Rating: 
Summary: The Riches of Roy
Review: Absolutely the best book I have ever read--by far!! As an addict for literatue, I have digested a number of different works over my lifetime. Although many have engaged, evoked and/or even enthralled me, none has ever left a mark as meaningful as this one. Not only does Arundhati Roy weave a wonderous tale of family, fear and misfortune--the words written on each and every page are fiction at its finest. ACOLLADES for ARUNHATI!!!As an avid fan of this particular piece of prose, The God of Small Things has been at the top of my recommended reading list for the past few years. I am currently in possession of my 6th copy due to those (borrowers of the book) who have since felt the same... The God of Small Things is no minimal matter, it's is worth so much more than the mere words mentioned above...a must read!!
Rating:
Summary: IMMENSELY READABLE
Review: What secures this book the title extraordinary is not its narrative power which is considerable, nor its sparse, telling dialogue; it is the terrifying cloud of violence which envelopes the characters and setting alike.
Rating: 
Summary: So What?
Review: Yes, its silly pseudo-poetic surface makes it uninteresting and unreadable (I lasted about five pages before tossing it) but the book shouldn't be avoided solely because of the author's vehement criticism of American foreign policy that she expressed elsewhere. Why not just have a good old-fashioned book burning in this once Land of the Free.
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Summary: was required but..
Review: I was required to read this book for a writing seminar that I am taking. I wish to apologize to the person who doesn't like this book because none of the characters are likeable. A likeable character is not a qualification for an amazing read. I've reread the book twice now and pick up on things that were pointed out in class but that I had not noticed. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes stories about true lives, about another culture which shouldn't be called exotic, and to anyone who wants to read something that will make them question their own beliefs about love laws in their own culture.
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Summary: Beautifull, Tragic, Ironic, Colorful
Review: It seems everyone has trouble understanding the relationships between the characters. Here is a summary. Rahel and Estha are twins.
Their parents are Ammu and Baba. Sophie Mol is an only child.
Her parents are Chacko and Margaret. Ammu and Chacko are siblings.
Their parents are Pappachi(Jone Ipe) and Mammachi Pappachi's younger sister is Baby Kochamma.
Their father was Rev. John Ipe (Punnyan Kunju) Who should read this book? -If you enjoy reading a fresh style of writing that is
breathtaking and acutely observant of the intricacies of life. -If you want to read a story of two innocent children who become
the indirect victims of prejudices centuries old. -If you enjoy reading books that explore social views of a
society and how that translates into the lives of everyone
involved. Roy writes with a style so powerful and so imaginative you become drawn into the world of the twins, Rahel and Estha. Through their guiless, sometimes mischevious eyes, you observe and experience the story as it travels to its destined ending.
Rating: 
Summary: A little bit disappointing for a Booker Price winning book
Review: I picked up this book in Singapore when it was first released, while it was a lot of praise for Arundhati Roy's "God of Small Things" in the press. In the end this book won the Booker Price. The author has chosen an interesting approach to this novel. There are many stories in the story, and to confuse us even more the author chose a flashback narrating style. We enter the story in the 1990'ies as the young woman named Rahel returns to her village (in a small town in Kerala, in India) to be reunited with her twin brother Esthahappen (shortened Estha), whom she hasn't seen in many years. (That being said, the story in "God of Small Things" is set for the most part during the 1960'ies.) Two of the lead characters are the fraternal twins Estha and Rahel. They are bonded (unusually) close, so close that they think of themselves as "Me", and when separated as "We" or "Us", this to their family's great frustration. Told from the childrens' point of view, the story centers on the story of the twins' childhood, the tragic death of their English cousin, why Estha stopped speaking, to mention something, but not too much. There are many interesting characters in this book, and several of them has a great potential, such as Grandma Mammachi, Grandaunt Baby Kochamma, the handyman Velutha (another important character), Ammu etc. Unfortunately, with a few exceptions, few of them are very well developed. It is not often I almost put a book away (I have a thing for "must finish" what's been started), but this one I almost gave up. Arundhati Roy's prose and writing style is unusual, and I found it charming (in small doses) and I enjoyed this novel for its' prose more than for the story. I was never sure where the author was headed with the story. This left me confused. On top of that, I am sure that I missed some of the metaphors, as well. Come to think of it, the same thing happened when I read Rushdie's "Satanic Verses". Maybe it is just me not getting the Indo-English writing style?
Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous melancholy
Review: A beautifully-written novel, although filled with melancholy, death, and cruelty. Family dynamics are impacted by politics, forbidden love, Westerners, and nature. The lushness of the Southern Indian landscape is brought to life through the details--a bird, an insect, a plant. The author writes with an eloquent playfulness (at times ridiculous) and frequent repetition, which kind of turns the novel into poetry. Also courageously written, touching upon issues rarely mentioned outwardly in Indian culture, and especially by Indian women. I traveled to India 4 years ago as a student, didn't stay there long, (hard to fit in, being an almost 6 foot tall black woman-many stares) but I will always be fascinated by Indian culture and literature.
Rating:
Summary: A very moving and well-written book
Review: This is the best novel I have read in a very long time. Poetic, moving, inspiring. One of the reviewers here described this book as difficult to finish because it was so depressing. My impression was quite the opposite. True, lots of sad events take place in this book; but it was catharitic like a Greek tragedy. Great things are never valued as much as in the wake of their loss. I was touched by the scenes of the love between the twins and their mother, by the descriptions of the so-eager-to-be-loved and pompous uncle, and by the horrible cruelty that some characters in this book were capable of. The scene of the lovers (near the end of the book) is perhaps the most sensuous and erotic scene I ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book
Review: Read it when your soul is quiet. Pick this book up when your life isn't too tumultous or else you will miss some of the gentle and nuanced pleasures of this book. Enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Who Was I Before I Read This Book?
Review: Arundhati Roy is not simply a good writer (there are arguably many of those), she is a spiritual genius. This book lay on my bookshelf for two years gathering dust before I ever picked it up- fool that I am! I am a high school English teacher and generally do a lot of reading, but The God Of Small Things made me stop dead in my tracks; stop in the way one stops when told a truth he has known in his heart all along but has never been articulate, brave, or present enough to say or really "know"; stop like a bus stops, or like we fall in love; suddenly and without grace. You finally have to say after reading this book, "so this is the way things really are," not because Roy tries to convince you, but because you can so clearly "see" it. She paints these lives so rawly, without pretense or preachiness. This book is much, much more than its stunning metaphors, or its language(though beautiful), or its characters-Arundhati says something definitive about the world in which we live and with astoundingly perceptive insight and painful honesty, breaks your heart because her story is about the way you too have lived your life, loving some and not others and "seeing" some and not others. Haven't we all? Characters like Sophie Mol, dead in a box, "bell bottoms and all" who was "Lovedfromthebeginning" and Esta who "just kept on walking," make us see the terrible power of love and of lovelessness over our lives. One of the most poignant scenes for me was one in which relations from the Indian village in which the novel is set wait all day at a humid airport in their best clothes for foreign relatives who will never love them. The subtlety of Roy's depiction of deeply held emotional apartheid within families will haunt you.
This book is of first rate literary merit, but better than that, it is a yoga class, therapist, insight meditation, poem, lover, friend and philosopher in one. It will hit you all at once after about 100 pages and stay with you for years. It will remind you of who you are or even, who you should be. Roy's story for me has been freedom from illusion and the awful oppression of the " crawling backward days." Who was I before I read this book? I owe this review to Roy and to the world-maybe I can thank her someday. Whatever you do, READ IT!
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