Boo to the End

            The end of ‘Beyond the Beautiful Forevers’ is sobering. The lives of the people in Annawadi are difficult, but up to this point they have been hopeful. The people live with systems; Abdul’s family can survive by collecting trash, Manju has hope of making it out by going to college, Sunil can make a small living as a thief. These systems give life normalcy. In this final section of the book, the systems begin to break down.

            I felt defeated just reading about the corrupt court. People lied, crafting their own versions of reality out based on which outcome would benefit them the most. The only redeeming quality of that scene is when Cynthia is called out for lying. Even that is a hollow victory for the reader—in the narrative, truth prevails over corruption. But Cynthia is a real woman, a woman who is in pain and driven to lie to a courtroom because her best friend died. That level of suffering is not rewarding for me as a reader.

            Boo’s double use of the word ‘hearing’ in the courtroom scene has stuck with me; it was effective and clever to literally describe the proceedings as well as the sounds drowning out thought. This last section of the text is full of defeating imagery like the sound of people deciding your fate being drowned out by outside noise. Abdul’s vision of a road lined with people in pain has stuck with me.

            As the small systems in Annawadi begin to unwind, the world around the village descends into chaos as well. The character’s lives are under the shadow of global economic decline and terrorism. It is difficult to find any light here.