The story of the tragic decline of an Indian family whose members suffer the terrible consequences of forbidden love, The God of Small Things is set in the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India. Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, the twins Rahel and Esthappen fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family -- their lonely, lovely mother, Ammu (who loves by night the man her children love by day), their blind grandmother, Mamma... (show more)
The story of the tragic decline of an Indian family whose members suffer the terrible consequences of forbidden love, The God of Small Things is set in the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India. Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, the twins Rahel and Esthappen fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family -- their lonely, lovely mother, Ammu (who loves by night the man her children love by day), their blind grandmother, Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), their enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt), and the ghost of an imperial entomologist's moth (with unusually dense dorsal tufts).
When their English cousin and her mother arrive on a Christmas visit, the twins learn that Things Can Change in a Day. That lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever. The brilliantly plotted story uncoils with an agonizing sense of foreboding and inevitability. Yet nothing prepares you for what lies at the heart of it.
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First off, I want to note that if you are looking for a light and easy read, this is not the book for you. The subject matter is incredibly sad, a... (show more)
First off, I want to note that if you are looking for a light and easy read, this is not the book for you. The subject matter is incredibly sad, albeit beautifully written and filled with lush descriptions and small, bright points of joy that act as a salve to the harsh circumstances that this family endures. Set in a town in the very south of India, this story follows one family's struggle with choosing love on their own terms amidst the downfall of the "great" families due to the prevalence of Communism in this caste-ridden society. I don't really want to go into the circumstances that fill this book with such a deluge of overwhelming sadness, but I do want to note that it is not the cloying, 'emotional blackmail'-type of sadness you would find in a Nicholas Sparks novel; it is gorgeously written with a beautiful mix of Malayalam and English words and the narrative structure is so beautifully formed as to make the novel almost a mystery story, teasing out the full details until the very last page. I really loved this story, and I'm really looking forward to Roy's next novel--I'm sure she is one of the most interesting writers I have read in a while, and completely deserving of the Booker Prize. (show less)
Reading through other reviews, I am obviously in the minority here. Maybe it all comes down to expectations, which were very high for this book. I... (show more)
Reading through other reviews, I am obviously in the minority here. Maybe it all comes down to expectations, which were very high for this book. I became annoyed by the continual references to the tragedies that were yet to unfold; weary of the persistent similes, which mostly lent little to my understanding of the pictures she was trying to paint with them. A smattering of beautiful passages, but not enough to induce enjoyment of her writing style, though she does capture the world of childhood superbly; the thoughts, feelings and fears... being loved a little less. But the string of tragedies that unfold didn't evoke the strength of emotional response I felt they should have... maybe because the expectation of them is ever-present.
The incident of incest was the most irritating part, detracting irrevocably from the depth of relationship Roy had built up between the protagonists through the entire narrative. Velutha's beating was the most powerful part, but given the story is unrelentingly sad, I am unsatisfied by it leaving me nothing to ponder, nothing to keep with me. It seems sad for the sake of just being sad. Maybe if I had read it sooner after it's publication, or before other authors of Indian background, it would have had more of an impact. (show less)
A great book. The first chapter is a not the easiest to get through.....about 800 characters are introduced very quickly...all with difficult names and interconnected to one another. Trust me read chapter 1 twice and then move on....it's well worth it!
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The God of Small Things is a book that will stand out in my memory: interesting, lovely, frustrating, and touching.
The successes of the book were that as I read, I became invested in the characters and thoroughly captivated by the language. The author crafts the world and the way it is revealed to us through the eyes and creative brains of Estha and Rahel, the ever-imaginative two egg twins. Roy brilliantly transforms into simultaneously unintelligible and splendidly lucid words on... (show more)
The God of Small Things is a book that will stand out in my memory: interesting, lovely, frustrating, and touching.
The successes of the book were that as I read, I became invested in the characters and thoroughly captivated by the language. The author crafts the world and the way it is revealed to us through the eyes and creative brains of Estha and Rahel, the ever-imaginative two egg twins. Roy brilliantly transforms into simultaneously unintelligible and splendidly lucid words on a page the twisting minds of children with a need to create their own world to either escape into some place more exciting, or out of some place too exciting, or both. This view is moving, nostalgic, and certainly an effective way to bring the reader to place from which they can feel the book, as well as read it.
I am of two minds, however, about the way the book was structured. The timing of how and when information was revealed left me frustrated at times, and intrigued at others. Though very few details about the main conflict of the story are revealed until much later in the book, the reader is giving enough information to surmise most of the story almost immediately. This structure lets the novel become a telling of a story rather than a story itself, which is effective both artistically and compositionally. It is what enables the book to work at all, and adds interests throughout the telling of the story, and yet sometimes it stuck out as a contrived device: a tool to keep upper hand by the author. As a reader, we are teased with information, and then it is pulled away. While I found the book compelling in character and language, this apparent need for a dangling carrot to keep the plot alive, weakened the book for me. (show less)
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