A lot of people raved about this book for more than year before I finally borrowed a copy to read. The premise seemed interesting and I thought it would be a good read about the city that is Mumbai.

Not so. While Suketu Mehta does a fairly good job of capturing the underbelly of Mumbai, he does precious little else. Even in the chapters on food, he finds it necessary to talk about the underworld dons, his friends in the police, etc.

I wouldn’t have complained much since it would still make interesting reading, but his habit of writing completely out of sequence and not really bothering to inform you about it got on my nerves. I got the feeling that he wrote this book as he experienced it and didn’t spend too much time editing it before publication.

So that’s my gripe. I like the subject matter. I like the detail. I hate the writing style. And hence I think this book is worth only 3 stars, no matter that the herd keep raving about it! ;)

The best birthday gift I got in 2004. What highly recommended the book to me when I read about it on Alternet was that it seemed not to tread the Kala Ghoda – Fire’n’Ice map. It was my Bombay – the city of spittle-stained staircases and stoned street children in Azad Maidan.

it’s a wonderful book based on Bombay. Suketu Mehta takes you into the interesting lives of some of the people who’ve made the city home. in the process he has created a book that makes for wonderful reading.