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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
challenging
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank goodness for the last 100 pages because honestly until then I was really struggling with this.. I wanted to love it so much too :(
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
I wouldn't recommend the audiobook format for this book! I really admired the nonlinear construction of this story (works really well to communicate trauma!) but it was hard to follow by ear. I think there's a case to be made that it's a gothic horror, the way it meshes personal tragedy and structural violence.
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I have actually abandoned this book because I was reading it in the bathroom, but as we were borrowing it from a friend, Christopher didn't want it to be in the bathroom (apparently we're only un-hygenic with our own books), and I couldn't get myself to read it off the nightstand. I really enjoyed reading this book in-between things (as a break while in the bathroom), but I'm not compelled to return to it as a reading project in and of itself. It is beautifully wrought, and the prose are lovely, but I'm not particularly interested in the book for anything other than its beautiful prose... which is why is was so well-suited as a bathroom book. I could pick it up for a minute and put it down and return to it intermittently, and really enjoy it while I was reading it. But I'm not drawn back to it, not hurried to pick it up again to finish it. Part of the book's beauty is, of course, the temporality of the prose, the rhythm of the reading itself, the background quality of the story/plot/characters to the words themselves. I get that. And I can appreciate that. But I'm not drawn into that "feel" of the book enough (like, say, I am with Woolf or other experimental writers) to pick the book up again to read in full.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“That it really began in the days when the Love Laws were made. The laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And how much.”
From the very beginning to the last page, this novel had me on a ride much like the vanjis (canoes) in the backwaters of Kerala. And, I must preface my review by stating that it has been fascinating to see my place and community represented in a book - even if Arundhati doesn’t try to flatter anyone with her portrayal of her characters and background in the story, which is something I admire a lot about the book.
I don’t think I’ll be able to completely explain or even condense the plot of the book without taking away its essence- I think one must read the book truly blind to fully get its beauty and be blown away with each new development to the plot that keeps rocking our boat through this journey. But, at the same time I think one might not fully understand all the nuances of explored within it without having an intimate knowledge of the backdrop, society, culture and characteristics of the world where her story takes place as it offers a deep and detailed critic of the caste system, gender roles and expectations, womanhood, domestic violence, loss of innocence, anglophila, class divisions, police brutality and inefficiency, party system, and much more within it’s 321 pages.
The novel “God of Small Things” derives its beauty from the Small Things within it and its heartbreak from the Really Big Things it explores. The author's ability to capture tenderness, loss of innocence and pain is truly one of the reasons why this book stands out so much. Throughout the book, we reflect on the essence of love and whether there is a right way to express it. All these little words, written in a stream-of-consciousness style, each repetition (“Sophie Mol Loved From the Beginning”, “Lay-ter”, “Loved a Little Less”, etc), each word stressed in a child-like fashion in Rahel and Estha’s point of view, truly hammers a nail through one’s fragile heart and before this I never thought I’d experience reading something that will hold your heart with the gentlest hands and then completely wring it dry of its tears- but, here I am.
One must also keep in mind that the author does all these while actively writing an engaging mystery around a tragic accident that took place in the family, a mystery that doesn’t get fully resolved until the last line. The quest of the plot is much like a ball of wool that keeps spooling, which keeps getting tangled and then detangled. Truly, a magnificent read that I would love to experience blind once again. So, yeah, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy is an easy five-star from me. I shall end my review by quoting the lines that were the last nail in my coffin.
“The God of Loss.
The God of Small Things.
He left no footprints in the sand, no ripples in water, no image in mirrors.”
Hm, I know this is a default recommendation for anyone traveling to India and I know it received a number of prices, but I still found it hard to connect with the narrative. It definitely gives interesting insights into India and the descriptions and characters are deep and colorful… perhaps I am just not the right person for this book