Hatrack River Writers Workshop: The God of Small Things

This is topic The God of Small Things in forum Discussing Published Hooks & Books at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by onepktjoe (Member # 2352) on :

I'm posting this as a complimentary thread to Beth's "Grass."

While not one of my favorite stories, the literary voice Arundhati Roy uses in "The God of Small Things" is one of my absolute favorites:

May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month. The days are long and humid. The river shrinks and black crows gorge on bright mangoes in still, dustgreen trees. Red bananas ripen. Jackfruits burst. Dissolute bluebottles hum vacuously in the fruity air. Then they stun themselves against clear windowpanes and die, fatly baffled in the sun.

The nights are clear, but suffused with sloth and sullen expectation.

But by June the southwest monsoon breaks and there are three months of wind and water with short spells of sharp, glittering sunshine that thrilled children snatch to play with. The countryside turns an immodest green. Boundaries blur as tapioca fences take root and bloom. Brick walls turn mossgreen. Pepper vines snake up electric poles. Wild creepers...

Roy continues on in this vein, slowly introducing her POV character, Rahel, who is returning to her childhood home in India. It's fully a page or so later until you finally get a taste of the heart of the story and meet Rahel's twin brother:

They never did look much like each other, Estha and Rahel, and even when they were thin-armed children, flat-chested, worm-ridden and Elvis Presley-puffed, there was none of the usual "Who is who?" and "Which is which?" from oversmiling relatives or Syrian Orthodox bishops who frequently visited the Ayemenem house for donations.

The confusion lay in a deeper, more secret place.

For the rest of the story, the imagery Roy uses as her foundation here is reignited by the gentlest touches. The character of the land is essential to the tale, and I don't think she'd be able to invoke it in quite the same way, had she not presented it like this.

Has anyone else read this? Any comments from those who haven't?

Joe

Posted by Silver3 (Member # 2174) on :

Read it. I loved the voice at first, but a couple hundred pages of it can become tiresome. And at times it moved too slowly.
But the descriptions are beautiful.

Posted by dpatridge (Member # 2208) on :

i haven't read it, but i must say i wasn't particularly bothered by what you posted, but then i am a descriptive reader and writer myself.

as for whether it drew me in or not... i'm not sure, a voice like that takes a few pages to draw a person in at all.

Posted by Callia (Member # 2524) on :

hi there, i'm new to the group and yes, i read the book and turned page after page, wanting more and more. i loved it! i had just returned from India, and at heathrow airport i saw the book in one of the inside stores and bought it, just because i was still on an India vibe. Roy's style of prose was delectable. She described the environment so well, that it made me feel i was back in India. And like i could feel the denseness of the air, saturated with heat, smog and stench. i read the book a few years ago, and cant' remember all the bits and pieces, but there was one other character whom i thought was brilliant, and that was the overweight cousin i think. Correct me if i'm wrong, the one that lived in the house she grew up in. There is another book i read, one called "Holy Cow" by Sarah ? It is written so well, i didn't want it to finish. Look forward to discussing more books with you.