Monday, June 23, 2008

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

First sentence:

"May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month."

Description:

"The story of the tragic decline of an Indian family whose members suffer the terrible consequences of forbidden love, The God of Small Things is set in the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India. Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, the twins Rahel and Esthappen fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family -- their lonely, lovely mother, Ammu (who loves by night the man her children love by day), their blind grandmother, Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), their enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt), and the ghost of an imperial entomologist's moth (with unusually dense dorsal tufts).

When their English cousin and her mother arrive on a Christmas visit, the twins learn that Things Can Change in a Day. That lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever. The brilliantly plotted story uncoils with an agonizing sense of foreboding and inevitability. Yet nothing prepares you for what lies at the heart of it." -- from the publisher


My thoughts:

I wasn't sure what to think about this book when I finished. While it was beautifully written, the plot was sometimes hard to understand. Yet, weeks later as I think about it, I appreciate more the intricate story of the twins Rahel and Estha, and what happened when their cousin Sophie Mol visited one summer.

Date read: 6/7/2008
Book #: 34
Challenges: Book Awards Challenge, Man Booker Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0060977493
ISBN-13: 9780060977498
Publisher: HarperPerenniel
Year: 1998
# of Pages: 321
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing Page

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