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The God of Small Things Review

This book won the Booker Prize for Literature. And "in my book," it's also a world-class (as well as world-lit) winner, heartbreaking, haunting, and wise.

The main action takes place in India in 1969, but it jumps around in time. As the author put it, the story "begins at the end and ends in the middle." So we know from the beginning that there has been a terrible tragedy that permanently affected the lives of fraternal twins Estha (boy) and Rahel (girl.) The book is about finding out exactly what it was that happened; and how and why it happened.

I guessed most of the answer pretty early on, but I think that was the intent of the author. The book is more about the process than the solution, and she gives the reader plenty of hints, respecting the reader's intelligence and gently guiding him or her to figure out the answer for himself or herself. It's not so much a novel of mystery or suspense as it is one of psychology (of both personality and relationships) and social commentary. Ms. Roy shows enormous insight into her characters and their situation, and while the writing is deceptively lovely and easy to read, The God of Small Things has a great deal of depth.

Some of her insight comes from writing about what she knows. Parts of the story are autobiographical. Arundhati Roy grew up in the same rural town in India where the book is set, and her grandmother really did own and run a pickle factory. A recipe for Banana Jam is included which not only sounds delicious, but also easily doable for the average American cook. (I'm totally fascinated by how the banana puree turns scarlet red as it cooks. I've got to try that!)

Since the reader has already mostly figured out what happened, in a way the big "reveal" scene in which the full tragedy is described in detail, is anti-climactic; and again I feel certain that this is deliberate. It is as if Ms. Roy wants us to focus on the characters - why they each behaved as they did, and how they were affected, rather than the actual events. There are still a couple of surprises coming, though. Yet even with those, one feels less surprise than might be expected. There's a sense of, "Of course - I should have seen that coming." Because although the author hasn't given us any hints about those particular surprises, she has set up a certain subtle and carefully-crafted atmosphere in which such surprising/shocking/awful things become the natural or logical cause (in one case) or consequence (in the other case.) And this ability of hers to hit us with a big surprise while making it seem not all that surprising, is part of Ms. Roy's genius.

The ending is also anti-climactic, and yet again this is clearly the author's intent. Partly this is because the book ends, as she says, in the middle. I think that, after all the tragedy and loss of the the story, she wanted us to leave the book on a note of gentleness, love, and hope.

Social commentary is a strong theme throughout this work. (Arundhati Roy became a social activist after it was published to such acclaim that she was able to wield considerable influence.) As an adjunct to that, the breaking of taboos and the consequences of that are two major story lines. In one, the consequences are terrible. Yet later, an even more pervasive (across many cultures) and powerful taboo is broken without any noticeable consequence. In fact, Roy has prepared the reader so well that the taboo act comes across as natural, appropriate, and even a positive thing for the characters involved. It is a brilliant and thought-provoking juxtaposition.

I was totally charmed by the way this author plays with the English language. She thinks out of the box: breaks the rules in such a way that it makes sense, rather than causing chaos and confusion. She capitalizes certain words against the rules of grammar, as a very successful way of emphasizing them (". . . life was full of Beginnings and no Ends, and Everything was Forever . . . "). She makes up words, often by combining one or more words ("a viable die-able age" "sicksweet", "a Furrywhirring and a Sariflapping", "dullthudding") or by deliberate misspellings ("Infinnate"). The result is a sense of non-native-English-speakers' minds, a foreign perspective and way of thinking; or perhaps the perspective of a child. Either way, that is so fitting for the setting of the book.

And it's much the same as the way she breaks the rules of structure (i.e., rules of chronology, de-emphasizing the climax, letting us guess the answer to the mystery early on, etc.) in ways that work, that beautifully and creatively accomplish what she is trying to do with the book. She's an ultimate example of how someone with a thorough knowledge of the rules can know when and how to break them.

The God of Small Things is an outstanding work of fiction, one that I think fully deserves its award and acclaim. So far it is Ms. Roy's only novel, as she has been occupied in the decade since its publication with social activism. However, the Kindle edition that I read included an interview with the author in which she says that she is now writing a new book. I hope that it is finished and published soon. I would love to read more of her work.


Quotes from The God of Small Things:

"Occasionally, when Ammu listened to songs that she loved on the radio, something stirred inside her. A liquid ache spread under her skin, and she walked out of the world like a witch, to a better, happier place. On days like this there was something restless and untamed about her. As though she had temporarily set aside the morality of motherhood and divorcée-hood. Even her walk changed from a safe mother-walk to another wilder sort of walk. She wore flowers in her hair and carried magic secrets in her eyes. She spoke to no one. She spent hours on the riverbank with her little plastic transistor shaped like a tangerine. She smoked cigarettes and had midnight swims.
What was it that gave Ammu this Unsafe Edge? This air of unpredictability? It was what she had battling inside her. An unmixable mix. The infinite tenderness of motherhood and the reckless rage of the suice bomber."

"He trembled his own body like a man with malaria."

"It is after all so easy to shatter a story. To break a chain of thought. To ruin a fragment of a dream being carried around carefully like a piece of porcelain.
To let it be, to travel with it, as Velutha did, is much the harder thing to do."

"It's true. Things can change in a day."

(321 pages)

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Customer Reviews

Journey to India! - Kevin Glavin - Irvine, CA USA
I have been to India twice. The first thing I noticed, or rather felt, while reading
Roy's novel was the sensation of being catapulted back there--to the smells, to the places, to the images of the streets and the people and the small things--like red betel juice on someone's tongue.

Roy captures much of India, which can be very elusive to convey. Much of the flavor she creates and picture she paints I think goes unappreciated by people who have not had the pleasure of having been there. I very much enjoyed this aspect of Roy's work.

I also noticed some similarities between Roy and James Joyce. I do not know if Roy read Joyce, but let me point out a few common elements:

The creative use of the language of the conqueror (English) to demonstrate control over the conqueror. In Roy's case, this is obviously India/England. For Joyce, Ireland/England.

There is a stream of consciousness to much of the writing, and much of it is from the point of view of a child. In addition, there is a strong theme of innocence and experience, and the focus on the small things, the details, the grains of sand, so to speak, that make up the most important aspects of life. To understand the macrocosm through the microcosm... Roy even mentions Ulysses (although Homer, not Joyce).

Although Roy's prose does not have the depth of Joyce's, lacking his sophistication and control, and infinite layers of allusions, it does eloquently make use of symbolism, making profound connections to big ideas.

Both authors were also charged with obscenity.

Despite all these similarities, I found Roy's book to fall just a bit short. Despite all the accolades awarded to Roy, and despite my appreciation for her writing, I found the first 230 pages or so slow-going. I was bored. I kept thinking it would get more entertaining, but I became frustrated with the repetition. I know Roy had a point with these recursive flashbacks, but it still did not make me want to turn the page. Then suddenly, in the chapter of the Optimist and the Pessimist, the pace picked up and carried through with energy until the end.

I realize Roy has a non-linear structure, and a complex one at that, almost like a spider spiraling its web. I would like to go back again and reread the book to fully appreciate the patterns and chronology. Still, if an author bores a reader, he/she hasn't completely fulfilled her obligation.

Still, The God of Small Things is definitely worth the journey to India! And if you haven't been there, you should definitely make plans to go!

Kevin Glavin

Rock Star's Rainbow




It's like if Marquez wrote "Lady Chatterly's Lover" - A Reviewer - Oregon, USA
If that doesn't sound appealing to you, this book probably won't be. I've read a number of both the positive and negative reviews on this site and most of them describe the book accurately: Flowery prose, fragmented sentences, non-linear treatment of time, unusual metaphors. If you want to read a book for "information" (as some negative reviewers have implied that they do), then you should read Hemingway instead.

That said, I could hardly put this book down. I almost reread it as soon as I was finished. The author creates a unique new language and lens through which to view the world. While others found the metaphors forced, I found them wonderfully colorful and original and appreciated the opportunity to hear a story told in words I wouldn't have come up with in my own head. I usually prefer more lighthearted stories (when I read fiction at all), but this tragedy is possibly my favorite book I've ever read.

I would summarize by saying that this is a truly great work of literature that definitely has its own distinct character. Readers who enjoy magical realism will probably enjoy it. Readers who prefer a more straightforward or literal read, or who are bothered by solecisms or other violation of literary convention, probably will not. Different strokes.



A masterpiece of literature - D. Malik -
I bought this book a little over two weeks ago and it is, without a doubt, one of THE best books I've ever read. This is a story of betrayal, love, and the lengths that some people are willing to go to. Richly detailed in a style thoroughly unconventional, ricocheting back and forth between 1960's India and the 1990's, it tells the story of "two-egg-twins" separated from childhood due to one woman's pride, only to spend one day together after 20 years of longing for each other.

Rahel and Estha are characters unlike any others, forced from a young age to feel the harsher realities of life, starting with Estha's sex abuse, then the Sophie Mol's death, the murder of their friend and their mother's lover, Velutha and their eventual parting of paths, Estha's silence and Rahel's empty eyes unwittingly reflect this harsh chain of event.

I originally planned on getting "The Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie and bought this instead. It's certainly one mistake I don't regret. This fairly recent novel presents previously unseen perspectives of life hidden by the utmost fantasy-ish books of romantics and sugary endings. A true work of art.



This was a chore to read. - Taonga Leslie - GAINESVILLE, FL, US
I really truly tried with this book but the rhythm is totally non-existent. She goes on for pages describing moments that do not propel the plot forward at all and worse- do not provide easy to follow descriptions. I thought the descriptions were very tedious because Roy went out of her way to describe things in an overly-cute way. The emotional passages relied way too much on shock value in my opinion and the long periods of no hope just seem grotesque. Worst of all there are no characters to identify with. Terrible terrible read.

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