Fifty Shades of Grey

Author: E.L. James


The "Fifty Shades" trilogy has got so much hype that for the last several months it is firmly parked as number 1, 2 and 3 on the NY Times Bestseller list. I finally got my hands on Book Number One and was looking forward to reading it. I thought, how bad can this be. It has some romance and some rather explicit material that is bound to be entertaining; no pun intended.  But boy, was I wrong. The book is really empty of anything but some rather bland conversations and back and forth email. The only real twist or turn of events happens at the end of the book, after you have read 500 pages of drivel. Even the sex is not particularly imaginative or entertaining. I strongly recommend avoiding this book.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Author: Katherine Boo


For those of us who grew up in India, we have seen one too many slums and are not eager to re-live the experience. For the rest of you who have not had this privilege, there's the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" that I am sure has left an indelible picture of life in Indian slums.  I can still visualize the movie, so it was with reluctance that I picked up this book that is set in the Annawadi slum near the Mumbai Airport in India.  However, on reading a couple of chapters, I quickly realized that I had a beautiful book in my hands and the outpouring of praise from the likes of Amartya Sen and the numerous 5-star reviewers on Amazon were more than justified.

Katherine has combined her gift of reporting, with some excellent prose that not only describes the conditions in the slum, but also captures in very economical prose the culture of the nation and its people. There was many a time I had to pause and appreciate her insight and the way she described it in a single sentence. Here's an example "But for the poor of a country where corruption thieved a great deal of opportunity, corruption was one of the genuine  opportunities that remained".  She is describing the effects of corruption in India and explaining how it is not just endemic to the rich, but also the poor in the slums. She is acknowledging that it has hampered Indian growth and business, but at the same time is possibly one of the few opportunities that slum-dwellers have to improve their lot. She conveys how corruption is deep-rooted in India. You have to pause and think of all the ramifications of just a single sentence in the book.

Here's another gem on the Indian (possibly human) propensity for complaining and blaming others for their misfortune. "Was there a soul  in this enriching unequaled city who didn't blame his dissatisfaction on someone else?  Wealthy citizens accused the slum dwellers of making the city filthy and unlivable. Slum dwellers complained about the obstacles that the rich and powerful erected to prevent them from sharing in new profit." While the book is written primarily from the point of view of the slumdwellers, Katherine does not necessarily portray them in a rosy light and attempts to describe events and characters in a neutral manner.

The book is filled with many pithy observations of slumdwellers and the Indian culture, that made me pause, notice and appreciate the many things we take for granted in our lives.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book and it left a huge impression on me.