beutifully written and a great story=one of my favorite all time books

I will read this when I have nothing better to do or I'm at soccer practice. It's ok so far.

A beautiful story of love, tradition and tragedy

Very informative. Really aided with my understanding and studying of The God Of Small Things.

Had there been more star ratings I would have given all of them to this novel as it is really worth it and many more.
In the start there doesn't seem to be any impressive story but then slowly it captures the reader forcefully and till the end you are not what you once were.....
but nothing changes actually , untouchables remain untouchables and sin remains sin .
Rahel and Astha are twins sharing a mysterious relationship together and they witness and live those realities , they detest but remain unable to change.
valutha is the most loveable and struggling hero of our times. he is not a traditional hero like he isn't a man of rank and he is not an over reacher but a struggler a doer who wants to be into the list of touchable so that he could be loved by his beloved ammu. but he fails as every hero does but only outwardly from inside he becomes a god of his own life he does what he likes , most of the time he is seen constructing broken things i.e. chairs , stools , ammu's life, kids' image of father etc. doing all things these touchable wont do for themselves, he was setting those things right. but he was untouchable and these people let him be away from them and he is killed in their love.....

“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably. They don’t deceive you with thrills and trick endings. They don’t surprise you with the unforeseen. They are as familiar as the house you live in. Or the smell of your lover’s skin. You know how they end, yet you listen as though you don’t. In the way that although you know that one day you will die, you live as though you won’t. In the Great Stories you know who lives, who dies, who finds love, who doesn’t. And yet you want to know again.

That is their mystery and their magic.”

― Arundhati Roy said all in this quote , whatever there is in her novel. in short its about their secrets and punishments.

What a waste of time.

Beautiful prose

Half way through - for the secind time - and i'm loving it more - i found it quite tough going the first time round.
The way it drifts from one thought to the next (whilst filling in the gaps of the current tale - but its definitely worth reading - i love how she repeats the phrases each time she re-visits or repats a certain phrase, the most sophisticated form of cuteness i've encountered in a book in a while...

This is an interesting work of fiction. It's a combination of history, reality and fiction. Roy was able to blend well the three elements in this book. The order of presentation was not chronological, but that added to my hunger to continually read the book. The setting was in India, and it was a refreshing take on reading an Asian culture since I was bombarded in the past with reading Western sci-fi/fantasy literature.

I teach sociology and one topic dealt in my course would be the caste system of India. The caste system was very well depicted also in the book especially in the condemned relationship between an Untouchable Marxist and a Touchable Feminist. Despite their "liberal" statuses, their relationship was still labeled as unacceptable most especially by the family of the Touchable one.An angle about caste struggle was also introduced here, and breaking of traditions.

In addition, Roy was able to make me feel I'm part of the flow of the story for I was able to more or less "feel" the emotions being described about each character, from the so-called egg twins to the nun "baby aunt" who was in love even to a dead ex-Catholic priest.

All in all I can say that what I learned from reading this book is that amidst the chaotic world that we have, we must learn to find happiness in little things.

read it for the second time....great read

Delicious and sensory tale of an Indian family and culture including full range of trials and tribulations

Beautiful writing...highly emotional...I admit I do cry often when reading books and watching movies but I sobbed when reading this...very moving