Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Pages 1-50

What can you learn about writing about culture from these pages?

From pages 1-50 in Behind the Beautiful Forevers, I learned that writing about culture is often about setting a scene. It is about being very descriptive to the point where you can be in that moment and you feel apart of the culture of Annawadi. For example on page 4, Boo describes how Abdul sees mornings in Annawadi. There is a point in these pages where I forget that Boo is telling the story instead of Abdul or Asha or Sunil. There voices are so distinct that it is hard to believe that this is what someone gathered from studying them and their culture. Also on page 48 when Sunil is debating whether or not to help Kalu out on another job, Sunil realizes that he doesn't want to think any less of himself than he already does. How would Boo know this? Her research was so thorough and every stone was unturned from family backgrounds to how Kalu got his nickname.

What can you learn about writing in a more general sense from Katherine Boo's writing?
From Katherine Boo's writing, I have so far learned that description is key from smell to taste to feel to hear. It is important to not just say; for example, "it smells like ravioli," but to say instead "the delicious, mouth-watering smell of seasoned noodles and fresh tomato sauce with basil wafted through the air and down the hall compelling myself to pick up my pace despite my fatigue."You have to really capture a moment and don't forget the small things. The fact that she was detail-oriented in her information made the story seem more believable and easier to get lost in this area of Annawadi, on the outskirts of this international airport in Mumbai. She inserts background histories and flashbacks for the people she speaks on behalf of like Asha when she is remembering her past hunger and childhood on pages 21-23. Also, I noticed that each chapter and certain sections were always from a different person's perspective, which I found as an effective way to gain insight into this place because the lowest of low were represented as well as people like Asha, who was nearing the top of the slum hierarchy.