The God of Small Things

Rating:
Summary: Simply impressive
Review: This book is amazing. It simply took my breath away. The plot is simple, but the story-telling skill is wonderful. The words and the description somehow have the compelling power to make me feel nostalgic and bittersweet.

Rating:
Summary: Haunting
Review: Roy lets a cage full of words loose on the streets of India, and they mill together to form an extraordinarily beautiful story. Her ability to paint with English seems effortless, and astounding.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: A wonderful story emphasizing the political, cultural, and social customs of India. Roy takes the stringent customs of her native country and through The God of Small Things illustrates how a family is negatively affected by these strict rules. Although a work of fiction, Roy writes with such eloquence, emotion, and insight, one wonders if any of the story is autobigraphical.

Rating:
Summary: Hardly Pointless
Review: Having read some of the other reviews, I find it odd that some people felt the book had no point. To my mind, the point could not have been clearer - the story, in general, is an observation of social customs in India. In particular, it is a lamentation of the egregious double-standard applied to men and women in parts of India.

Rating:
Summary: Intelligent & thought provoking!
Review: When you finish reading this book, go back and read the first chapter over again. It will all make sense to you. This story is told in a non-linear storyline fashion. It is a very well written book, Ms. Roy's use of symbolism and personification adds depth to her literature. This is a book for people who want to read intelligent, thought provoking literature. The author plays with words (i.e. Bar Nowl = Barn Owl) throughout the book. My book club could have discussed this novel for hours and hours.

Rating:
Summary: Luscious
Review: Arundhati Roy managed to weave a haunting gossamer web. Exquisitely and painfully beautiful, she brought me into broken hearts and made me comprehend how they came to be that way.

Rating:
Summary: Good literary writing, weak development
Review: The book was written very well. The storyline was a lttile weak. I didn't feel a connection with any of the characters. There were none that I hated or loved. I felt the writer could have said the same thing in a less pages.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely loved it...
Review: One of the most beautiful books I've ever read! I really couln't put it down. In a few years I will read it again.

Rating:
Summary: A Spellbinding Tale
Review: The God Of Small Things, a novel by Arundhati Roy, is a tragic story that gives insight into the effects of India's political/social problems on the everyday family in their everday lives; the ways in which these problems can destroy both rich and poor. Through the eyes of a wealthy Syrian Christian family in Kerala, the dynamics of the Indian caste system are revealed, as well as the punishments for those who violate its rigid boundaries. Even those who claim to stand up for the untouchables, hold them back, because they greedily climb through politics to reach higher social status. The novel flips back and forth in time, which allows the story to unravel with much intrigue. The constant foreshadowing kept me wondering what exactly was going to happen, and how, and why. Roy's use of stream of conciousness allows the novel to come alive. It gives me a personal connection to the characters and a light hearted feel in some not so light hearted moments. Her vivid imagery makes it easy to invision the scenes, as if I am watching a movie. It allows me to completely forget that it is only a book, that there is no real reason to laugh, no real reason to cry. She also makes multiple allusions that give the novel a contemporary feel which made me realize that not all of India is built of poor tribes, but that there are in fact areas with reasonable amounts of technology and advancement. When she tells a story it is somehow magickal. It draws me in and leaves me spellbound. No matter how the family broke the love laws it did not disgust me; instead I somehow understood their feelings, even when what happened was against my basic values. It amazes me that an author could have the ability to catch me off guard and overstep my morals, and allow me, for a moment, to accept what I have always considred unacceptable. I finished the novel wanting to read it again, and wishing that I had written it. In reading the novel for a second time, it still took hold of my emotions and carried me through it with an equal amount of excitement and anticipation. Arundhati Roy truly reached with this novel her definition of a great story: "...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 suprise 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"(218). The first time around the novel takes twists and turns and some actions can not be foreseen but all stories began that way, one day. Sometimes I pick up the book on any page and just start reading, just for a moment, to catch another glimpse of that other world which the novel holds. I get a second to stop and smirk or smile and feel wonderful things. Even though I know it, inside and out, I want to know it again. The God Of Small Things is truly an amazing work of art, sculpted from eloquent language and an amazing understanding of the human heart.

Rating:
Summary: Something that I relished...
Review: I would not say that the plot of this book monumentally changed my life, but if anything affected me, it is the style in which this book is written. I do not believe it is at all confusing, but mysterious and clever. Roy jumps from one event to another and there are so many one-lined perceptions about life where I found myself saying "I wish I had written this!" I suppose the message of this book is that we all live incredibly different lives (our families that is) and yet our lives are so incredibly similar. I found myself reminiscing about my own childhood and the little tokens and events that richly impacted my life...while most of the time, I have been completely unaware. I relished the sensitivity of this novel towards one's surrounding environment, to one's inner feelings. The subconcious is a powerful force and I feel that Roy believes this...and this belief is exhibited in this fabulous book.