For her book Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Katherine Boo travelled to and stay in Annawadi, Mumbai for several months. She grew up near the area and had travelled back there for business with her husband on numerous occasions, so when she thought of writing a book about local poverty Annawadi was the first place that came to her mind. During her stay there, she interviewed many people and recorded their personal stories. Her goal was to shine some light into the more privileged spheres about the hyper real poverty which grips so many inhabitants of her native India.
Garnering numerous awards, the book was well-received by the public. People were horrified and astonished to hear the thoughts of the people living in Annawadi. The residents talked for the sake of talking most of the time. Whether or not Boo was correctly understanding what they were trying to communicate didn't matter so much as the fact that someone was asking them to talk and then was listening to them. As Boo relates these stories, they aren't revelatory. The people didn't express revolutionary ideas about class subversion and politics. Instead, they just talked about what their lives are like, what they've seen living in Annawadi, and whatever happens to be on their minds at the moment.
With her authorial perspective, Boo was able to compile these stories into a complete thought, which then shaped her book. She writes about the pressing insignificance of the poor living in India's slums. If they rose up and killed every single one of each other, they would barely make the local news. Her point in all this is that blame is directed at those who are products of the system of corruption in her native country. If the poor didn't exist, then neither would the rich.
