The God of Small Things

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, 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.

Kerala and nearly all of the characters expand into three dimensions in a story that weaves between past and present and addresses class and patriarchal structures, colonialism, family dysfunction. It's cluttered however with poetic turns of phrase that founder and repeat and grow overshadowly wearisome.

Till the tenth chapter, I was disconnected to the frustrating, non -linear narrative. The whole time I told the character - "people die, kid. This is not grief. Don't exaggerate. This is boring. "

The story picks up and the same annoying (remains annoying) narrative draws the reader to the dark, inside jokes. By the end, I learnt that senseless deaths are inconsolable.

The book ends beautifully. Never have I had such closure despite nothing really changing for the characters. The strongest last chapter.. Nothing else could have had that impact