Reviews - Capitalism: A Ghost Story

Capitalism: A Ghost Story by Arundhati Roy

137 reviews for:

A short, polemical work meant for those with a ready familiarity with Indian politics. Roy remains an excellent stylist, and the passion seething from the page almost hits you physically.

The book serves more as a guide of scandal, a reminder to push through the surface-level narratives being pushed but, once it has shown you the path, going off to clear brush in another direction.

It doesn't have depth, though it isn't striving for depth. It works well as a manifesto and record of a certain time in Indian politics and a cri de coeur to do better and fight inequality and corruption. You can read it easily in am afternoon.

ginpomelo's review

4.0

challenging sad medium-paced

mariannelwnicholson's review against another edition

2.0

challenging dark informative slow-paced

sarahjsnider's review against another edition

4.0

This is a collection of essays that is short but dense. Much of it relates to issues specific to south Asia, but the grasping fingers of the US are always present. Capitalism, and specifically global capitalism, is cruel to the majority of people in the world, not to mention the natural environment. With the current corrupt administration and the US's inevitable loss of power in the world, what Roy describes in India seems likely to happen here as well.

visualradish's review

5.0

Amazing set of essays. Every single one of them was highly informative and enlightening. I ended up reading the book multiple times. And, of course, the prose is beautiful and witty, as you expect from Roy.

I wish Naomi Klein and Arudhanti Roy would collaborate to write a book on the religious fundamentalism that I believe filled the vacuum left by the Leftist movement.