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Original Essays | November 9, 2009

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I don't believe in evil. It's a word I use, certainly, because words are shortcuts and we all take the short way round from time to time, but that's... Continue »
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The God of Small Things

by Arundhati Roy

The God of Small Things Cover

ISBN13: 9780060977498
ISBN10: 0060977493
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

Staff Pick

One of the best works of contemporary literature. This rare work of fiction by Roy is a gem. Her intensity and intellect are felt in both her nonfiction and in her fiction.
Recommended by Adrienne, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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.

Review:

"A novel of real ambition must invent its own language, and this one does.... A Tiger Woodsian debut." (-- John Updike, The New Yorker)

Synopsis:

"A banquet for all the senses", said "Newsweek" of this bestselling and Booker Prize-winning literary novel--a richly textured first book about the tragic decline of one family whose members suffer the terrible consequences of forbidden love.

About the Author

Arundhati Roy was trained as an architect. She has worked as a production designer and has written the screenplays for two films. She lives in New Delhi. This is her first book.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
nikki monacelli, February 10, 2009 (view all comments by nikki monacelli)
For poetry in prose, this is the finest example. Her words shimmer with captavating wonder. Each sentence offers such jewels, and yet she wastes no words. It's like Mozart said in the film Amadeus: "I write only as many notes as there need to be; no more, no less!" Just so with Roy's words in this novel: each word is precisely where it needs to be, what it should be and she uses only as many as needed to tell this entertaining and moving story; no more, no less.

Also, her characters are at the same time interesting, entertaining, believable, and marvelous. Some are outrageous, some more one dimensional than others; but all contribute faceted elements to the story. Her main characters are well done, even though their actions, in the end, are still hard to justify. The reader expects one thing to happen, and yet another does, which leaves us to wonder long after the last chapter has been read and reread again.
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(4 of 7 readers found this comment helpful)
Emily Mattson, September 4, 2006 (view all comments by Emily Mattson)
This was the first book I read after graduating from college as a literature major. I thought, "Wow! I get to choose a novel all by myself!" ...but I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
Roy's book is the incredibly heart-wrenching, painful story of fraternal twins whose lives take very different paths. The misery that marks their lives is rivaled only by their mother's strife and hardship. This story is difficult to swallow and utterly painful; however, the prose is some of the most remarkable that I've ever come across. Arundhati Roy quite literally creates her own mode of discourse for this novel, and the stark contrast of the sadness of the story and the lilting, wistful beauty of the prose will leave you absolutely breathless. I cannot recommend this book enough. It is truly a masterpiece.
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(42 of 63 readers found this comment helpful)
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780060977498
Author:
Roy, Arundhati
Publisher:
Harper Perennial
Author:
Roy, Arundati
Author:
by Arundhati Roy
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
India
Subject:
Twins
Subject:
Family saga
Subject:
Social classes
Subject:
India Fiction.
Subject:
Domestic fiction
Subject:
Psychological fiction
Copyright:
Edition Number:
1st ed.
Edition Description:
Harperperennial
Publication Date:
June 1998
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
336
Dimensions:
8.00x5.46x.78 in. .56 lbs.

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