The God of Small Things

Some stories cry out to be read aloud, and Arundhati Roy's mystical view into the lives of twins, Rahel and Estappen, succeeds brilliantly through this fine narration. In harmony with the heat and slow pace of Southern India, the smells, sounds and sights are described in exquisite detail made all the more exotic by Donada Peters's reading. Her careful pacing, superb diction and perfect understanding of the language and idioms of Indian-English combine into a memorable performance. Peters handles the author's delicious, poetic wordplay, which presents a perfect child-like view of the twins' family and surrounding culture. Staying with the shifting time frames and recollections is tricky, but Peters is a fascinating and accomplished guide. The book won the 1997 Booker Prize, and it should be additionally acclaimed as an audiobook. R.F.W. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Starred review from March 31, 1997
With sensuous prose, a dreamlike style infused with breathtakingly beautiful images and keen insight into human nature, Roy's debut novel charts fresh territory in the genre of magical, prismatic literature. Set in Kerala, India, during the late 1960s when Communism rattled the age-old caste system, the story begins with the funeral of young Sophie Mol, the cousin of the novel's protagonists, Rahel and her fraternal twin brother, Estha. In a circuitous and suspenseful narrative, Roy reveals the family tensions that led to the twins' behavior on the fateful night that Sophie drowned. Beneath the drama of a family tragedy lies a background of local politics, social taboos and the tide of history--all of which come together in a slip of fate, after which a family is irreparably shattered. Roy captures the children's candid observations but clouded understanding of adults' complex emotional lives. Rahel notices that "at times like these, only the Small Things are ever said. The Big Things lurk unsaid inside." Plangent with a sad wisdom, the children's view is never oversimplified, and the adult characters reveal their frailties--and in one case, a repulsively evil power--in subtle and complex ways. While Roy's powers of description are formidable, she sometimes succumbs to overwriting, forcing every minute detail to symbolize something bigger, and the pace of the story slows. But these lapses are few, and her powers coalesce magnificently in the book's second half. Roy's clarity of vision is remarkable, her voice original, her story beautifully constructed and masterfully told. First serial to Granta; foreign rights sold in France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Holland, India, Greece, Canada and the U.K.