Arundhati Roy's THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS

I read this book about a year ago and it still is one of my favourites. I was wondering if anybody read it/ is interested in reading and discussing it.

P.S.1
I'm happy to see you are interested in discussing this wonderful book (I know, I know, that is quite subjective, we can debate it later). How about waiting for 2~3 weeks before we start discussing the actual plot, so that we don't reveal any "exciting" information to those of you who have just started reading the book? Meanwhile, we could talk about Arundhati Roy - the writer or the cultural and geographical setting of the book (India/ South India/ Kerala). And of course, any suggestions regarding the points/ issues you would like to discuss are also welcome.

17 copies available on BookMooch!

It's on my bookshelf still unread. I should tackle it soon .. will check back then.

I read this book a few years ago and remember really liking it. My husband was not into the poetic way the author wrote her story and declined to finish it. I read it too long ago to remember the details so can't really get into a good discussion about it at this point.

I read this book a few years after it came out and won the Booker Prize, so after all the hype. I think that helped to allow me to read it on its own merit.

I was moved by the book and loved the way Roy created her own language to convey both the beauty and the horror.

On a recent visit to Kerala, I kept seeing all my surroundings within the context of The God of Small Things.

I would love to join a discussion on the book.

Sivani, I agree with you. The lyrical prose in Roy's book was something that touched me as well. It was a bit difficult to understand the language at times, as I am not a native speaker of English, but it was, nonetheless, beautiful.

I am a bit envious you visited Kerala. ;) I saw some photos of Kottayam on the net and kept imagining Roy's characters walking around.

Here are some links for those who would like to start dreaming:
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/India/South/Kerala/Kottayam/
http://www.sulekha.com/travel/photos.aspx?cid=6958&searchtext=Kottayam

I read this in 2004, it is a poetic book - the kind I read slowly to relish the words.

I agree! I read this awhile ago as well and can't really discuss it as I don't remember everything, but I remember loving the way she wrote. I should have written down all the phrases I liked... I will have to reread it.

Its unfortunate Ms. Roy has been too busy with the mutual-mastur...sorry mutual-admiration club she's formed with Noam Chomsky to get back to her real talent, writing stories. Just like Noam has been too busy to get back to linguistics, the field in which he originally made his name.

Talking politics is easier than creating great art or doing great science.

I have looked forward to another deeply rooted, lyrical novel but have been disappointed, and I dont think that is likely to change unfortunately.

On the whole pretty prose, grounded in real events and a real setting, marred by uncertainty on how to wrap it up, and a certain gratuitity. Dont want to go any further until Loloma gets to the end.

p.s. Loloma, you ought to visit Kerala, its worth it.

While I think Chomsky's politics and political beliefs are particularly vile, toxic and loathsome, I don't begrudge him (or Roy, or anyone) extending his reach into other areas away from his original field. It's pretty selfish of us to demand or expect that he limit himself to what we might prefer. Who are we to say what he "should" devote himself to?

That said, I teach Composition at a small private college, and prior to this, did so at a large public university. I use the very first page of The God of Small Things} on the first day of each new class as an example of writing that breaks all of the typical 'rules' that students typically have been taught about writing. The writing is so dense; here's so much to talk about there in just those first three paragraphs: sentence length, paragraph length, detail, diction, grammar, etc. Without telling the class where the excerpt came from, I ask them to describe whether and why they consider it "good writing" or "bad," and it almost always leads to good discussion about general principles...

I started reading this book (The God of Small Things) recently...

That's about as far as I can go! I couldn't make head nor tail of it and immediately added it to my bookmooch inventory. Needless to say, another moocher snapped it up staright away.

Posted this on another thread, then I saw this one, so I'm cross-posting. Hope no-one minds.

Just finished Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things. I read it several years ago and remember liking it, but after I read it again, slowly, for the second time, it dawned on me that it's an exceptional first novel. Complex, vivid, and non-linear, it doesn't seem like the work of a screenplay writer either.

Some reviewers seem bothered by the wordplay (which I find inspired) and the transitions (mostly well-handled). I was just blown away by the brilliant evocation of childhood. I feared for the children and for Ammu and Velutha.

I'd be happy to discuss this book with anyone who's finished reading it. Also, I went and checked out the links above--the photos are wonderful and really gave me more context in which to picture the characters.

I was surprised to read in a review that The God of Small Things was semiautobiographical when reading about Arundhati Roy's life. Apparently her mother was a Syrian Christian and woman's activist while her father was Buddist. He happened to be a tea planter in Aymanam in Kerala.
After reading her work, I assumed she'd been in poetry classes for most of her adult life but was surprised to read that she attended a graduate school of architecture.

For those having a little trouble getting into the story I'll repeat what my local bookstore owner told me when I asked about it "well, as the author is an architect, she has said that instead of laying her story in a linear fashion she takes the reader by the hand and leads them room by room, turning on lights when the switches fall in her path. While the novel may seem confusing or disjointed, the thread of story is always clear and eventually the entire 'house of the story' is apparent. The unraveling and dabbling in the author's mind is the most fun part."

I must confess that I was massively underwhelmed by The God Of Small Things. I read it with high hopes and found it to be nothing more than OK. Lots of chutney but not much meat.

i was really impressed with The God of Small Things. i found the first chapter or two a bit confusing, but once i got the hang of the characters and the style, i absolutely loved it! the story is told in a way that made me want to read the book again as soon as i finished it, understanding all those things that i'd missed the first time through. it's not the easiest thing to read, but i'd still highly recommend it!

Gee I'm sorry to see this conversation petered out--what happened to the plan to discuss it?

I read The God of Small Things earlier this year and was blown away by her use, sometimes invention, of language for effect. The way she layered new language, building shortcuts that bind the reader and author in a shared lingo was an adventure and far exceeded even the story for me.

My biggest disappointment is that she's abandoned novel writing. I feel genuinely deprived of her talent, but not enough apparently to read polemics.

Maybe someone will revive this discussion? If so, let me know and I'll hop back in.

When i started reading The God of small things i couldn't stop.When not actually reading, i carried it around in my mind & though I finished it years ago, it still haunts me. I laughed out loud & cried real tears. I make up little stories in my mind as to what the characters do afterwards. I plan on reading it again before I die. I live in Northern OH & the only people from India I have met were Doctors & a Drs. wife who came to our library. I had read Louis Bromfield's The rains came & also A Passage to India which are both excellent books. But Asia is unknown to me, until Ms. Ray introduction. And whar an intro. It's a story that could take place any where on earth, in the sense that all humans contain the same mixtures of desires & frustations, at the same time, the social atmosphere was unique to that place & time. I hope that everybody who wants to discuss The god of small things has finished reading it so we can let the discussion begin.

Marian, quite an introduction to Indian lit isn't it? I was lucky to enter by reading A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, which to me was engulfing, informative of the Indira Ghandi period, and a human story beyond forgetting of a class we don't usually get to read about or meet. Mistry has several other books that are less daunting and more family oriented, such as Family Matters. The language isn't as fanciful, but the stories really reach into you.

In general, I've found that I prefer reading books by authors from India rather than the British viewpoint.

-->> 11, 14 Completely agree with you. Even though I love complex and non-straightforward books and appreciate intricate writing styles, this one was just a conundrum I felt like a waste of time trying to get my head round to. Since I read it back in 1999, that book completely put me off reading books on India by the Indian authors. Last year I read Kiran Desai The Inheritance of loss and even though it was a lot better than The God of Small Things I still found it completely overestimated and not quite up to the Booker prize standards.

It is a very original book and definitely worth reading, but it has serious faults. It is told from the point of view of two young children (twins). The author is merciless in her criticism of the adults who mis-treat the children. This criticism extends to the Indian middle middle class. It is, however, impossible to believe that all or even most members of this class are as hard-hearted as those in the book. The author should have created some balance by introducing a few characters who speak up on behalf of the children. As she has not done so, the novel comes across as an angry statement, but ultimately unsatisfactory as art.

The only thing I'll add here is being struck by similarities between it and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. Where the names of the brother and sister in Roy's book never carry spaces to imply their eternal entanglement, there's also a lack of spaces in Morrison's book when writing about a character's race, "blackwoman" or "whitegirl" connote that the character's fate is bonded to their race.

Both books deal with skin colour hierarchies and assimilation. Both are distinguished by their lyrical, non-linear stories, tragedies foretold. A divisive note would be that both books are marred by their writers' political ideals. They may be unquestionable ideals, but the ideals may structure and limit the story, rather than providing the sense of characters in free momentum.

I read "God of Small Things" before two years and I appreciates the author's observation to the minute details in some places.