The God of Small Things

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 336 pages
• Published by: Harper Perennial May 6, 1998
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0060977493
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0060977498
• Book Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Weighs: 4 ounces

Product Review
In her first novel, award-winning Indian screenwriter Arundhati Roy conjures a whoosh of wordplay that rises from the pages like a brilliant jazz improvisation. The God of Small Things is nominally the story of young twins Rahel and Estha and the rest of their family, but the book feels like a million stories spinning out indefinitely; it is the product of a genius child-mind that takes everything in and transforms it in an alchemy of poetry. The God of Small Things is at once exotic and familiar to the Western reader, written in an English that's completely new and invigorated by the Asian Indian influences of culture and language. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
With sensuous prose, a dreamlike style infused with breathtakingly gorgeous images and keen insight into human nature, Roy's debut novel charts fresh territory in the genre of magical, prismatic literature. Set in Kerala, India, during the late 1960s when Communism rattled the age-old caste system, the story begins with the funeral of young Sophie Mol, the cousin of the novel's protagonists, Rahel and her fraternal twin brother, Estha. In a circuitous and suspenseful narrative, Roy reveals the family tensions that led to the twins' behavior on the fateful night that Sophie drowned. Beneath the drama of a family tragedy lies a background of local politics, social taboos and the tide of history?all of which come together in a slip of fate, after which a family is irreparably shattered. Roy captures the children's candid observations but clouded understanding of adults' complex emotional lives. Rahel notices that "at times like these, only the Small Things are ever said. The Big Things lurk unsaid inside." Plangent with a sad wisdom, the children's view is never oversimplified, and the adult characters reveal their frailties?and in one case, a repulsively evil power?in subtle and complex ways. While Roy's powers of description are formidable, she sometimes succumbs to overwriting, forcing every minute detail to symbolize something bigger, and the pace of the story slows. But these lapses are few, and her powers coalesce awesomely in the book's second half. Roy's clarity of vision is remarkable, her voice original, her story gorgeously constructed and masterfully told. First serial to Granta; foreign rights sold in France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Holland, India, Greece, Canada and the U.K.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reader Reviews
My sister had been telling me to read this book for a long time and I just never got around to it. I wanted to, but I have to admit that the subject matter seemed pretty standard for an award-winning book: 'The God of Small Things' centers around a tragedy that rends a family apart and its lasting effects on the twins who were at the heart of it. But the truth is that there is little that is standard about Arundhati Roy's writing. She tells her story in a completely original narrative that puts you inside the heads of the young twins who drive the plot. You see the world through the slightly fantastic, exaggerated eyes of a child caught in very grown-up circumstances. I can see that some would criticize her style as "weird", but that is the whole beauty of it. Most children that I know see the world in a slightly off-kilter way (and I know for a fact that I did). That's just the nature of kids. The innocence of the perspective makes the events of the plot seem that much more disturbing and downright chilling. I was wrong to expect a by-the-numbers book when I picked this up. Ms. Roy's novel is very original and well written. Now if only she would write another fiction book! Comment | | (Report this)