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Pick of the Week - 'If there's been a more striking snapshot of the changing face of Asia, I've never read it. With energy, wit and endless reserves of empathy, Maximum City leaves you desperate to see Bombay for yourself...'
(Sunday Times )'... it is Mehta's enthusiastic and intrepid self at the centre of his narrative that lends his account its appeal and memorable poetic charge.'
(Observer )'Mehta's extraordinary, and extraordinarily rich book, is both testimony and warning; a snapshot of a city full of vitality and hate.'
(The Telegraph )'Combining an insider's knowledge with a visitor's detachment, he prises open the rotten underbelly of the city to expose an unforgettable picture of depravity, greed sectarian strife and corruption. This is a stupendous book'
(Mail on Sunday )
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The first few chapters cover his culture shock and the difficulties of adjusting to India for someone from the US. Then he covers the politics, crime, pleasure and entertainment parts of Mumbai, always meeting an engrossing cast of characters and always allowing them to tell their own story. Some are hit-men, some are dancers/prostitutes, some policemen. He helps Bollywood producers with their scripts, chats to gang bosses, befriends a transvestite bar-dancer and meets corrupt and dangerous politicans.
It is no rosy-eyed view of the city, or India, and in parts the author's righteous indignation at the corruption in India is apparent, but for the ordinary people that make up his story he is amazingly non-judgemental, leaving it to the reader to decide.
My only criticism is that sometimes the author is a shade bumptious, a shade too self-satisfied, but it is rare and doesn't really spoil a marvellous book.
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