Take a photo of a barcode or cover
saraaaa 's review for:
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
by Arundhati Roy
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow, this book was a lot. A lot of good, a lot-ish of bad. But surely a lot.
The first few chapters were great – the gentleness and simplicity with which Roy touched themes usually considered taboo or niche made for a comforting read.
The story read like an ensemble of fables, and as such its characters are only briefly focused on, barely skimming the surface of their essence, touching only those traits of theirs that are relevant to the narrative. At the end of the second chapter, I grew fond of Anjum, but the narrator keeps such a distance that she feels in a way out of reach, visible only through binoculars that follow her as she moves her residence from place to place.
After a hundred pages focusing on her character and the people and places that make up her world, I really couldn't care less about the others at they came into frame quite abruptly. This could easily have been a two novels installments, as, though surely strictly interlinked, the two main stories fail to be seamlessly bound together. It felt like she couldn't decide which story to tell, which battle to fight in, so instead of making a collection of shorter stories, she tried very hard to fit everything into a single box, full to the brim, so that the reader ends up struggling to find anything at all. It was as if Roy was trying to fit as many of her opinions as she could into these pages, and then some more.
The men's voices fell particularly flat, like heroines' in a 1800s male novelist's work.Both The Landlord chapters' first person narration split the novel in two, and Garson Hobart felt like an intruder in someone else's story. Perhaps both things were intentional, with Roy you can hardly ever know.
But all in all, I'm glad I read it – it's a heavily politicized book, with even heavier themes, so definitely not a light leisure read, but offers an important perspective nonetheless.
The first few chapters were great – the gentleness and simplicity with which Roy touched themes usually considered taboo or niche made for a comforting read.
The story read like an ensemble of fables, and as such its characters are only briefly focused on, barely skimming the surface of their essence, touching only those traits of theirs that are relevant to the narrative. At the end of the second chapter, I grew fond of Anjum, but the narrator keeps such a distance that she feels in a way out of reach, visible only through binoculars that follow her as she moves her residence from place to place.
After a hundred pages focusing on her character and the people and places that make up her world, I really couldn't care less about the others at they came into frame quite abruptly. This could easily have been a two novels installments, as, though surely strictly interlinked, the two main stories fail to be seamlessly bound together. It felt like she couldn't decide which story to tell, which battle to fight in, so instead of making a collection of shorter stories, she tried very hard to fit everything into a single box, full to the brim, so that the reader ends up struggling to find anything at all. It was as if Roy was trying to fit as many of her opinions as she could into these pages, and then some more.
The men's voices fell particularly flat, like heroines' in a 1800s male novelist's work.
But all in all, I'm glad I read it – it's a heavily politicized book, with even heavier themes, so definitely not a light leisure read, but offers an important perspective nonetheless.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content
Minor: Infidelity, Misogyny, Stalking, Suicide attempt