Rating: 
Summary: Loved The God of Small Things
Review: This book really captivated me. The author uses language in a unique way to express the often fleeting thoughts that reflect the way we feel or the way we view others. It's a tragic story that I couldn't put down. I can't wait for another book by this author!
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Summary: A bit boring and too descriptive
Review: I didn't like this book. The characters are all disturbed and depressing. I hated the way the author used sexual references even when discribing things like flowers and places. I first wanted to read this book because the twins 'Estha and Rahel' interested me. But I soon found that the book dealt with too many other characters and times in peoples lives, which made this book difficult to read and frustrating for me, as I like to understand what I'm reading. There were many references in the book that meant absolutley nothing to me, which added to the confusing nature of this novel. I am probably younger than most other readers of this novel, so I would only reccomend it to an older audience.
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Summary: An Amazing Book
Review: "May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month," and so is Arundhati Roy's novel The God of Small Things. Imagine a cold piece of butter slowly melting in a frying pan, setting the scene for the cooking to come, and you can see the way Roy's prose works. Words that are hot and brooding reel you into an intricate web of family politics and social mores, evoking a feeling similar to a written stream of consciencness. Roy writes in layers, except that the layers are both added and taken off; I was reminded of my childhood when I would eat wafer chocolates from the bottom and the top, leaving the middle until last, because that was the best part. Roy kindly dispells the, often torturous, anxiety of what happens in the end early on in the book. The reader is told what happened before it happened, what happened after it happened, and saves what happened for last. A format that seemingly would put off a reader becomes its most appreciated quality. This book is for everyone; murder mystery, love story, epic saga all in one. Even if you're not the romantic type, the social scrutiny of Indian customs provides for interesting reading. However, if you're interested in brain candy, forget it. There is too much to absorb. Emotion and intellect are needed in order to understand the emotion and intellect that are related. You could take in only what is superficially presented, as the plot alone is worthwhile, but you would be missing so much. Rahel, a dizygotic twin returns to the place of her childhood and subesequently a place of unhappiness to see her brother, the other twin, after more than twenty years of separation. Esta, the brother, has stopped talking, and Rahel has stopped feeling. Their reunion allows for the remembrance and grieving of their disasterous youths. They recall small things, seemingly unimportant, yet vital to the reconstruction of their sense of inner peace. They are the same age as their mother when she died, thirty-one. Their house is run down and the only relatives left from the monster in their pasts are, in essence, only waiting to die. Entering their minds through an omniscient voice, we are transported back and forth in time, remembering small things, painting a big picture. We remember a cousin's accidental death, and the death of another who served as a scapegoat. We remember how fate can make the strangest families. We also remember Rahel and Esta, and how they "broke the love laws. That lay down who should be loved. And how. And how much." While the novel serves to shock the reader from time to time, the pace is slow. Roy's style would be described as somewhat verbose for the impatient, yet serves to parallel the way we deal with emotions, hurt, and love in life. Creating a paradox however, this reader went back to re-absorb certain elements of beauty or truth, due to a lack of time created by an impatience to find out what happens next. Although usually overly critical of fiction, I would recommend this book for anyone who likes to read intelligent literature. It gives the reader a chance to realize how profound those small things really are.
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Summary: Magnificent, musical book
Review: I listened to this book on tape (narrated by Donada Peters) and it knocked my socks off. This book is like a symphony with repeated themes and musical language. Baby Kochama, Kerala, Ayamenem, Malayalem, even Paradise Pickles and Preserves - just say these aloud to hear how they sing. After reaching the end of the book, I listened to the first tape all over again and was amazed at the little hints that had been planted in the first chapter regarding the final outcome of the story. I had to return the tape to the library or I would have listened to the whole thing again. Once you know the characters and their back stories and the central tragedy of the novel, you read the book in a whole new way - as a knowing observer who is helpless to stop the coming events. Amazing that this book really covers only a 2 week period of time. It is over a week now since I finished the book, but I cannot get these characters or the story off my mind. This is definitely one of the most beautiful, powerful, haunting, and provocative books I have ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful
Review: After you finish reading a book and you see the taste of the book is still lingering in your mind you know the book you have just read is different, yes different from the others. This is the way I felt when I finished reading "The God Of Small Things". "The God of Small Things" is a very stylised and exotic novel. It is very different from the conventional type and breaks all barriers. It is brilliantly plotted and gives the reader a sense of agonising sadness and inevitability. Yet nothing can prepare you for what lies in the heart of it. Every page is a discovery within itself. The book really contains many themes such as Love, Madness, Hope and Infinite Joy. There is no particular evidence but the themes can be felt and understood when the whole novel has been read over and over again. It is truly a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: The God of Small Things
Review: An amazing book. If you have ever had to experience the complexities that arise from the merging of two or more cultures, and the resulting(occasional) dominance of one over the other, this book will make you fly...... Roy is insightful, perceptive and is not attacking any particular people or way of life, but providing a glimpse into sacrifices that can be universal in nature. And doesn't it sometimes feel as if you have to break the rules occasionally to truly discover the truth? Roy's book is one of the best contemporary novels I have ever read......
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Summary: A wonderful novel OR rather a flow of stunning stories
Review: Although the main story is based on the two-egg twins Rahel&Estha and their mother Ammu, there are hundreds of wonderful stories and they unexpectedly arrive on almost every page. Sometimes you can find a stunning story which is simply told in two sentences. This gives me the feeling that ROY has the capacity to write many other novels. Reading "The God of Small Things" has given me the sour taste of "Hundred Years of Solitude". Like many of the South American writers, Roy seems to have a different way of perception and such a tasteful narration.
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Summary: A Beautiful Vision
Review: Although I am not familiar with the intracacies of life in India and the true context in which this story is set, I found it a georgeous and rich vision of the world. The narration, the placement of events within the timeline of the novel, all were wonderful and fresh.
Rating: 
Summary: Which is better, how it's written or what it's about?
Review: I have nothing but respect for this author. Her use of language is poetic, fresh, vivid, extraordinary, but I found it hard to enjoy this novel because of its array of generally disturbed characters. Two things save this book. The author's style, and her ability to look at life through a childs eyes.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing read with a million subtleties
Review: through a child's eyes. Yet all these small hints that are revealed throughout the whole book will be found out as you read. Roy is a wonderful writer as poetic as she brillant. Her clues are not only well hidden, but significant. Her book brings about such important messages as race, colonialism, identity, love, breaking boundaries and so many other ideas. Read this book with an open mind. Read it again and you will get so much more. Words that your eyes passed by before will have more certain meaning. I suggest reading it with some sort of guide to help you out. You should get as much as you can out of it.
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