This started as a post in which I was going to tell you that I just finished reading Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity, by Katherine Boo.
Which made me think of this book on North Korean life, by Barbara Demick.
And then there’s Dave Egger’s What is the What, a novel about Sudan’s Lost Boys, told through the the real life story of Valentino Achak Deng. And then I just discovered that all proceeds of the sale of this book are going to a foundation that Valentino formed, which has helped to fund the opening of the first functional high school in Marial Bai. What and where is Marial Bai? I urge you to read this book to find out.
And then I stopped, saved this post as draft and went about my daily business. It just isn’t easy to write something poignant about books that bridge the human condition. I remember talking to a friend who was working on a documentary of someone who was camera-shy, and how long it took to have the camera present to get his subject to forget it was there. I’m sure it’s not easy for someone from these worlds to trust a westerner to accurately tell their stories. Just as it isn’t easy for the westerner to accept the responsibility. A long-winded way to say, that I’m feeling very lucky that I had a chance to hear their stories, and that what separates me from others, is really, so very little, and so much.
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