The God of Small Things
Author: Arundhati Roy
Year of publication: 1997
Plot summary: Rahel and Estha are twins in the late 60's in India. Roy tells us their story, as well as the ones of everyone around them, before and after The Horrible Thing happened.
I was almost discouraged to read it after the first chapter, because there were so many new characters, many with similar names and different family ties that I couldn't keep track of them. Also, Roy jumps as she pleases between different time periods of the story, without giving sign to the reader. After a while you become accustomed to this, however, but in the beginning it was thoroughly confusing. I persisted, though; wrote down all the characters on a chart to figure out the connections and remember who was who, and soon enough I was stuck in the intricate story that was revealed to me in bits and pieces, one by one. It turned out to be quite a tragedy, disguised as a feel-good story because of all the comedic situations and Roy's excellent way of writing. But a thrilling tragedy, nevertheless, and at the end I found myself grudgingly admitting that I had enjoyed reading it.
Year of publication: 1997
Plot summary: Rahel and Estha are twins in the late 60's in India. Roy tells us their story, as well as the ones of everyone around them, before and after The Horrible Thing happened.
I was almost discouraged to read it after the first chapter, because there were so many new characters, many with similar names and different family ties that I couldn't keep track of them. Also, Roy jumps as she pleases between different time periods of the story, without giving sign to the reader. After a while you become accustomed to this, however, but in the beginning it was thoroughly confusing. I persisted, though; wrote down all the characters on a chart to figure out the connections and remember who was who, and soon enough I was stuck in the intricate story that was revealed to me in bits and pieces, one by one. It turned out to be quite a tragedy, disguised as a feel-good story because of all the comedic situations and Roy's excellent way of writing. But a thrilling tragedy, nevertheless, and at the end I found myself grudgingly admitting that I had enjoyed reading it.
Kommentarer
Trackback