Rating: 
Summary: A truely exceptional work, better then wine!
Review: Let me preface this, I am not a literary expert and I do not consider myself to be a critic who know's what he is talking about. But, I would have to say that this amazing book is worth every second of your time, and more!First of all, the story is real; the kind that hits you hard, draws you in and breaks your heart. However, I don't mena that in a cinamatic, Hollywood sort of way. You might end up disliking some of the characters, but that's OK. What's so amazing is that you and your neighbor Fred might disagree on who's good/bad and that's the beauty of it. Secondly, writing is unique and beautiful. As the book progresses, you fell like your in the Roy writing school and it doesn't matter what grade you get, your just glad to be there. I've read places where they compare it to poetry, and that's cool, but it's something more, something higher then that... it's like..supra-neopoe-prose. (I just made that up). Finally, the way the story is constructed keeps you on the edge of your hammock (wouldn't it be nice to kick back and read in a hammock?). You never quite sure what Roy is getting at or where the story is going, and as the events unfold, they wil shock you and draw you in deeper. So read it already! Fork up the cash, by a bottle of wine and tell your significant other to take a hike for the evening! you won't regret it.
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Summary: Lyrical Qualties that every writer should aspire to
Review: I was told that Arundhati Roy wrote this book as a sort of protest againt the mind-numbing influence of TV and movies today. Well she succeeds in painting such vivid images and complex thoughts, that her book kept me away from the television for several days. This book is captivating. The story pulls you into its exotic setting and customs. It is the epitome of lyrical prose, as its words flow off the page. It has something for everyone: forbidden love, family secrets, passion, spirituality, and death. I don't want to ruin the book by giving away the plot, as it has more than a few interest twists, but you should defenitely pick up this book.
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Summary: Easily the best book I've read this year...
Review: This book matches all of my criteria for a fabulous read: -the prose is beautiful -the characters feel real -the sequences are described fully -the relationships ring true In a perfect world, this novel would have had something like a legend and some pronounciation assistance. I never knew how to think to pronounce the main characters names "Rahel, Estha". A little background about the geographical area would also have been great.
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Summary: A Powerful Tale from Kerala, India
Review: Arundhati Roy's 'The God of Small things' is indeed a delightful reading. Through her powerful narration and captivating stories, she is introducing to the English reader a world not so familiar. The novel begins in the prestigious homestead of Ayemenem House in Kerala, India, builds up as the story of a pair of 'two-egg twins' and ends with the gruesome tale of Paravan Velutha, the god of small things. All the happenings are in the backdrop of the falling apart of a family, disintegration of Ayemenem House, growth of Marxist unionism and the Paradise Pickles & Preserves locked out. It is a beautiful canvass of the life in Kerala, a unique state in the Indian union with prevalent Christianity, high rate literacy and growing communist ideology. Roy is also a gifted artist in the use of English language with its poetic and rhythmic movements. This book should be highly recommended as the first reading to anybody who wants to learn about Kerala.
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Summary: Poetry unfolds like rose petals, these are small things...
Review: Arundahti Roy's first novel is a journey into a mysterious country, filled with colours, smells and stories. The poetry of her prose is intoxicating and allows this reader (and hopefully you too) to journey beyond her small New York apartment to distant lands. The God of Small Things is truly a little miracle and we have to thank Arundhati Roy for having brought it to us.
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Summary: What can I say more....
Review: This was one of the very few English books I read. And it was an amazing experience. Such fluid poetic language and such rythm. The relationship between the twins is just beutifully portrayed. I cannot but stop thinking that this is some way related to things that happned really. But so what? How many of us can write about real things so wonderfully? What more, can I add, just read this book when you can, and be slightly patient, you will never regret.
Rating:
Summary: This is one awesome book!
Review: Lyrical and a fantastic story. You'll be glad you acted upon my recommendation. Don't blame me if you stay up all night reading this book the day you get it. ;)
Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully written, but depressing
Review: I found this book a little tough to get through despite the author's facility with words. It was veiled in sadness throughout, even before the precipitating event(s), and then became downright depressing. I give the author 5 stars for language and writing ability, but only 1 star for writing a book that I desired to finish. I did finish it, but found little in it to encourage me to pick it up each night.
Rating:
Summary: Vivid though flawed
Review: Arundhati Roy would have described The God of Small Things when she wrote: "The secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably. They don't deceive you with thrills and trick endings. They don't surprise you with the unforeseen....In the Great Stories you know who lives, who dies, who finds love, who doesn't. And yet you want to know again", If she had exchanged the word "Great" for "entertaining yet imperfect" and the phrases "want to hear again" and "want to know again" for "aren't really interested". Admittedly it was a very good book in some places, but one can tell that this is Roy's first book. Several scenes seem to be thrown in just for kicks and shock value and they lend no obvious support to the rest of the plot. These are some of the niggling little details that detract from the overall quality and charm of the novel. The overall effect is that the reader finds themselves trying to make their way through the book like an explorer trying to make their way through the Amazon-with a machete. Despite the descriptive writing and lush imagery, there seems to be a formula to the book. Evocative literature aside, the tragedy and affair that follows is rather predictable(and she doesn't tell you her definition of a good book until you are far beyond the halfway point.). This story is made up of densely woven together(I find that I keep making my way back to the forest imagery)plots and subplots intertwined with masses of elaborate descriptions and phrases. The flashbacks and flash-forwards and twists that make up the novel are refreshing in the beginning but soon bring this reviewer back to those sad, unfortunate days spent sitting in English class discussing Sound and the Fury, a book I soon learned to loathe for the style it was written in, stream of consciousness. While Arundhati Roy does make use of stream of consciousness, she does not wield her style like a meat cleaver. Her book attempts to make amends by the use of vivid and beautiful imagery. The God of Small Things is more about the language being used to tell the story as opposed to a real direction or one of things we like to call plots. Roy admits that the book was a "work of instinct" and mentions that the book was written "sentence by sentence" and this is quite evident. Many smaller sub-stories are meshed together, united by storytelling. The foundation that the novel rests upon is the voice. The story is told in a non-linear fashion, moving back in forth through time, touching upon events that have happened or will happen. There are no surprises with regard to actual events just how they unfold. The odd turn of phrase that is readily apparent in the joined words and sentences, the overabundance of capitals, and silly rhymes makes sense when it becomes clear that the tale is narrated using the eyes and voice of seven-year-old Rahel. The plot centers on the fraternal twins Esthappen(Estha) and Rahel and their forced transformation from two children with "joint identities into two separate people. Roy writes that they "thought of themselves together as Me, and separately, individually as We or Us". The Estha's and Rahel's unusual bond is threaded throughout the storyline, and shapes the decisions that they make, how other characters react to them, and how they interact with other people outside the unit that are. Roy's characters are quite enjoyable and interesting because one is able to see their own relatives in the unconventional characters. Everyone has that weirdly intelligent relative, or a quirky or a cantankerous relation. Arundhati Roy declares that the family broke "all the rules. They crossed into forbidden territory. They tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved and how. And how much." A brief sketch of a few of the main/important characters as follows: There is Blind Mammachi, the twins' grandmother and founder of Paradise Pickles and Preserves. Blind Mammachi is a virtuous violin-playing widow who suffered years of unwarranted abuse at the hands of her highly-respected yet overbearing, insecure husband. There is Estha and Rahel's grandaunt, Baby Kochamma, who totters on air cushions for feet while playing out the bitterness of her lifetime of unrequited love for an Irish Roman Catholic priest. Baby Kochamma spends her days savoring soap operas and satellite television wrestling matches, while living her life backwards. Velutha, the title character, an ebulliently talented handyman, tainted by his Paravan lineage. Chacko, Estha and Rahel's uncle, now divorced from his English wife, runs Paradise Pickles and Preserves with the iron hand of what he likes to think is communism, and flirts and sleeps with his female employees. The twins' mother, Ammu, is a divorcee who fled her tyrannical husband's alcoholism which didn't endear her to her family or community since it was her fault that her marriage fell apart, of course. A feminist before feminism, Ammu cannot decide on a last name, because as she says, "choosing between her husband's name and her father's name didn't give a woman much of a choice" at all. If you're looking for a book that follows and highlights the events in India during the '60s, go get yourself a history book. This book is more about social class in India and the relationships between members of a family, and members of different sexes and what happens to those unfortunates who have the temerity to deviate from the established order of life. All in all, flaws aside, The God of Small Things is a very good read. The book is by no means a masterpiece, but it should be enjoyed for it's beautiful prose.
Rating:
Summary: Roy is astounding
Review: Arundhati Roy uses eloquent language to describe the story and life of two twins, Rahel and Estha. Her uses of images is beautiful. Her prose it rich and poetic. I read on until the very end because it captured me so well. In the future I would compare her to famous writers like Rushdie.
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