Boo Prologue through pg. 25 Response

It seems as though Katherine Boo is definitely taking a much more hands-on approach to the ethnographic study of Mumbai than an academic approach. It seems as though she’s exclusively using primary research considering she’s getting almost all of her material that she’s writing about from the dwellers of Annawadi themselves. I know that she mentioned in the author’s note at the end that she did consult records, police reports, and other similar documents in order to make sure what she was saying about certain events that transpired was indeed correct, but I think in order to write in the style that Behind the Beautiful Forevers was written in, it essentially had to have most of its information come from first-hand accounts since she writes from the subjects’ actual perspectives as almost a narrator through describing their thoughts, memories, connections, etc. It’s interesting to read considering her voice as the author is almost completely unheard other than reporting on what other people saw or thought, much more an observer than an active participator in the work like in Weschler’s Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder, where it was told from his view and you knew it was his voice. I think that I sometimes have a harder time following certain things with this style, as it plays with the idea of speech as though you’re familiar with Mumbai slang and customs beforehand, but it’s done well and makes it seem like the living, breathing undercity it is in real life, rather than just another non-fiction piece.