People's History of Heaven cover

People's History of Heaven

by Mathangi Subramanian

"In Bangalore, India, five young women fight to save their homes, which are really only shacks and lean-tos, in a slum named "Heaven," which the city wants to bulldoze in order to accommodate its growing tech industry"-- 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. The community is made up of women, mothers and daughters who have been abandoned by their men when no male heir was produced. Five girls go to school together: Muslim, Christian, and Hindu; queer and straight. They 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. -- adapted from jacket

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?