The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Ever since I started reading the Bookers I have had many more book recommendations from people that I know.  This is great, however, I’m now formulating another list of books to read after finishing the list of Bookers!  And I definitely need to stay focussed, as I’ve still got a long way to go!  I really do love sharing books with others – I’m always up for a discussion and what’s better than talking about books?!  It’s particularly good as my Dad and I both agreed to read the Booker prize-winners and although I’m ahead by a little way, it’s great to be able to confer about the books with someone else who has read them.  And if you would like to get involved please do comment and let me know what you think…

So on to the 1997 winner and we return to India, yet again…it’s definitely a popular location for these Bookers!  This was a really good little book, which sounds patronising but as the title suggests this book gives a detailed perspective of the story often from a child’s viewpoint.  It reminded me of an R.S. Thomas poem ‘Children’s Song’ which begins ‘We live in our own world, /A world that is too small /For you to stoop and enter/ Even on hands and knees, / The adult subterfuge.’ 

Similarly, Arundhati Roy manages to convey this idea of there being a children’s world cocooned almost below the notice of adults through various means such as rhymes, wordplay, the children’s questioning, their concerns and literal interpretations, that so cleverly encapsulates a child’s mindset.  The way in which one of the key adult characters demonstrated complete acceptance of the children’s imaginations by entering fully into their reality, was echoed in the writing.  Especially powerful, was the significance that certain remarks made by the adults in their lives manifested in the children’s minds and impacted on the events in the course of the book.  Overall, Roy’s writing had the ability to hold a magnifying glass up to life and the surroundings, noticing the little things in minute, precise detail, which was refreshing and exciting to read.

However, I wasn’t a fan of the way the book jumped around so much as it meant that your mind filled in the gaps which then rendered some of the storytelling redundant.  In addition, although some areas of the story were fleshed out well others were not.  Therefore, unfortunately the composition of the book detracted from the overall effect of the book for me.

This book managed to deal with excruciating inequalities due to caste systems, language, political and religious contexts in a personal way by focusing on the involvement of the characters and examined what was really important in life.  Despite these massive issues it managed to avoid being epic in it proportions and succeeded in being an affecting and intimate story.