A Mind for Design

With a mind built for design, there is no denying that Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things is indeed a carefully constructed masterpiece. Just as beautiful architecture can become a piece of art so does The God of Small Things. What may seem on the surface to be the tale of two unfortunate twins is the unraveling of the ‘small things’. Roy did not just have a story to tell but knew how best to engage the reader and focus on the ‘small things’ our adult, fast-paced minds of the 21^st century may tend to overlook or take for granted. Roy’s focus on the ‘small things’ allows for questions over human nature to surface and be contemplated. Love, power, ignorance, deceit, order and boundaries are all brought to mind.

In presenting these themes Roy incorporates rather difficult situations into the novel. However, by providing vivid imagery and style, childhood abuse, forbidden love and extreme societal divisions (to mention a few) become easier for readers to comprehend. Roy also uses foreshadowing and narrative structure to convey these themes. Before we are a quarter of the way into the book we can predict what the future may hold for the characters. Though Roy only reveals enough so that the reader is still enticed to read on. “A viable-die-able-age” is one such playful foreshadowing repeated consistently throughout the story that seems to give death, a serious and sometimes haunting experience, a somewhat playful attitude.

Arundhati Roy delivers Big

Daanish Ali

The God of Small Things is a politically charged and deliciously complex story based on the rural life in Kerala, India. Arundhati Roy, the first time novelist and Booker Prize winner, tells a story in vivid detail of one twin’s (Rahel), journey to rediscover her relationship with her family. Roy’s impressionable use of language transgresses India’s socially acceptable lifestyle and as a result delivers an achievement of a lifetime.

Nothing Is Too Small To Be Overlooked

Meagan Brown

The God of Small Things

Arundhati Roy’s “The God of Small Things” won the booker prize in 1997 and grabbed international attention for the taboo content of the colourful novel. The book challenges the way adults think and perceive the “small things”, “small” meaning the things or people that are otherwise overlooked. People oppressed by their caste, gender and age.

Not such a small thing after all….

Arundhati Roy begins her first and only novel The God of Small Things, with what seems to be a short story or synopsis of events that effectively shape a young girls life. Through the narrative of seven-year-old Rahel, Roy more thoroughly goes on to describe the conflict and tragedies of Rahel’s family, including her twin brother Estha, lonely but loving mother Ammu, violin playing grandmother Mammachi, Marxist Uncle Chacko and Enemy Aunt Baby Kochamma.

            The two-egged twins Rahel and Esthma are greatly affected by the visit of their English cousin Sophie Mol, during the Christmas 1969. During the visit Sophie dies due to an accidental drowning in the presence of Rahel and Esthma. The tragedy continues as the secret love affair between Ammu and her lover of a separate and lower caste Velutha is discovered, resulting in Velutha being brutally killed.

            The story will force readers to continue to keep the pages turning as it includes more drama then anyone can imagine. The use of a seven year old as a narrator for most of the novel allows readers to witness very mature and somewhat grotesque incidents, through the innocence and bluntness of a child’s interpretation.  The story includes more elements then any novel I have read, as elements sexuality, incest, death and racism ooze through the pages. Good things definitely come in small packages, as themes of love, tradition, and post-colonialism are all evident in these 321 pages. Arundhati Roy, although has moved on to work as an activist in her home country of India definitely can write in a way that keeps audiences captivated. The God of Small Things is absolutely a winner in my books as well as the winner of The Booker Prize in 1997, which Roy in my perspective was well deserved.

God of Small Things

Tasha Rennie

Arundhati Roy’s first novel, The God of Small Thing, surprised the world with its unconventional style, controversial subjects and unforgettable emotion. It earned Roy a Booker Prize as well as obscenity charges in India. Her novel tells the story of two-egg twins, Rahel and Estha, growing up in India, and the events that passed that changed their entire lives. After a separation of 24 years, the twins are reunited in the house they grew up in where they attempt to understand and come to terms with the devastating events that shaped their lives. Moving between present day and 1969, the novel brings to life Kerala, India and the twin’s family through the eyes of seven-year-olds. With a divorced mother and half-Hindu heritage, the twins are constantly challenged by the conventions and restrictions of Indian society. However, small events and simple acts can bring about massive change, and the twins are soon faced with tragedy. The loss of life, the loss of love and the loss of innocence, plague their lives from that moment on.

The most notable thing about Roy’s first work is the style; however, beneath the surface Roy paints an extraordinary picture of the human condition through characterization and social commentary. Repetitive, descriptive and as whimsical as a nursery rhyme, Roy’s inventive language contrasts the playfulness of a child’s mind with the sadness of the events that pass to create a bittersweet depiction of the collapse of the family. Roy has the ability to delve in and out of minute detail flawlessly which enables her to highlight events that may appear to be insignificant at first and create an unpredictable and unconventional plotline. Roy’s rhyme and repetition also bring to life the numerous characters that play major roles in the story. With the imagination of a child, she plays with the English language as much as Rahel and Estha do throughout the novel. Roy’s characterization is complex, and it’s difficult to even identify one, sole, protagonist. However, the twin’s family and friends are brought to life through insight into their past, present, hopes and dreams. Both the most painful, and the most wonderful, aspects of human nature are illuminated as these characters struggle against each other and against the outside world. Within the family lies conflict between those who wish to break free of society’s constraints and those who feel the need to maintain the social order. The struggles permeates into the community, and unveils a powerful message about society and, “Man’s subliminal urge to destroy what he could neither subdue nor deify”(292). Roy succeeds in creating an unconventional novel that examines modern society, in terms of class system, cultural identity, family structure and the deeply-rooted, historical values that continue to govern people today.

The Parts that Make up the Whole

By Christina Hall

Through Arundhati Roy’s richly expressive and descriptive novel, The God of Small Things, we come to realize that it is truly the small things that define, shape, and ultimately change our lives.  Perhaps as much, maybe even more so, than the major pivotal moments that seem to govern our memories.  Yet it’s the small things, childhood curiosity, misspoken words, the power of one look, which can have earth-shattering consequences when fatefully intertwined.

How Late: An Unforgettable Mess

By Johannes Valdes

The Man Booker Prize is the world’s most important literary award given annually to the best novel written by a citizen of the Common Wealth or the Republic of Ireland. In 1994, James Kelman (an influential and controversial Glaswegian author) received this award for his vibrant novel, “How Late It Was, How Late”.  Using extensive point of view to make the lifestyle of protagonist and ex-convict Sammy coherent, the story immediately commences following a two-day drinking binge. 

            Narrated solely from the intellect of Sammy (who also is from Glasgow), readers become aroused in confusion.  Presented as the central character, Sammy is a 38 year old divorced man who speaks in a terribly rough Glasgow dialect comprised of countless use of the “F” word.  From the first page of the novel, profanity is spat out in a shocking manner and immediately presents this novel as a true work of contemporary fiction.  Convincing in its richness, the portrayal of the protagonist’s internal struggle puts a single and bias view to progress in the novel.  Along with being blind, readers must experience the everyday utterances, experiences, and encounters that come together to form Sammy’s stream-of-conscience.  As Kelman employs this effective style, the audience will be provided with a close understanding of Sammy and his thoughts from their formation to their projection.  Unemployed and without contact to his ex wife, the point of view promotes a sense of empathy throughout the novel.  It is to be expected that such a viewpoint will secure dependency on the Sammy as our perceptions are pushed in his favor.  Because of this, we feel like we know the character personally and are left only with curiosity as to how the story functions from a different perspective.

              As the book won international praise with the Man Booker Prize, it also sparked controversy.  One of the judges, Rabbi Julia Neuberger resigned from the panel upon its winning, as well, BBC refused to air live readings of the novel.  However the New York Times could not help but give praise to such a novel that entertains and informs in its unique manner.  Inventive in its field, all that can be concluded is that Kelman’s technique is one that will not soon be forgotten.  Unable to live an alternate character, Sammy’s intellect paints a path using debatable yet natural habits to unravel this crude, bold, and witty work of literature. 

 

 

A Little Something for Everyone.

Brendan Brooks

The God of Small Things is as much a story of style as it is about the people within the novel. The characters as a matter of fact were very much secondary to my reading. As much as I cared for Estha, Rahel and the trauma of their lives and circumstance I didn’t feel a deep connection to the rest. Part of me feel this may be a cultural issue. Perhaps I fail to understand the origin Baby Kochamma’s silent outrage or the taboo nature of the relationship of Ammu and Velutha due to my place in a western culture.

Lead by the Wrist: A Review of James Kelman’s How Late It Was, How Late

<!– @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>

“How Late It Was, How Late”, James Kelman’s colorfully written winner of the Booker Prize is not by any means intended for the prudish. If you consider yourself a lived and open-minded individual however, Kelman’s novel is sure to please.

Set in Glasgow, Scotland, “How Late It Was, How Late” finds the reader thrust into the life and thoughts of fowl mouthed, working class Scotsman, Sammy. As a result of some hazy, booze fueled events, Sammy has found himself completely blind. To make matters worse, Sammy’s girlfriend has mysteriously disappeared, leaving him all alone to cope with the challenges of his loss of sight. The novel follows Sammy through his first week of blindness.

While Sammy’s language can be off-putting to some at first, (“…ye’re an ignorant bastard, a fucking dumpling; ye spend all these years inside but ye know fuck all about the system…”) for those who can stand the profanity there is much to be gained from the way in which the novel is written. As opposed to being written in formal literary English, Kelman opted to write “How Late It Was, How Late” in the vernacular of working-class Scotland. Although difficult to understand at first, patience will reward the reader with a detailed and accurate picture of what life is like for many others in positions similar to that of Sammy. As opposed to the watered down, plea of the proletariat to the upper-class cliché, Kelman’s novel comes closer to being an authentic peace of cultural literature.

Albeit crass, the character of Sammy proves himself to be a, sensitive, beaten down realist as the story progresses. Once again, this endearing message of humanity is a gem that only a dedicated reader will be lucky enough to receive.

“How Late It Was, How Late” asks readers to suspend their views of the world and allow themselves to be lead by the wrist into a reality unknown by those fortunate enough to be of an affluent North American heritage. This novel is truly an eye opening case of the blind, leading the blind.

Bibliography

Kelman, James. How Late It Was, How Late. New York: Norton, 2005.

The God of Small Things: Class Struggles and Love-Laws

The God of Small Things is a novel written by Arundhati Roy about two-egg twins, Esthappen and Rahel, and the pivotal events surrounding the tragic death-by-drowning of their newly acquainted English cousin Sophie Mol. Set in Kerala, India in the post-colonial era of the 1960’s, the God of Small Things brings forward many themes including those of class and caste antagonism, love-laws, and the expectations surrounding those issues.