Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My hopes were high for this one. As an international development worker living in the poorest places in the world, these are just the kinds of stories that drive me. However, I couldn't make it past the first chapter. This book comes across as so inauthentic, and even presumptuous. Katherine tries to put herself in the point of view of these characters, but they would never be thinking these thoughts - how "unfair" everything is, how "half rate" their schools are, etc. etc. I think they just live theri life the best they can since they have never known a wealthier option. Katherine has an easy-to-read journalistic style, and I wish she had stayed in her own character - as an American looking in adn empathizing, rather than trying to presume each character's emotions or thoughts. Better options - The Famished Road by Ben Okri (African tale) or The Buru Quartet (Ananta Pramoedya Toer - Indonesia) to name a couple for your "international" collection.