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The God of Small Things

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The God of Small Things

By: Arundhati Roy
Narrated by: Aysha Kala
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About this listen

Winner of the 1997 Booker Prize. The richly exotic story of the childhood the twins Esthappen and Rahel craft for themselves amongst India’s vats of banana jam and mountains of peppercorns.

Here, perhaps, is the greatest Indian novel by a woman. Arundhati Roy’s ‘The God of Small Things’ is an astonishingly rich, fertile novel, teeming with life, colour, heart-stopping language, wry comedy and a hint of magical realism.

Set against a background of political turbulence in Kerala, Southern India, ‘The God of Small Things’ tells the story of twins Esthappen and Rahel. Amongst the vats of banana jam and heaps of peppercorns in their grandmother’s factory, they try to craft a childhood for themselves amidst what constitutes their family – their lonely, lovely mother, their beloved Uncle Chacko (pickle baron, radical Marxist and bottom-pincher) and their avowed enemy Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grand-aunt).

 Asia Coming of Age Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction India Literary Fiction Political South Asia South Asian Creators Heartfelt

Critic reviews

‘Richly deserving the rapturous praise it has received on both sides of the Atlantic…“The God of Small Things” achieves a genuine tragic resonance. It is, indeed, a masterpiece.’ Observer

‘“The God of Small Things” genuinely is a masterpiece, utterly exceptional in every way, and there can be little doubt that posterity will place it very near the top of any shortlist of Indian novels published this century.’ William Dalyrmple, Harpers and Queen.

‘The quality of Ms. Roy’s narration is so extraordinary – at once so morally strenuous and so imaginatively supple – that the reader remains enthralled all the way through to its agonizing finish…it evokes in the reader a feeling of gratitude and wonderment.’ New York Times
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Most relevant
Read this when it first came out and it instantly became my favourite book. I have come back to it all these years later on audible and it is every bit as captivating, pulling you into the lives of the characters and making you feel everything.
The book covers many, many upsetting topics (partner abuse, child sexual abuse, death, murder) it talks about the caste system and rules of men and women. It does all this in such a vivid, almost palpable way that you can't help but finding yourself deeply involved with the characters in such a way that you come away feeling angry, elated, frustrated, hopeful, sick, distraught and much more.
Highly recommend!

Exquisitely, horrifyingly, grotesquely and tragically beautiful.

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I loved this book when it was first released but hadn't read it for many years so decided to try the audio version. The book is amazing. It's so beautifully, poetically written that you can really feel the atmosphere in the Indian village. The characters are wonderful too and the author is very adept at showing things through the children's eyes. My only very slight criticism is that the narrator sometimes mis-pronounces or mis-emphasises words but that's a very minor point.

Still an amazing book

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The narration was okay, bits were done very well, but other bits were below average - including some rather strange cadence in sentences, i.e pausing at the wrong places, disjointing the prose. Perhaps I’d been spoilt after the amazing narrator of Shantaram!

Okay, but I found the narrator offputting

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I listened obsessively! What an amazing portrayal of children and their thoughts... What a heartbreaking, poignant story. Bummed that it's over. This book will stay with you.

An absolute delight.

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Exquisite prose & brilliant narration. I was engrossed from start to end. One of the finest pieces of writing of the modern age.

So beautiful

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