes, I left about 7 years ago, so I'm still able to resist calling it Mumbai) I should say that I did not identify with everything in this book, but the essence of it appealed to me, I think. While I felt that the book looked at the city with (what seemed intentionally) a foreign eye, I would say to its credit that this did not hinder my ability to identify with the book, as much as my own ignorance of the many layers of Bombay, growing up as a kid.
I've always...more

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Oct 28, 2010 Hiten Samtani rated it 5 of 5 stars

When you think of a city that personifies energy, dynamism, and crowds, you may think of New York. As vibrant as NYC is, for sheer levels of activity, it must take a backseat to Bombay (Mumbai). Bombay is, without exaggeration, the maddest, loudest, most crowded, most frenzied metropolis on the planet. That Suketu Mehta's Maximum City is able to reflect this energy in its entirety is a testament to his meticulous research, evocative writing style, and deep love for a place that was once home but...more When you think of a city that personifies energy, dynamism, and crowds, you may think of New York. As vibrant as NYC is, for sheer levels of activity, it must take a backseat to Bombay (Mumbai). Bombay is, without exaggeration, the maddest, loudest, most crowded, most frenzied metropolis on the planet. That Suketu Mehta's Maximum City is able to reflect this energy in its entirety is a testament to his meticulous research, evocative writing style, and deep love for a place that was once home but has now

"A group of people that miss the same imaginary place" is what Garden State's Largeman said about family. This feeling is captured in Maximum City; Mehta's nostalgia for a pre-Mumbai Bombay is almost ferocious, his words carry a rich undercurrent of longing for what once was. Mehta primarily examines five aspects of Bombay life: The Gang Wars, prostitution and beer bars, the extremism of the Shiv Sena, the local train system, and the film industry. To each aspect he applies his natural talent as an urban ethnographer; it's little surprise that this book was a Pulitzer finalist in 2005.

Mehta is a keen student of the human condition, and his knowledge of what makes the Indian heart tick is extraordinary even for an insider. A little excerpt that speaks to the concept of space, which is central to life in such a mega-crowded city.

"Car ads in most countries usually focus on the luxurious cocoon that awaits you, the driver, once you step inside. At most, there might be space for the attractive woman you'll pick up once you're spotted driving the flash set of wheels. The Ambassador ad isn't really touting the virtues of space. It's not saying, like a station wagon ad, that it has lots of spare room. It's saying that the kind of people likely to drive an Ambassador will always make more room. It is really advocating a reduction of personal physical space and an expansion of the collective space. In a crowded city, the citizens of Bombay have no option but to adjust."

Superb book from an inspirational writer.(less)

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Feb 15, 2010 Ryan rated it 4 of 5 stars

I can't say I've ever had a strong desire to move to Bombay, but this book was convincing enough that I safely believe it not the place for me. But, there's a certain subconscious, almost sadomasochistic draw to the place - as if moving there would be a particularly creative form of (potentially physical) suicide to the person I am today. Like Los Angeles - only 10 times stronger.

I came to this book via Mehta's interview in the Believer. He seemed a funny, smart guy and I figured his book would...more

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Feb 04, 2010 Tina rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Mehta wrote a book in which he is not entirely honest with himself or his readers. This is not to say that he has grossly misrepresented the "characters" within the world of his non-fiction book (rather, it is apparent that they are perhaps the only "truth" within this book); rather, he is un-truthful with and about himself. This book, as Mehta frames it, is the author's journey back to the mythic land of his youth: Mumbai. Along (perhaps dragged) on this journey are his wife and two sons, the l...more Mehta wrote a book in which he is not entirely honest with himself or his readers. This is not to say that he has grossly misrepresented the "characters" within the world of his non-fiction book (rather, it is apparent that they are perhaps the only "truth" within this book); rather, he is un-truthful with and about himself. This book, as Mehta frames it, is the author's journey back to the mythic land of his youth: Mumbai. Along (perhaps dragged) on this journey are his wife and two sons, the later of whom's "cultural education" appears to be the impetus of this return to the mother land. However, Mehta rarely mentions his wife or his children within the pages of his book. Rather, what he focuses on are the gangsters, bar dancers, directors/Bollywood types, and other "riff-raff" that populate Mumbai. Later, much later, in the book he shifts the focus (albeit briefly) to a street urchin-cum-poet and a Jain family (two separate vignettes) in an attempt to emphasis that Mumbai is home to aspiration and broken dreams. However, not only does this shift come too late, but the connection to Mehta's own aspirations and broken dreams reads as forced and false. In a book that is heralded as a journey of self-discovery (at the very least so, by the title alone) Mehta fails to make himself the center of the story and thus, fails to truly and truthfully examine what it means to return home and/or rediscover/discover for the first time one's heritage.

Despite the feeling of a contrived story (many parts of this book read as though Mehta compiled files upone files of research, looked over that research, and then cobbled together a story that he thought his western (read: New Yorker audience) might enjoy, there are moments of light and levity. His descriptions and portrayal of the characters that populate his book--the gangster hit-men, the dancing girls, the gender-confused Honey, etc--are all heartbreakingly beautiful and breathtakingly astute. As a cultural "insider", Mehta accurately walks the thin line between gratuitously aggrandizing his own culture in an attempt to defend it and/or excusing the sometimes seemingly "backwards" actions of a third-world populous. The desperation to escape as well as the love its inhabitants have for Mumbai is perfectly and tenderly expressed. In that, at least, Mehta was truthful. (less)

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Dec 15, 2009 Frank Stein rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A lot of purple prose here, but some of it is really justified. After all, when you're surrounded by Muslim gangsters, Jainist monks, underage call girls, and Bollywood movie producers, all set against the backdrop of one of the world's strangest and filthiest cities, you're allowed to use a little literary hyperbole.

Mehta's a journalist who returns to his hometown of Bombay to explore the underworld and write some in-depth portraits of its denizens. He does a great job of it, even though he him...more

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Nov 19, 2009 Adam Braus rated it 4 of 5 stars

Mr. Meta shows how powerful, useful and vital a journalist can be to society. Where no one is in the position of power to change such entrenched problems as the Rent Act, or resolve Hindu-Muslim racism and violence in Mumbai, the author brings to light these issues and their roots in personality, history, and politics in a way that opens a way to their solution. Moreover, no Indian could do what Mr. Meta does without being criticized, but since he is essentially an outsider considered 'cosmopoli...more

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Aug 15, 2009 Kristian added it

Shelves: summer-reading-2009

this book is about a boy named john brown and he is a very mysterious child. he went inbto the woods with his friend and met a guy named frankey b walter this man had alot of money. but only her needed one thing to complete his life to be the man he wanted to be and to find the thing that he wanted since he was a boy. it is the golden EYE. only found in mount apakapitchu. jon loods for it and finds it but he decides since he found it he should keep it and he could make close to 500 thousand doll...more

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Aug 05, 2009 Yvonn Blain rated it 5 of 5 stars

I picked up this book because I had read that it had some "behind the scenes" stories about a Bollywood movie I'd seen and enjoyed, "Mission Kashmir". I got a whole lot more than I'd expected. Not only did the sections about the movie, actors and director supply wonderful insight into the film, there was so much about recent, and not so recent, political history, I found myself picking up information without even trying.
The contrast between the lives of the different people Suketu Mehta met i...more

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Jan 14, 2009 Preeti rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book helped me understand my country better. Gave me the chance to know more about individuals and communities that one is often curious about.
The book is thought provoking and definitely a read for those looking to know more about the city and country.

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Aug 07, 2012 Subodh rated it 3 of 5 stars

If you can not relate yourself with Mumbai, probably you will not like it. If Mumbai makes you curious, even just by movies, you will love good portion of the book.

I loved part 1: Power. Suketu writes a gripping tale of riots, underworld and Mumbai police's interrogation and encounters.

Chapter six made me yawn. I didn't find description of Irani hotel menu interesting.

Chapter called "A city in heat" is good read which takes you in the world of night bar girls.

Chapter "Distilleries of Pleasure"...more

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Feb 12, 2010 Brian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I cannot remember the last book that I liked so much but took me so long to finish. The author, Bombay born, but who spent his adult life abroad, writes with a style more suited to Indian than American English. At first the frequent use of Hindi and Marathi phrases was arresting, but after a while, I approached their use as I would a conversation with native speakers in which clarification of every meaning is neither appropriate, nor necessary.

Mehta lays out the book in a series of vignettes tha...more

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About Suketu Mehta

Suketu Mehta is the New York-based author of 'Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found,' which won the Kiriyama Prize and the Hutch Crossword Award, and was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize, the Lettre Ulysses Prize, the BBC4 Samuel Johnson Prize, and the Guardian First Book Award. He has won the Whiting Writers Award, the O. Henry Prize, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for his...more

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“A city like Bombay, like New York, that is a recent creation on the planet and does not have a substantial indigenous population, is full of restless people. Those who have come here have not been at ease somewhere else. And unlike others who may have been equally uncomfortable wherever they came from, these people got up and moved. As I have discovered, having once moved, it is difficult to stop moving.” — 6 people liked it

“And at the moment of contact, they do not know if the hand that is reaching for theirs belongs to a Hindu or Muslim or Christian or Brahmin or untouchable or whether you were born in this city or arrived only this morning or whether you live in Malabar Hill or New York or Jogeshwari; whether you’re from Bombay or Mumbai or New York. All they know is that you’re trying to get to the city of gold, and that’s enough. Come on board, they say. We’ll adjust.” — 4 people liked it

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Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found

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