Review by si_woof - The God of Small Things

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si_woof 's review for:

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

3.5

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I usually love lyrical, clever prose — but this felt less like storytelling and more like the author showing off in a mirror. Beautiful sentences? Absolutely. But also lots of Capitalised Concepts that seemed Deep and Important… until they got lost (or was that me?!). After a while, I started to wonder if even the commas were overthinking it.

While the writing is undeniably Skilful, full of introspection and Poetic flair, it often felt like Too Much for me. The dense, metaphor-heavy style demanded a lot of Concentration, and I found that the reward didn’t quite match the Effort. It was Beautiful in parts, but also Exhausting.

I also struggled to connect with the characters and the story. I found them frustrating and had difficulty caring much about what happened to them. This made it hard to stay emotionally invested, and I often felt Fed Up while reading.

The book did improve towards the end — the pace picked up, and the plot finally started to move forward — but for a novel under 400 pages, it felt much longer than it should have.

In the end, while I appreciated the Craftsmanship, Symbolism, Societal Critique, and how the Story eventually Came Together, reading it still felt like an Arduous Journey.

Content Warnings