A People's History of Heaven

Name: A People's History of Heaven
Brand: HighBridge Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Mathangi Subramanian
ISBN: 9781684571314

Author: Mathangi Subramanian

Narrator: Jeed Saddy

Unabridged: 9 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Highbridge Audio

Published: 03/19/2019

Categories: Fiction, Literary Fiction

Synopsis

Welcome to Heaven, a thirty-year-old slum hidden between brand-new high-rise apartment buildings and technology incubators in contemporary Bangalore, one of India's fastest-growing cities. In Heaven, you will come to know a community of people living hand-to-mouth and constantly struggling against the city government who wants to bulldoze their homes and build yet more glass high-rises. These families, men and women, young and old, gladly support one another, sharing whatever they can.

A People's History of Heaven centers on five best friends, girls who go to school together, a diverse group who love and accept one another unconditionally, pulling one another through crises and providing emotional, physical, and financial support. Together they wage war on the bulldozers that would bury their homes, and, ultimately, on the city that does not care what happens to them.

This is a story about geography, history, and strength, about love and friendship, about fighting for the people and places we love—even if no one else knows they exist. Elegant, poetic, bursting with color, Mathangi Subramanian's novel is a moving and celebratory story of girls on the cusp of adulthood who find joy just in the basic act of living.

About Mathangi Subramanian

Mathangi Subramanian is an award-winning Indian American writer, author, and educator. She is a graduate of Brown University and the Teachers College of Columbia University, and is the recipient of a Fulbright as well as other fellowships. Her writing has previously appeared in the Washington Post, Quartz, Al Jazeera America, and elsewhere.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Angela M on February 19, 2019

Heaven, worlds away from the life I know, a slum in Bangalore and yes, it’s a slum called Heaven. I was expecting to find poverty and repression here, but I had no idea that I would find the joy of beautiful friendships, loyalty, love, and hope nor mothers and daughters with strength and a desire to......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader on April 13, 2019

Heaven is a beautiful place because of the people living inside. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ A diverse group of women are living in a slum named Heaven in Bangalore, India. Heaven is a hidden building in between other fancy, new high rises in an urban area of the city. The community of strong women calling Heave......more

Goodreads review by Fabian on October 26, 2020

Times today don't allow jaded jokes or malicious irony: no, today we want what feels like goodness. Things can go sour quickly we've noticed, and nothing is more certain than this in a small "slum" of Bangalore. But gee, we've traversed terrains like this before, on screen (Slumdog Millionaire) and......more

Goodreads review by Berit☀️✨ on March 29, 2019

an exceptional story drenched in culture and hope! Mathangi Subramanian has intricately woven together the threads of these five girls lives into a beautiful story. Five extraordinary girls living in a slum called Heaven in Bangalore India. Now a slum is probably the furthest thing from heaven......more

Goodreads review by Meike on July 08, 2019

This book narrates the life stories of five young girls who grow up in a slum called "Heaven" in Bangalore, and while it touches upon numerous social issues, the tone remains light and playful - this is the highly accessible cousin of Arundhati Roy's The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. In an attempt t......more