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Heather - hturningpages
Dec 14, 2016 rated it really liked it
Shelves: non-fiction
It's impressive how much work the author must have done to collect all the information and interviews needed for this book so that it is told as a cohesive tale. The narrator (an outsider) had to become fully immersed in a complex society where outsiders are easily discounted and/or distrusted. This book offers valuable insight into the lengths people will go to survive and thrive in any environment, and the many loopholes and opportunities for corruption that both help and hinder the extremely ...more
Shasta
Jan 25, 2013 rated it liked it
Shelves: non-fiction
Yes, the writing in this Pulitzer Prize-winning work of literary nonfiction is lovely, sharing every excruciating nuance of life in a Mumbai slum. BUT, I found the book so depressing -- a relentless parade of grinding poverty, life on the edge of survival, rampant corruption, naked human wants and petty grievances -- that I dreaded returning to it each night before bed. As a poetic documentary of slum life, it is both artful and shocking, but if there was hope hiding in this book, I did not find ...more
Jessica Haider
BOOK RIOT READ HARDER CHALLENGE 2018 - fulfills #5: A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa).
Ching-In
Aug 06, 2012 marked it as to-read
Kate
Aug 15, 2012 marked it as to-read
Kim
Nov 14, 2012 marked it as to-read
Natalya
Nov 19, 2012 marked it as to-read
Cecily
Nov 20, 2012 rated it really liked it
Barb Novak
Nov 25, 2012 rated it liked it
Allison
Dec 13, 2012 marked it as to-read
Nicole
Apr 18, 2013 marked it as to-read
Ann
May 10, 2013 marked it as to-read
Anne
May 21, 2013 rated it really liked it
Shelves: book-club
ellen
May 31, 2013 rated it it was ok
Shelves: read-2012
Laurie
Jan 02, 2014 marked it as to-read
Mary
Aug 22, 2014 rated it really liked it
Lela
Oct 07, 2015 rated it really liked it
Nefret
Jan 10, 2016 marked it as to-read
Melissa
Aug 30, 2016 rated it it was amazing
Sarah
Aug 28, 2016 marked it as to-read
Shelves: india
Dyane McSpadden
Oct 06, 2016 rated it really liked it
Jennifer Cole
Aug 10, 2017 rated it it was amazing
Leslie Jones
Sep 06, 2018 marked it as to-read
Teri
May 30, 2019 marked it as to-read
Melissa
Aug 13, 2021 marked it as to-read
Angie
Sep 21, 2021 marked it as to-read
Lori
Apr 24, 2022 marked it as to-read
Paulette
Jul 30, 2022 marked it as to-read
Grace
Nov 27, 2022 rated it it was amazing
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