{"product_id":"castaway-mountain-love-and-loss-among-the-wastepickers-of-mumbai-hardcover","title":"Castaway Mountain: Love and Loss Among the Wastepickers of Mumbai - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eSaumya Roy\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e*One of NPR's \"Books We Love 2021\"* \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"'I came to see the mountains as an outpouring of our modern lives, ' Roy writes, 'of the endless chase for our desires to fill us.' Readers of \u003ci\u003eBehind the Beautiful Forevers\u003c\/i\u003e will be drawn to this harrowing portrait.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e--Publishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eCastaway Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e deserves every accolade. A stunning achievement.\"\u003cbr\u003e--Kiran Desai, Booker Prize Winner, author of \u003ci\u003eInheritance of Loss\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAll of Mumbai's possessions and memories come to die at the Deonar garbage mountains. Towering at the outskirts of the city, the mountains are covered in a faint smog from trash fires. Over time, as wealth brought Bollywood knock offs, fast food and plastics to Mumbaikars, a small, forgotten community of migrants and rag-pickers came to live at the mountains' edge, making a living by re-using, recycling and re-selling. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAmong them is Farzana Ali Shaikh, a tall, adventurous girl who soon becomes one of the best pickers in her community. Over time, her family starts to fret about Farzana's obsessive relationship to the garbage. Like so many in her community, Farzana, made increasingly sick by the trash mountains, is caught up in the thrill of discovery--because among the broken glass, crushed cans, or even the occasional dead baby, there's a lingering chance that she will find a treasure to lift her family's fortunes. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs Farzana enters adulthood, her way of life becomes more precarious. Mumbai is pitched as a modern city, emblematic of the future of India, forcing officials to reckon with closing the dumping grounds, which would leave the waste pickers more vulnerable than ever. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn a narrative instilled with superstition and magical realism, Saumya Roy crafts a modern parable exploring the consequences of urban overconsumption. \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eA moving testament to the impact of fickle desires, \u003ci\u003eCastaway Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e reveals that when you own nothing, you know where true value lies: in family, community and love. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cbr\u003eInterior map illustration copyright (c) Jake Coolidge\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eSaumya Roy is a social entrepreneur, journalist, and activist based in Mumbai. She co-founded Vandana Foundation in 2016, a non-profit that provides microloans to entrepreneurs in Mumbai and rural Maharashtra. She has written for \u003ci\u003eForbes India\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMint\u003c\/i\u003e newspaper, \u003ci\u003eOutlook\u003c\/i\u003e magazine, wsj.com, \u003ci\u003eThe Wire (India)\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Wire (China)\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBloomberg News, \u003c\/i\u003eamong others. While working on \u003ci\u003eCastaway Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e, Saumya received fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center, Blue Mountain Center, Carey Institute for Global Good, Sangam House, and Dora Maar House. In 2019, she appeared on the \u003ci\u003eSolvable\u003c\/i\u003e podcast series, featuring those working to solve the world's most intractable problems.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 300\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.18 x 9.06 x 5.98 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 07, 2021\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51767817109792,"sku":"9781662600951","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/210c4f604300537ee36b37bf61a1a68b.webp?v=1780317921","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/castaway-mountain-love-and-loss-among-the-wastepickers-of-mumbai-hardcover","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}