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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
Roy reflects on her writing and indictes the fascist movements of India with beautiful and indignant prose. These essays have a rousing immediacy and clarity, perfect for those like me who know little of India's current situation.
Indian politics are insanely complex... which is not a surprise. Large area of numerous types of landscapes, a huge population with a lot of ethnic diversity, a long history of intense systemic disenfranchisement of the poor (caste system), and a very troubling modern history of colonization and decolonization whose effects still reverberate. I can't pretend to understand even a tenth of it but from Roy's essays, I'm getting an inkling of the dystopia that modern India is becoming.
Do I think Roy's writing is somewhat slanted, to better make her points? Probably. Do I believe what she has to say, by and large? Absolutely. Because people are horrible and people in power are especially horrible, no matter where in the world you are.
This book is a collection of essays written and lectures delivered by the author and are somewhat repetitive because, of course, a person who is asked to speak at an event will have specific topics she'll be asked to return to. An author of fiction might also be asked to discuss and do readings of her most recent work. Maybe the book should not have included so much repetition and it surely should not have contained so much discussion of--and content of--The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. I'll read it when I get to it, no need for all the spoilers.
Do I think Roy's writing is somewhat slanted, to better make her points? Probably. Do I believe what she has to say, by and large? Absolutely. Because people are horrible and people in power are especially horrible, no matter where in the world you are.
This book is a collection of essays written and lectures delivered by the author and are somewhat repetitive because, of course, a person who is asked to speak at an event will have specific topics she'll be asked to return to. An author of fiction might also be asked to discuss and do readings of her most recent work. Maybe the book should not have included so much repetition and it surely should not have contained so much discussion of--and content of--The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. I'll read it when I get to it, no need for all the spoilers.
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
challenging
informative
fast-paced
Arundhati Roy's luminous writing on fiction and reality traces the path of Hindu nationalism in India, with heart as well as clarity. Even as someone who is not deeply familiar with the politics of India, I found this book to be fascinating, passionate, and inspiring.
This is a truy eye-opening book. We Europeans talk bout Trump's America and Orban's Hungary as the worst horror-stories of the new rise of Fascism, but it is India where we should look to see how bad things can get. Roy is fierce is her assessment of the state of the nation. But the most interesting parts are where she talks about the power of fiction in coping with the situation. Comrised of talks and essays from a short period before and just after the pandemic, there is an uderstandable, if somewhat annoying amount of repetition here. Nevertheless, a must read for anyone concerned about the dark future where fascism is taking us.
Glad I read this book as it opened my eyes and mind to the ongoing atrocities in India. But this is a series of essays and speeches with no effort at editing. There is much repetition. Once you’ve read two or three of the chapters you've read them all in my opinion. Still, it is well worth reading those two or three chapters.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
A dire warning from an exceptional writer. An area of the world that gets almost no in depth coverage in Australia but it seems it really should.