Short description
'They all broke the rules. They all crossed into forbidden territory. They all tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And how much.'
Long description
'They all broke the rules. They all crossed into forbidden territory. They all tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And how much.' This is the story of Rahel and Estha, twins growing up among the banana vats and peppercorns of their blind grandmother's factory, and amid scenes of political turbulence in Kerala. Armed only with the innocence of youth, they fashion a childhood in the shade of the wreck that is their family: their lonely, lovely mother, their beloved Uncle Chacko (pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher) and their sworn enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun, incumbent grand-aunt). Arundhati Roy's Booker Prize-winning novel was the literary sensation of the 1990s: a story anchored to anguish but fuelled by wit and magic.
Review
'Richly deserving the rapturous praise it has received on both sides of the Atlantic! The God of Small Things achieves a genuine tragic resonance. It is, indeed, a masterpiece.' Observer 'A masterpiece, utterly exceptional in every way.' William Dalrymple, Harpers and Queen. 'Roy is truly gifted, not just in her ability to make words playful and meaning mischievous, but to use this to create a language texture that bowls you along, gathering momentum like the narrative itself!Witty and vivid, full of rich, memorable images!a verbal stream of steady beauty.' Ali Smith 'A compelling story which somehow marries the deepest, smallest personal emotions with an epic narrative.' Meera Syal, Daily Express 'It is rare to find a book that so effectively cuts through the clothes of nationality, caste and religion to reveal the bare bones of humanity. A sensational novel.' Daily Telegraph 'Makes the remarkable Arundhati Roy a fitting standard-bearer for the immensely rich literature of India today.' Boyd Tonkin, Independent 'A quite astonishing novel by any standards -- broad in its historical sweep, emotionally profound and marvellously acute and delicate.' Economist 'Quite brilliant!One can only strongly recommend this extremely funny and enchanting and pretty much genius piece of debut fiction.' Spectator
Customer reviews & ratings
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Belies the devil of big things
Reviewed by Zahir Jacobs from Cape Town, South Africa on 11 October 2002
936 of 1883 people found the following review helpful:
this widely popular first novel by acclaimed indian writer ms roy reads like a respectable nursery rhyme which it's extremely rich and imaginative descriptions of rain pulling up mud like gunfire, through to the way that sattelite television has brought famine and the violence of professional wrestling to our living rooms. it's the story of the twins estha and rahel written from the perspective of estha's ever back and forth-moving recollection of life while growing up in privelaged amidst dirt poor kirala, by the hidden shame of the caste system, a mango-pickel factory, sexual abuse, murder, accidental death and the discovery of a new species of moth. from page 1 right to the very end ms roy never ceases to impress us with her fresh style of writing (similiar to salman rushdie) with her oft-repeating prose, and out of the ordinary punctuation and capitalization to signify the thoughts of the young estha and rahel. this is one book you'll never forget.
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