The God of Small Things

Hardcover, 455 pages

English language

Published Jan. 29, 1997 by G.K. Hall.

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The year is 1969. In the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India, fraternal twins Esthappen and Rahel 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), fled an abusive marriage to live with their blind grandmother, Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), and their enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt). When Chacko's English ex-wife brings their daughter for a Christmas visit, the twins learn that Things Can Change in a Day. That lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever, beside their river... --back cover

60 editions

Avoid this "literary genius" that is the '97 Booker prize winner.

I have no clue why so many people loved this book. There isn't anything there to like. A bunch of characters, none of which I grew to care for. A bunch of stuff happened that seems not very interconnected. I kept waiting for an exciting ending, and that was pretty much a big nothing burger too. The only thing that came out of this was a discussion on the LibraryThing Talk forum about "What is literature, and why do people think they are supposed to like it?" If it was a dead tree, I never would have finished it. I did finish it over a period of five months since it was the only audiobook I had on my phone.

The small things loom large

A portrait of a family in 1960s India, elegantly observed; the blurb says 'lyrical' and that's probably the best descriptor for Roy's style. But I found the increasing use of mid-sentence capitalization to highlight the Important Things toward the end a bit offputting, particularly when combined with a host of other choices such as phonetic spellings. Nearly a 4/5

Magnifique livre, émouvant !

Magnifique livre, très émouvant et incroyablement bien écrit. Ce premier livre de l'auteur, si je me rappelle bien mes lectures à son sujet, fit sensation dans le monde de la littérature anglaise. Il est de fait étudié au Bac français (option littérature anglaise) 2024-2025. Le style est de réalisme magique, vu depuis les yeux de deux enfants, faux-jumeaux, qui ont développés une vision très particulière du monde, certainement par protection. Bien qu'il traite de sujets parfois sur, ce style justement permet d'éviter de se retrouver le cœur trop broyé para leurs tribulations.

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Subjects

  • Social classes -- Fiction
  • Twins -- Fiction
  • Large type books
  • India -- Fiction

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