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Virginia Hoyt asked this question about Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity:
My question is actually one the author herself asked in the Author's Note; on page 248, she queries "After all, there are more poor people than rich people in the world's Mumbais. ... Why don't more of our unequal societies implode?"
mpn Read the non-fiction describing life in a 21C slum; where the author asks “ Why don’t places like … , with cheek-by-jowl slums and luxury hotels, devo…moreRead the non-fiction describing life in a 21C slum; where the author asks “ Why don’t places like … , with cheek-by-jowl slums and luxury hotels, devolve into arrant violence? Why don’t more of our unequal societies implode?” and then goes on to observe “In places where government priorities and market imperatives create a world so capricious that to help a neighbor is to risk your ability to feed your family, … , the idea of mutually supportive poor community is demolished.” And further that “ … in undercities governed by corruption, … , it is blistering hard to be good. It is astonishing that some people are good…”.
Should it be concluded that it is because the family largely remains intact, breeds some goodness, and prevents the implosion?(less)
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Behind the Beautiful Forevers
by Katherine Boo
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