3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Makes you think..., 22 Aug 2011
This book works on two levels; the direct, narrative one, with the bar dancer Leela at its center, and the deeper, more thought-provoking and analytic one, where I, the reader, wonder about all the abused women and children in the world, in my own world, and wonder what kind of society I live in, where the continued inhumane treatment of vulnerable and weak people is not only tolerated but actively encouraged, for monetary profit as well as for power and influence.
The author's straight and honest approach to her subject, her deep empathy, and her direct and humorous language draws me into Leela's world. Even after finishing the book, I continued to think of Leela, and all the thousands of young people, both girls and boys, like her; maybe even in my very own neighborhood. It is an eye-opening book, deeply researched and felt, and it left me thinking deeply, of trafficking, of incest and of the abuse of those most in need of protection, the young and vulnerable.
I recommend it highly!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Her name was Leela, she was a show girl, 23 Oct 2011
Beautiful Thing - Inside the Secret World of Bombay's Dance Bars by Sonia Faleiro is a remarkable documentary account of a few years in the life of Leela, a dancer in a Mumbai dance bar, her friends, her clients and her co-workers. It's a life set firmly on the wrong side of the tracks which reveals the power of friendship, honour and companionship which often belies the sordid surroundings. Even more remarkable is the friendship between Leela and the writer which offers Faleiro an opportunity to go where few writers would be able to and at considerable risk to her own health and personal safety.
They say you should never judge a book by its cover but when that cover carries endorsements by William Dalrymple, Kiran Desai and Gregory David Roberts, Indiaphiles will realise that this is something very special and readers should sit up and take notice. I read a lot of books about Indian and have clocked up a lot of non-fiction about the country recently and whilst it's almost always interesting, some of the books can be heavy going and can take some determination to get through. The only hard thing about 'Beautiful Thing' will be putting it down once you've started. For a difficult story in a bleak setting which deals with exploitation of many kinds it's a remarkably easy read that flows like a novel rather than non-fiction.
We learn that life in the dance bars gives the most beautiful and popular girls a wealth that's beyond the dreams of the prostitutes out in the slums and a relative respectability that enables them to be courted by clients who spoil them rotten in return (initially) for little more than a bit of flirting and hand holding. A girl can exploit a lovesick married man who's never known beauty and exoticism in his sedate arranged marriage every bit as much as she herself is being exploited. There's nothing modern about these arrangements - India has a long history of courtesan-ship - women providing entertainment and romantic distraction for men with money. Dancing girls are dancing girls - regardless of the time in history and the story is thus simultaneously very modern and somewhat timeless.
The money brings the girls little benefit though because they can only live in certain areas of the city where the neighbours will accept their career choices and they spend like crazy. One might suppose they'd earn to send money back to their families - until you remember what those families did to drive them to the city. When the looks start to fade and the reliance on cheap drugs to keep them slender takes away their looks, there's only one direction the girls will be heading and that's downhill towards running or working in the brothels. The top girls dream of an assignment in the Middle East, of being sent to Dubai to dance for wealthy Arabs and take on the status of `temporary wife' which allows their clients to stay within the letter, if not the spirit, of Sharia Law.
Beautiful Thing is not entirely and unrelentingly miserable. There are moments - few and far between - when the story lifts your spirits. There's the story of one of Leela's friends, a hijra (transsexual) whose parents realised their only way to keep the son they love was to accept his choices. He and his parents seem to represent the only family in the book who are not utterly dysfunctional. The bar dancers and the less fortunate hijras take great comfort from this tiny evidence that family relationships can work and love can conquer even the most extreme of life choices. The book is an eye-opener of the most fascinating type - a rare and privileged opportunity to take a tour of not just the demi-monde of Mumbai but, after the bars close down and times get hard, the real hard graft of the unsafe streets and brothels of the city.
I am absolutely awestruck by the research that went into this book which is Sonia Faleiro's first full length work of non-fiction. To throw yourself into the underworld, court the friendship of fascinating but dangerous people, follow them wherever they go without apparent concern for your safety, and to do all that as a young woman from out of town, is nothing short of remarkable. Even more so, to do it by choice makes me say "Hats off to Faleiro"- she's an astonishingly brave woman. I really hope that we don't have to wait five years for her next book. I fear that the market for non-fiction of this type outside India is surely rather small and the use of a lot of local language (often but not always) translated or explained, will alienate many readers, but I hope that enough will accept that it's a small price to pay for a book that's truly one of a kind.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant storytelling, 20 Aug 2011
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Faleiro's intimate friendship with Leela brings out the everyday details of the life of the "Beautiful thing". The book reads more like a fiction than a non-fiction. And that is what keeps bringing you back to its pages. Fluid and truthful.
It is a great piece of journalism told in a narrative style. I have already recommended this book to all my friends.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
