Author: Dominique Lapierre
Publishers: Arrow Books
Pages: 505
The title of the book ‘City of Joy’ is derived from translation of the name of slum in Kolkata(then Calcutta), called ‘Anand Nagar’.
Lapierre’s book almost changed the landscape of Anand Nagar, and much of Kolkata. His first hand description of the slum, the terrible conditions they lived in, the little money they survived in and the days that people spent without knowing if they will have food tomorrow, touched the hearts of people all over the world, and aid poured in big amounts.
The book is about the lives of a few people in the slums of Kolkata where Lapierre himself spent two years researching on the book. He takes up the story of a few people living in the slum to explain how people end up arriving in there, and how the slum itself gets created and grows by including everyone who comes in. And then coming in are people full of love who want to help then and uplift their lives, such as Stephan Kovalski, a Polish priest and the American doctor Max Loeb. The book contains numerous incidences full of sacrifices of people, explains how the people of the slum are full of life, enthusiasm and love despite the difficult conditions they live in. Though things would have changed much in the few decades that have passed since the book has been written, it does an excellent job in bringing out the ground realities of the poorest in Kolkata.
However, the book doesn’t score too well when it comes to readability. Lapierre is often guilty of trying to glorify the mundane. The book is full of adjectives that are actually used to describe things ordinary. And at times he goes to long length to describe most simple things and incidences that can test the reader’s patience. An attempt has been made to write the book as a story, but the tone of the book in most places is as dry as a documentary of chronological events and description of geography. All that doesn’t stop the book from being a valuable read, but would have been far better if the book was reduced to half its size.
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That was the first book I read in English – but first I read it in my native language. I still have both books. I read them before my first India visit – starting out in Calcutta. I am glad I did!