The God of Small Things

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book - reminded me of really good rushdie
Review: I thought it was a very very good book. the indianness of thebook was something striking. however, i have a feeling that a lot ofthe beauty of the metaphors would be lost to people not adequately acquainted with india. the book reminded me of rushdie at his best, midnight's children. to be precise. i think the hype surrounding the book is justified for the most part.

Rating:
Summary: India's lyrical reply to "Paddy Clarke, Ha, Ha, Ha".
Review: This is the enchanting story of the twins Estha and Rahel andthe adult event that shook their lives. It is an intense personalnarrative, not an elaborate allegory told by a larger than life magical realist narrator as many of the current novels emerging from the third world tend to be. In lyrical language Ms.Roy coveys to us the tender joys of childhood and the pain of their loss when adult reality rudely impedes. The story is set in the Indian state of Kerala, which had the first democratically elected communist government in the world in the year 1957. Yet, behind that facade of fraternity exists a brutal caste-consciouness : "How could she stand the smell?.. They have a particular smell, these Paravans" - Thus Baby Kochamma, the embittered hag, the only one to escape unscathed from the terrible events of December 1969. The twins are, ofcourse, oblivious to all these adult concerns. Estha : "Little Elvis the Pelvis with a spoiled, special-outing Puff. And beige and pointy shoes." and Rahel "the 'sticky insect' .. with her hair on top of her head like a fountain" are immersed in their small pleasures. Ms.Roy evokes the images of childhood beautifully and contrasts these against the imperatives of the adult world throughout the novel, creating a feeling in the reader of watching a good movie. Yes, a rich kids' version of "Pather Panchali". Told in recollection : "Perhaps it's true that .. a few hours can affect the course of whole lifetimes. And that when they do, those few dozen hours, like the salvaged remains of a burned house - the charred clock, the singed photograph, the scorched furniture - must be resurrected from the ruins and examined. Preserved. Accounted for."

Ms.Roy's style is impressionist - with little brush strokes and a rich interplay of light and shade, she paints a vivid picture of a family tragedy. A peculiarly Indian one.

This novel represents a giant leap for Indian writing in english from the great shadow of Salman Rushdie.

Rating:
Summary: Decent novel by a competent writer
Review: I'm afraid there was too much hype accompanying this book. Itis a simple tale with interesting turns of phrase, but no artisticvision. For a really good read try Rushdie or Rohinton Mistry -- they are the genuine articles. I would also recommend an even better read in the form of Thomas Wolfe's "Looke Homeward, Angel" which gives us a clearer idea what artistic genius is all about.

Rating:
Summary: A well written book
Review: Arundhati roy has written an excellent book. The story is setin Kerala. All the characters are well defined and are brought tolife. The language is simple and the reader is taken on a emotional roller coaster. The book is a good read.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for people who have nothing better to do
Review: The veritable hosannas for The God of Small Things from yourExpert Editor seem to me inexplicable. Going through the novel, Ifound it to contain wierd imageries, eccentric phrases and an absolute lack of direction. It is a novel that meanders on like the Ganges, directionless and more than a little sullied.

It appears to be the product of an infantile imagination which gets sidetracked every so often and is unable to deal effectively with the novel as an art as well literary form. The staple diet of a hyper-educated,post-Woodstock generation, which no doubt attains the same glorious,if temporary,nirvana from this novel as the hippies did from more mundane substances, this novel is best avoided by the rest, who wish to preserve their sanity of mind.

Rating:
Summary: "The God of Small Things" is an outstanding work!
Review: SUSI MOL'S GOD TELLS THE STORY ================================== The God of Small Things. A Novel by Arundhati Roy-A review Dr. P. K. John, Toronto, Ontario. Canada

For a complete review please visit the URL:

With 319 pages, and attractive jacket of lotus flowers and leaves "The God Of Small Things" is an outstanding work. Arundhati earned in advances so far one million U.S dollars for this book.

As Arundhati is on a tour of Europe and U.S.A. to promote the book, the first copies of the book have become available here in Canada. The story is eminently suited for a Hollywood style movie based in Central Travancore with it's lush green vegetation and back waters.

This little book has put Kerala, particularly Kottayam and Aymanam area on the international map. Arundhati was saying recently that a German tourist arrived at her mother's house in Kottayam looking for the fictional house in the book. When her mother answered the door bell the visitor was standing there with a pineapple, he wanted to give her. The book is cleverly written in 21 chapters and tells the story of two-egg twins Esthappan and Rachel. Esthappan with his pointed shoes and tufted hair, lingers on in our memory long after we have completed reading the book. Ammu the mother was married to a Bengali chap who worked in a tea estate. He is an alcoholic and Ammu almost gives birth to her twins in a bus.

After their marriage breaks up, Ammu returns to her native Aymanam on the shores of river Meenachil with her twins. She is not exactly welcomed with open arms by her mother Mammachi and maternal aunt Baby Kochamma. Ammu' s brother Chackochan is a Rhodes scholar who marries an English woman - Margaret Kochamma. They have a daughter Sophie Mol. The marriage is short- lived. Margaret left Chacko for Joe, an English man. Chacko returns to India and initially takes on a teaching job in Madras Christian college. But he gets tired of it and soon returns to Aymanum to start a pickle factory- 'Paradise Pickles' .In spite of being a 'Muthalali" he thinks that he is a Marxist. These are the days of E.M.S. Nampuhiripadu. There is a local communist leader- K.N.M.Pillai, who has great political ambitions.

Velutha, the son of the family 'Paravan' does the unthinkable. He challenges tradition by having an affair with Ammu. The couple is caught with their 'crime' and is severely punished. Veutha pays with his life at the hand of police inspector Thomas Mathew and his police goons. Baby Kochamma the ex-nun plays a pivotal role in all this.( "How could she do this- those paravans smell")

The twins engineer a midnight escapade in a canoe across the monsoon swollen Minachil to take refuge in Kary Sayipu's house (which is these days Taj hotel Kumarakam.- in the story History House). Sophie Mol joins the midnight adventure. The little boat overturns and Sophie Mol drowns leading to disastrous consequences for a whole bunch of people.

The pickle factory eventually folds in the face of communist agitation and Chacko escapes by immigrating to Canada. Baby Kochamma and servant maid Kochumaria are the only ones who remain in the ancestral house at Aymanam which dates back to three generations starting with 'Punuyan Kunju' who was blessed by the visiting patriarch from Antioch.

This book handles bigotry at various levels - East vs west, touchable vs untouchable and so on in humorous manner. The days of upheaval around the time of the first elected communist government in the world, is handled well.

This book is much easier to read than say Salmon Rashdie's ' The Moor's Last Sigh'. This book is obviously intended primarily for westerners.But I found it quite enjoyable. The humor, the sensuality and the author's periodic poetic, philosophic musings add to the enjoyment.

Susie Mol's book uses some American innovations to "get attention" or "break the rules".

Examples.

a) "Estha went behind the refreshment counter for his free Cold Drink. He saw three high stools arranged in a row for the Orange Drink Lemon Drink Man to sleep on. The wood shiny from his sitting."

"Now if you'll kindly hold this for me" the Orange Drink Lemon Drink man said, handing Estha his penis through his soft white muslin dhoti" (A rather clumsy description of the sexual exploitation of the young child follows).

b) "End da korangacha, Chandi ithra thenjatlu? (Hey Mr. Monkey man, why is your bum so red?) Pandyil thooran poyappol nerakkamuthiri nerangi njan (I went for a shit to Madras, and scraped it till it bled)."

There is a free association technique that the author uses a lot. A good example is " toads-fat-yellow-from stone to stone-nictitating membrane-nicititating-ictating-itating-itating-tating- ating-ting-ing."

Maybe these are examples of what the publisher says on the jacket cover. "Here is a writer who dares to break the rules, dislocate, received rhythms, and create the language she requires".

There is no doubt that there is a unique, refreshing, humorous, quality to the writing style which entertains the reader and encourages him to continue reading. The reverse was my experience say when reading some of Salman Rushdie's books.

This book handles a variety of topics with great skill. Here are some :- The servant - mistress relationship is portrayed in the interactions of Kochumariam and Baby Kochamma and Mammachie.

The hypocrisy of upper middle class Kerala Christian families is dealt with in the invisible barriers that exist between missionary converted lower caste convert- Christians and ancient Syrian Christians.

The western misconceptions about our backwardness and our skills in handling those myths is exeplified in the encounters between Margaret Kochamma and Sophie Mol ( who just arrived from London) and members of the Aymanam house (Sophie Mol's reaction to Kochumaria's strange hand shake "who is she and why is she smelling my hands" and Ammu saying sarcastically that men and women do it too "that is how we make babies.")

A variety of other subjects and situations are dealt with skill and humor - Communist hypocrisy.

Police hypocrisy (and excuses). Adoor Bhasi seeking attention at the Cochin airport, songs from Chemmeen(Pandoru Mukkuvan Muthinu Poyi Padinjaran Kattathu Mungi Poyi) - it is all there and have a special meaning for those of us who come from Kerala.Clearly if there is a climax in this book, it is the secret love affair between Velutha the paravan and Ammu. It is handled with great care and tenderness and the consequences were much more serious than one would have guessed.

Kottayam police under the leadership of inspector Thomas Mathew is a" cartoon platoon" which lives up to expectations in the events that follow. They follow the very antithesis of the five axioms that represent the word 'Police'

Politeness
Obedience
Loyalty
Intelligence
Courtesy
Efficiency

Arundhathi's early experiences, and her mother's, perhaps are an integral part of her book. Her mother was married to a Bengali gentleman. There is also a real Pickle factory owned by the family 'Palat Pickle'

Perhaps Arundhati projects herself into Rachel a great deal. In the story Rachel has a broken marriage in the U.S. and returns to Aymanam house after working for several years in a low paying job in a bullet-proof gas station cabin in Washington D.C. (where pimps proposition her).

Rating:
Summary: The Best Book I've ever read!
Review: There is nothing more to say - this is a gem.

Rating:
Summary: A popular book, but not an intellectual one.
Review: Please, intelligent readers, do not naively accept the gushing recommendations to read this book. I found it to be an odd amalgam of literary techniques seemingly borrowed from other writers. For example, the shifting chronology and stream-of-conscious evoked William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, in that the reader learns the entire plot in the first chapter. However, unlike Faulkner, Roy leaves no mystery for the reader to solve; it is entirely predictable. Roy's hint of magical realism is interesting, but, as other reviewers have mentioned, seems to borrow from Gabriel Garcia Marquez. At first, the children's perspective of a terrible crime based on prejudice in a cruel, adult world seemed original... until I realized that Harper Lee used this same perspective in To Kill a Mockingbird. The only reason I would suggest reading TGOST is if you enjoy challenging other people's gushing affirmations of a book's popularity. Which-come to think of it-I do enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: A very bad book indeed
Review: For this debut novel she received the Booker Price. Not bad, and very lucky considering that this, despite all the hype, is a very bad book.

Why is this a bad book?

1) The language. Roys prose is full of klichés and stupid methaphors.

2) The psychology. The characters are very flat, and never develope into itriguing persons.

I'm sorry, but to put this writer besides such writers as Coetzee is nothing but rediculous, and proves that anyony can get the Bookerprize.

Kitsch, thats the word for this book, and I'm very happy that she has stopped writing novels.

Rating:
Summary: An Indian Toni Morrison?
Review: I generally enjoyed being thrust into this other culture, almost like evesdropping without the heat and mosquitos. Many good things here but you need a good memory to piece together the author's apparently well thoughtout jumbled time sequences. I thought of Toni Morrison or maybe Tony Morrison trying to write like William Faulkner. Anyway an interesting story - not for kids or the casual reader.