The novel centers on lives defined by femaleness and the ways individuals can find or break themselves against the locks that designation provides ... Nonetheless, they fight for futures and everyday adventures. Spending time with this fearsome five is also just plain fun ... Slum life is never romanticized. The narrator, an unnamed member of the girls’ inner circle, delivers enough cynical wisdom and pithy commentary to show just how wise these girls are to their plight without dismissing how insidious cultural messages are ... forefronts human dignity and the intelligence it takes to survive at the intersection of so much society uses to set people apart, while also making it clear that, 'in Heaven, anger is not about any one person. It’s about the whole world.'

[The book] starts a little heavy-handed ... But as the book progresses, the metaphors calm down and Subramanian finds her footing, the language taking on a musicality that is in sharp contrast to the bleak setting ... Parts of this novel read like independent vignettes, almost poetry ... At first it feels as though we’ve read this tale before: one in which girls are hated from the minute they’re conceived, women are valued only for their wombs, men are drunk and philandering, sadness piled on top of depression sitting atop cruelty. But then Subramanian surprises us. Moments of genuine joy (though I wish a character didn’t actually have to be named Joy) burst through ... A few elements are glossed over too lightly, as if perhaps Subramanian is afraid of the current or future sociopolitical climate in India ... Despite its uplifting-enough ending, though, A People’s History of Heaven feels scattered, new characters being introduced here and there to help tie up loose threads ... This is a strong debut by Subramanian. In the future, she might trust her readers a bit more, and allow herself the freedom to reveal a world of her creation in which not everything needs to represent something else.

The power of these fierce young women shines in spite of their circumstances, and they prove just how beautiful and influential a strong, unconditionally accepting community is. Subramanian is a remarkable writer whose vibrant words carry a lot of heart. This inspiring novel is sure to draw in readers with its lyrical prose and endearing characters.

Poetic ... Subramanian, who lives in New Delhi, never shrinks from the dangers and discrimination facing impoverished women, but she also gives her characters resiliency and hope in the form of each other. Whatever society may say about Joy's transition or Deepa's disability, the girls have boundless support from their clique, their wise and cunning headmistress and the mothers of Heaven. Subramanian's rich imagery conjures up the bustle of a diverse city where children live in poverty mere blocks from three-story homes where their mothers work as maids. With its heroic young cast, A People's History of Heaven has huge YA crossover potential, and its social commentary makes it a wonderful book club selection. As colorful as a Rangoli design, this bittersweet coming-of-age story will linger in the reader's mind.

Subramanian’s observations are sharp, witty, and incisive; her writing is consistently gorgeous. She is passionate about the plight of Indian girls subjected to a patriarchal system that ruthlessly oppresses and devalues them ... It is this relentlessly upbeat, Panglossian best-of-all-worlds optimism that, along with a writing style that relies heavily on declarative sentence fragments and rhetorical questions, nudges A People’s History of Heaven into YA territory. However, for a reading public that recently voted a feel-good middle-grade classic as the Great American Read, that distinction might not matter.

The book’s strength lies in Subramanian’s detailed portrayals of a diverse array of lives ... Subramanian never rushes; instead, she lingers in the dynamics of self-exploration, religion, and family ... A People’s History does more than just showcase the girls’ lives. Subramanian seems suspicious of that kind of showcasing ... Subramanian does not allow the observer to stand back and gawk. The novel tenderly guides the reader into and through the struggles of lives lived at the margins, with a sensitivity to experience that can’t be reduced to an apolitical and static image of slum life. If anything, Subramanian deftly explores what political solidarity can look like ... A People’s History of Heaven does not reduce its characters to dozens of fists raised in the air, but instead gives a full account of the extraordinary lives that stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the wreckage of a wealthy city, ready to fight against the bulldozers upon the horizon.

Though the plot is nominally about the fight to save Heaven, Subramanian is more interested in episodically filling in the backstories of the five girls and their mothers, in the process tackling some of the most trenchant issues facing Indian women in particular—casteism, arranged marriage, forced sterilization—as well as women all over the world. This is Subramanian’s first novel for adults, although it isn’t fully clear why it isn’t YA. It has the heart-on-its-sleeve melodrama of some of the most successful teen novels and films, though it will likely also appeal to adults wanting to tuck in to a novel which is like the brainy big sister of a Lifetime movie ... A girl power–fueled story that examines some dark social issues with a light, occasionally saccharine, touch.

Jumping around in time, the book looks in at pivotal moments in their lives, including their infancy, when their mothers banded together to keep the children healthy, and their adolescence, with dances, temporary teachers, and the rapid evolution of 'a bunch of blue tarps strung up into haphazard tents' into an urbanized commercial area. Subramanian’s evocative novel weaves together a diverse, dynamic group of girls to create a vibrant tapestry of a community on the brink.