Katherine Boo fails to hook me in these first several pages. Though there are many interesting aspects to the stories she tells, such as the woman with one leg, the tone is which I read it is not an interested one. I like the direction this story is going though. A person can gain a lot of insight from any book. Insight specific to this one might be about writing style. She uses colorful language and descriptive sentences. My peers seem to favor her writing style, so perhaps I am just not invested enough yet. I always seem to have trouble jumping into books. If I could develop an emotional connection with the characters, it would be much more enjoyable to read- they are real people after all. Though she doesn't make it apparent, these are Boo's up-close-and-personal accounts of life in Annawadi.
Thinking about the fact that Boo met these people, took pieces of their life, and is making money off of it, I have to wonder what the people of Annawadi think of “Behind the Beautiful Forevers”. Did they consent to all of these intimate details being public? Do they even know how they are being portrayed to people who read the book? Boo seems to genuinely care about these people, since she lived next to them for year, so I’m sure she’s doing right by them. But who’s to tell?
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