The God of Small Things

Rating:
Summary: A truly moving book
Review: I have seen several erudite reviews of Roy's book. My own response to the book is not intellectual but emotional. After years, I have read a book which has moved me to tears and haunted me for days after the reading. The powerful and evocative imagery, the poignancy of the story, the depressingly real characterisation, the fluid shifts across time periods ... I guess these are some of the specifics which make Roy's book so distinctive. But dissecting the parts is doing injustice to the whole. In the ultimate analysis, this is a book which will evoke a "gut-reaction" from most readers and impact in some way their perception of life. And that is the real test of a good book.

Rating:
Summary: A pretty excellent book
Review: My reading of this book was tainted with all the hoo-haa about its excellency and its booker-prizy feel about it combined with my watch for it to reach its expectations..Being a Mar Thomite , it was nice to read names of places and the numerous Malayalam words which are so familiar and which we use at home (not the bad ones ) . I truly enjoyed her style of writing (from a child's and an adults viewpoint) - viable, die-able age . The story jumps from past to present which is an unusual style that keeps the story strangely flowing, even in the jumps. I love the characters created ( both endearing and not) as they are extremely real (as Roy writes from personal experience ) and extremely believable. I enjoyed the book thoroughly and feel extremely proud that an indian, a keralite brought forth such art from her own homeland in the form of A God of Small Things

Rating:
Summary: Personal and unforgettable
Review: 'The god of small things' is a fearless offering by a writer who has tremendous instincts. Every word is insightful, funny and carries the weight of an entire society's conditioning. All this with amazing lightness and complete effortlessness.

Roy's language is sticky yet effervescent. She is one of those authors who probably didn't need to learn the rules in order to break them.

Whatever she does, and however she does it, I want more.

Rating:
Summary: James Joyce arises from the dead in India!
Review: 'The God of Small Things' is a wonderfully rich and innovative novel. I am an artist who idolizes James Joyce, and this novel is the first one I have encountered which indicates an understanding of his techniques and power. Arundhati Roy's language is beautiful- she is a poet in novelist's costume- covered with mirrors! She has absorbed all of the lessons of the great writers and has transformed reality into something miraculous and strange- as seen through the eyes of a child! I also have spent nearly two years travelling, teaching, and taking photographs throughout India, and let me tell you, this lady nails India- with all of it's visual exoticism, philosophical complexity, and moral hypocrisy. I tend to believe that her Indian detractors are feeling the heat because she has come and and exposed what is obvious to anyone who knows anything about India- the class and caste wars, the abuse of women, the tyrranny of tradition, etc. A great book, by which other writers will be judged!

Rating:
Summary: Not the story but the telling
Review: An odd tale, but told with a style all it's own. Somewhat reminiscent of Rushdie and with a descriptive power equal to Steinbeck. Definitely not Hollywood film material (I hope they don't attempt it). If this author plans a second book it had better be good or it will be bound to dissapoint.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book.
Review: Arundhati Roy has written an excellent book. Her observation is razor-sharp and her communcation is refreshingly uninhibited. For me the plot, the literary style etc was secondary to the beauty with which she details the setting and the characters in the story. The accuracy with which she recreates scenes and settings like the railway station, the cinema hall restroom, the house etc is really breath-taking
I think she is rather unjustly being accused of "catering to a western audience". Actually, there were numerous passages in the book which I felt, only a person of Indian-background (i.e sombody who has lived in India) could understand and appreciate completely. She is one of the only Indian authors to have lived and continue to live in India and win a Booker, in recent times.
All in all, an excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I have read in many years !
Review: With this book you do not only learn about India but you also learn about values, education and love. The prose is beautiful, the language even more so, I just wish that she does not stop writting and we see more of her work.

Rating:
Summary: The best fiction I read in ages.
Review: You never get a feeling of reading a debut writer's book. Arundhati Roy is a gifted writer who plays with words like noone earlier in the literature. Definitely not even Salman Rushdie! I'm dying to read her next book. Will she oblige her fans?

Rating:
Summary: Sorry to say, it isn't much, even if it THE Book (for) 'er
Review: One can compare The God of Small Things very well with another novel by another author of Indian origin, The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh. Similar storylines - small lives, juxtaposed with history unfolding on a larger canvas on which the protagonists have no control but are nevertheless sucked into, creating a concoction that bursts suddenly without warning on the face, changing a few lives forever. Unfortunately, that is where the comparison ends. While Ghosh allows his pen to flow with the conviction of the master who knows exactly which words should come in where - just so - Roy's effort appears labored, staccato, and directionless. Roy even tries to use (most probably unknowingly) a style similar to that of Ghosh - the sense of foreboding of events that are to come, but fails there too. You are not even 50-75 pages into the book, when you know exactly what is going to happen and how - and even who are to be involved. And finally, when Roy does tell us what happened, she isn't too sure whether we are going to catch what she is trying to say, and therefore has to spell it out. Puhlease! And then, there's the style. Sorry, Style! In a deliberate attempt to break tradition, Roy Indulges in it. And how! One remembers Godard's classic film "Breathless" where he goes against every rule in the book to create his own. And then imagine Mrinal Sen trying to copy that style.... I have nothing against the book - best of luck to Roy for all its multiple million (dollar/ copies?) success, but is it what the Booker is all about?

Rating:
Summary: a cure for chronic insomniacs
Review: This book was written keeping a western audience in mind. An audience that would buy anything Indian and exotic.'The God of Small Things' is both with a dose of pseudo madness. This book is quite pretensious. It is more a statement than a serious book. Roy's 'style' is overdone and she's out to prove something and leave an impression, that's why the style takes over and there is nothing in the plot or characterisation to sustain one's interest. I had a hard time reading the book and I want my money back!