The God of Small Things

Confusing and hard to get into.

This review is from: The God of Small Things (Trade Paperback)

2 years ago

Although it has an interesting plot, this book was extremely hard to follow. Not because Roy's vocabulary, but because it was written almost like a poem. Roy feels the needs to describe every situation and character with many metaphors and riddles. By the end of it, I struggled my way to finish just to see the conclusion, which was more than disturbing to say the least.

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• 2 people found this helpful

No Small Thing

This review is from: God Of Small Things, The (Hardcover)

10 years ago

We all know the power of a good book. Sometimes we don't just know it, we feel it in our cells. Such is the case with Arundhati Roy's novel, The God of Small Things. I cannot even think about this book without welling up. Not that that's my "good book" litmus test. Rather, it is a testament to the sweeping beauty of this woman's writing.
So much is named that is heretofore unnamable. So much is cast away in a violence that seems variously gentle and breathtakingly painful. And so much… + read more

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The God of Small Things

11 years ago

This novel is written in a stream-of-consciousness form, from the innocent perspective of fraternal twins as yet untainted by the class and sexual politics of their day in India. The writing is highly original and delightful, vaguely comparable to that of Catcher in the Rye (Salinger). The story, which ends in a cruel and irretrievable loss of innocence for the twins, as well as the writing style of Roy, make this by far the best novel I have read this year.

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So Boring!

This review is from: The God of Small Things (Trade Paperback)

4 years ago

One word can describe this book: BORING! Yes, Roy is an excellent writer. But when your writing has a plot that can't be followed because of all the similies and metaphores, what is the point? There were enough metaphores to drown in. That stuff usually goes over my head to begin with, but in this crazy abundance I got fed up very quickly. I ended up just skimming through some pages, which means I didn't understand the ending at all. And I'm not too sad about it! I can understand why this… + read more

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• 3 people found this helpful

A Fabulous and Touching Novel!

This review is from: The God of Small Things (Trade Paperback)

4 years ago

Roy pulls her reader into the fascinating world of two young twins, Rahel and Estha, who struggle with issues of identity, love, and hierarchy within the family. With her beautiful imagery and vivid descriptions, Roy perfectly captures the complexity of her characters--the innocence and cleverness of the children, the passion swelling inside their mother's heart, and the very obvious sense of superiority felt by those around them. This story blends together the very best elements of a novel… + read more

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Forced and contrived

This review is from: The God of Small Things (Trade Paperback)

6 years ago

If you're a big fan of Margaret Atwood, read this book. It has a similar feel about it. I'd almost say Roy is more Atwood than Atwood is. Otherwise, don't bother. This book had the feel of one written expressly for the purpose of being assigned reading in a high school English class. It's almost as if the author set out with a list of pseudo- deep themes typically discussed in Modern and Popular literature 2A1 and worked from there, rather than starting out with any semblance of storyline… + read more

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Did I miss something?

This review is from: The God of Small Things (Trade Paperback)

6 years ago

While this book won awards and did receive great critical acclaim, I was not impressed with this book in the least. I found the characters unlikeable and the story difficult to follow and boring. I was very disappointed with this book as I've enjoyed many other books written about India and it's culture. + read more

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