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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Didn't really engage me and the chapters were too long. I'll try it again later in the year.
This book is so, so beautifully written (poetic, almost in verse) and also so incredibly tragic. It touches on many very difficult topics, so be warned that it is a Heavy read.
challenging
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
relaxing
sad
slow-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:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Devastating and beautiful. The literary playfulness is inspiring.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry
Minor: Incest
Despite the lush language and imagery of this novel, it took me a while to gather some momentum - in part because it's structured in a way that jumps in time and from the perspective of different characters. The primary event that's established early on is the tragic death of a visiting young cousin from Britain. We know the Indian twin brother-and-sister in some way played a part in the girl's death, and that they're permanently damaged by the role they played - which is followed by the departure, devolution, and death of their young mother, too - but the steady drumbeat toward learning the circumstances of this accident just left me feeling a bit manipulated as a reader.
So why am I giving it four stars? Because I did eventually click into it all, and because the last section pulls off a pretty neat trick. That is, despite the loads of despair and awfulness these children suffer, as do those trapped at the bottom India's rigid caste system (the "untouchables" particularly), Roy ends her book in a moment of secret happiness. Yes, we know the horrible price that's paid by everyone involved for this moment, but ending the book as this bit of joy is being experienced, and is still unfolding, feels like a beautiful, surprising gift.
Finally, I know there's lots of weird feelings about how the twin brother and sister reach out to each other one night as adults, but I really, at that point, felt that these were two people who knew they really had no one in the world but each other, and they're in so much pain, from what they've each been through, that they're clawing in the dark for comfort, for love. Roy very pointedly, throughout the novel, refers to them as two halves of one whole. They are separate, but they are the same. And in their lives, they're the only ones who knew what it was like to be their mother's child; to be there when they're cousin died; to have sparks of childhood joy that you clung to so hard because they were so rare. They only feel like they make sense when the other is there reflecting that troubled past back to them, understanding.
And besides, didn't Jeffrey Eugenides' "Middlesex" go way, way farther with this kind of thing?
Anyway, I thought Roy handled something tricky with an odd kind of grace and sensitivity. So although it took me time to find my footing in her fictional world, I came to appreciate quite a bit about "The God of Small Things." Glad I finally read it.
So why am I giving it four stars? Because I did eventually click into it all, and because the last section pulls off a pretty neat trick. That is, despite the loads of despair and awfulness these children suffer, as do those trapped at the bottom India's rigid caste system (the "untouchables" particularly), Roy ends her book in a moment of secret happiness. Yes, we know the horrible price that's paid by everyone involved for this moment, but ending the book as this bit of joy is being experienced, and is still unfolding, feels like a beautiful, surprising gift.
Finally, I know there's lots of weird feelings about how the twin brother and sister reach out to each other one night as adults, but I really, at that point, felt that these were two people who knew they really had no one in the world but each other, and they're in so much pain, from what they've each been through, that they're clawing in the dark for comfort, for love. Roy very pointedly, throughout the novel, refers to them as two halves of one whole. They are separate, but they are the same. And in their lives, they're the only ones who knew what it was like to be their mother's child; to be there when they're cousin died; to have sparks of childhood joy that you clung to so hard because they were so rare. They only feel like they make sense when the other is there reflecting that troubled past back to them, understanding.
And besides, didn't Jeffrey Eugenides' "Middlesex" go way, way farther with this kind of thing?
Anyway, I thought Roy handled something tricky with an odd kind of grace and sensitivity. So although it took me time to find my footing in her fictional world, I came to appreciate quite a bit about "The God of Small Things." Glad I finally read it.
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A devastating read.