Reviews

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

sirisolh's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A decade after the book was recommended to me, I spent a decade (two months) reading it.. Why? I don't know. But please read it too. 

alexprzy's review against another edition

4.0

one of the best writers I've ever read. this isn't a book you can describe to someone by giving plot points. you just have to read it. it's an experience. it's the kind of story I can't wait to go back to, opening a random page and jumping right in... really really good!

skynet666's review against another edition

3.0

I listened to this as on audio, which I enjoyed because of the authentic accents. Most reviewers either loved this book beyond words or didn't like it at all. I'm giving it a 3 because it is all the things the reviewers say about it including the book summary:
Although the effect is occasionally chaotic, like the jumbled colors of a kaleidoscope before a pattern clicks into place, the complexity of Roy's mosaic redeems her.
Most of the prose, the story, the feelings, and the lessons are definitely in the 5 category, but it was difficult to follow at times, which affected my ability to enjoy it as much as others did.

scoads's review against another edition

I kept trying to get invested, but I think it's just not for me. Really beautifully written, but hard for me to follow.

niamhniamhniamhniamhniamh's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

maani_meh24's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective slow-paced

4.75

agnela's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

First and foremost, this is full of fat phobia. If a character is violent, angry or despicable, you can bet they'll be overweight. The prose is stunning, gorgeous, maybe sometime a bit too much, where you wanted the story to go faster, but this added more poetry feels to it. Without all of it, it's just a family drama. I will remember how this made me feel, but I don't know if there's much left to think about after. Well see. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, and Death of parent

ksifactory's review against another edition

1. Too much hopelessness. I studied Russian literature in school, my level of hopelessness from the stories is fine, thank you. I am also not in the mental stage right now to take more hopelessness that I already have in my life. 
2. I realized I don't like this way of storytelling: when you have the ending and then all events that take you to the ending. It's just adding more points to the first thing. 
3. This book taught me an importance of checking tw beforehand. 

meghaha's review against another edition

5.0

“May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month. The days are long and humid. The river shrinks and black crows gorge on bright mangoes in still, dustgreen trees. Red bananas ripen. Jackfruits burst.

Dissolute bluebottles hum vacuously in the fruity air. Then they stun themselves against clear windowpanes and die, fatly baffled in the sun.”

I finally re-read The God of Small Things this past week. I remember when I first read this novel, years ago, as one of my earliest ventures into Literature (note the capital L), it stood out to me as a masterpiece, head and shoulders above most of what I'd read. The prose shocked me. It was so alive; so beautiful; so different. As a teenager, The God of Small Things, Lolita, and The Great Gatsby formed the the triumvirate of works of Literature that had the most beautiful prose I'd ever encountered, and ever thought to.

I don't think I was wrong in that judgement. Years and many books later, I'd probably only add Angela Carter to that list.

I listened to The God of Small Things on audio this time around, so the experience was different. I remembered this book as composed of surprisingly fragmented sentences that nonetheless flowed together, unusually capitalized words and phrases, and luminous vignettes. But when read aloud, periods become more like commas; capitalized words aren't demarcated; and vignettes become scenes. So it was less shocking in that regard.

I also remembered the non-linearity; what felt like jumps through timelines and scenes that were hard to follow, a structure that I couldn't quite grasp. Listening, it doesn't seem at all unnatural, to weave from present to past, to jump from one year to another, to come back and dip and retrace and then leap between events. It was easy to follow the storyline, and it felt deftly controlled, especially with repeated turns of phrases as signposts. I think we're more accepting of non-linear stories told orally.

There's themes I think I missed on my first read, mesmerized as I was by the prose more so than the content. The social injustice Roy portrays, her interest in politics.

Certain images and turns of phrases have stuck into my mind from my first read, and still do:
"dark blood spilling from his skull like a secret"
"the yellow church swelled like a throat with the sound of sad singing"
"Sicksweet. Like old roses on a breeze.”


Roy has an unusual eye for the playfulness of language, for its rhythms and sounds.

I still haven't read The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, but I think I must in 2018.

rhartleybfc's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5