Wednesday, September 18, 2013

The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy

I think this is the best book I’ve ever read.  Big call, but I just LOVE it. I loved it the first time I read it a few years ago and I loved it again this second time around. The story is filled with profoundly sad, painful and disturbing moments. But there are also funny and even laugh out loud moments. (The description of the twins’ English teacher who is run over by a reversing truck cracks me up! – page 60 – it is bloody hilarious!!!)  
It is a magical story woven with such beautiful language.  I am in absolute awe of the rare gem that is Arundhati Roy’s writing style.  Stunning.  The horrible scene where poor, lovely little Estha is made to do terrible things to the Orangedrink Lemondrink man at the movies is deeply disturbing but articulated with the skill of master artist. Roy uses such bizarre and unique prose.  I had to keep rereading sections just to savour her beautiful manipulation of the English language.  Oh I am so in love with this novel. 
Right from the first lines of the first chapter you are just plunged into the rich, tender and dangerous beauty of India and the lives of Roy’s eccentric cast of characters.   Those first few “hot, brooding” lines had me touching down in Mumbai airport all over again and dreaming of going back to India! 
This is a sticky sweet story about love in all it's different guises.  It's not a love story.  It's far more fierce than that.  It's a reminder of how, when it comes to loving another human (romantically or otherwise) people frequently muddy the fragile line between wrong and right.

** Adapted from my own submision to a book club to which I once belonged.

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