"Arundhati Roy is an essayist, a political firebrand, and a cultural critic of great esteem. But my impression of her will always be filtered through this beautiful, surreal debut novel, equal parts magical and tragic. Told through the eyes of a pair of twins as they grow through childhood, The God of Small Things is ultimately a story about intimacy, innocence and trust -- and how they can all crumble in the face of encroaching reality."
"This book took my understanding of what a novel could be and shattered it into a million pieces. Arundhati Roy's writing is so melodious, so imaginative, and so heartbreakingly beautiful that you will stare in wonder and admiration at nearly every sentence she crafts, turning her phrases over and over in your mind. John Updike said of the book that "a novel of real ambition must invent its own language, and this one does." I can't really put it any better than that. The novel tells the story of two young twins in the Kerala region of India and the traumatic event which leaves their lives forever changed. The story itself is amazing, but it's Roy's incredible experimentation with language and structure that make this an unforgettable read."
Publisher Random House Trade Paperbacks
Publication Date 2008-12-16
Section Fiction / All Staff Suggestions / Fiction Suggestions / Archived Staff Suggestions / Christine E. / Liam K.
Format Paperback
ISBN 9780812979657
Compared favorably to the works of Faulkner and Dickens, Arundhati Roy’s debut novel is a modern classic that has been read and loved worldwide. Equal parts powerful family saga, forbidden love story, and piercing political drama, it is the story of an affluent Indian family forever changed by one fateful day in 1969. The seven-year-old twins Estha and Rahel see their world shaken irrevokably by the arrival of their beautiful young cousin, Sophie. It is an event that will lead to an illicit liaison and tragedies accidental and intentional, exposing “big things [that] lurk unsaid” in a country drifting dangerously toward unrest. Lush, lyrical, and unnerving, The God of Small Things is an award-winning landmark that started for its author an esteemed career of fiction and political commentary that continues unabated.
