The God of Small Things
Book - 2008
The beloved debut novel about an affluent Indian family forever changed by one fateful day in 1969, from the author of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * MAN BOOKER PRIZE WINNER
Compared favorably to the works of Faulkner and Dickens, Arundhati Roy's modern classic is equal parts powerful family saga, forbidden love story, and piercing political drama. The seven-year-old twins Estha and Rahel see their world shaken irrevocably by the arrival of their beautiful young cousin, Sophie. It is an event that will lead to an illicit liaison and tragedies accidental and intentional, exposing "big things [that] lurk unsaid" in a country drifting dangerously toward unrest. Lush, lyrical, and unnerving, The God of Small Things is an award-winning landmark that started for its author an esteemed career of fiction and political commentary that continues unabated.
Praise for The God of Small Things
"Dazzling . . . as subtle as it is powerful." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"[ The God of Small Things ] offers such magic, mystery, and sadness that, literally, this reader turned the last page and decided to reread it. Immediately. It's that haunting." -- USA Today
"The quality of Ms. Roy's narration is so extraordinary--at once so morally strenuous and so imaginatively supple--that the reader remains enthralled all the way through." -- The New York Times Book Review
"A novel of real ambition must invent its own language, and this one does." --John Updike, The New Yorker
"Outstanding. A glowing first novel." -- Newsweek
"Splendid and stunning." -- The Washington Post Book World
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * MAN BOOKER PRIZE WINNER
Compared favorably to the works of Faulkner and Dickens, Arundhati Roy's modern classic is equal parts powerful family saga, forbidden love story, and piercing political drama. The seven-year-old twins Estha and Rahel see their world shaken irrevocably by the arrival of their beautiful young cousin, Sophie. It is an event that will lead to an illicit liaison and tragedies accidental and intentional, exposing "big things [that] lurk unsaid" in a country drifting dangerously toward unrest. Lush, lyrical, and unnerving, The God of Small Things is an award-winning landmark that started for its author an esteemed career of fiction and political commentary that continues unabated.
Praise for The God of Small Things
"Dazzling . . . as subtle as it is powerful." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"[ The God of Small Things ] offers such magic, mystery, and sadness that, literally, this reader turned the last page and decided to reread it. Immediately. It's that haunting." -- USA Today
"The quality of Ms. Roy's narration is so extraordinary--at once so morally strenuous and so imaginatively supple--that the reader remains enthralled all the way through." -- The New York Times Book Review
"A novel of real ambition must invent its own language, and this one does." --John Updike, The New Yorker
"Outstanding. A glowing first novel." -- Newsweek
"Splendid and stunning." -- The Washington Post Book World
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Publisher:
New York : Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2008
Copyright Date:
1997
ISBN:
9780812979657
0812979656
0812979656
Branch Call Number:
FICTION Roy
Description:
333 pages ; 21 cm
Opinion
From Library Staff
From Library Staff
They all crossed into forbidden territory. They all tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved and how. And how much. " The year is 1969. In the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India, a skyblue Plymouth with chrome tailfins is stranded on the highway amid a Marxist ... Read More »
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Laura_X
Aug 03, 2018
Heaven opened and the water hammered down, reviving the reluctant old well, greenmossing the pigless pigsty, carpet bombing still, tea-colored puddles the way memory bombs still, tea-colored minds.
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Add a CommentGreat read. My book group loved it.
The author has a very unique, interesting writing style and I really tried to like this book. The character names threw me, I found it difficult to follow in places and just couldn’t make it through to the end.
Breathtaking
One of my favorite books ever, it's a treasure.
What a beauty... What a book... I love you, Arundhati Roy.
The God of Small Things is a remarkable debut novel from Arundhati Roy, an Indian author who won the Man Booker Prize for this very work. This book is a story of a family caught in the middle of social and political change. More specifically, the story follows two estranged twins who are recalling a childhood incident that tore their family apart and changed their lives forever. The narrative jumps back and forth between present (1993) and past (1969), which helps build a sense of suspense, tragedy and dread. The language is beautiful – sometimes I had to stop just to enjoy the poetry of a paragraph. The characters are complicated and well-drawn, which for me is a must for any family drama. There are also many historical details that give an interesting perspective on India’s complicated recent past. Highly recommended. (Submitted by Naomi.)
Purple prose alert! I agree with the other reviewer that it is unreadable. Tried to see its good points. Because it is such a well-known Booker prize winner, are we pre-disposed to thinking this book is better than it actually is? Way overrated.
Absolutely exquisite writing!
This is the third or fourth time I have read this since it was published and awarded the Booker. I enjoy it more with each reading. And I think it is superior to the novel she published last year.
Beautiful, well written story -- I just returned from visiting the state of Kerala in Southern India (my guide recommended the title), and the novel captures life in that area so well. 5 Stars.