The God of Small Things

One of my all time favorites. The first time I read it, it took a lot of time for me to be my former self again. It has remained with me and I think will remain with me for whole my life. Made me feel a thousand emotions all at once. Like I wanted to say something, something so important, yet I couldn't find the right words for it. This is one of the earliest books which made me love reading.

While The God of Small Things was initially challenging for many of our readers—largely due to its non-linear narrative style—our commitment to reading through revealed the brilliance of Arundhati Roy’s storytelling. The novel, shifting between present and future tenses, gradually unfolded into a deeply layered exploration of family, trauma, and societal norms. The character of Baby Kochamma brought moments of humor, balancing the emotional depth portrayed through the lives of the twins and their childhood experiences. The book is a powerful reflection on how children internalize trauma differently, how environment shapes destiny, and how communities often fail to address emotional wounds. It also highlights the universal pressures placed on women across cultures and generations, showing how societal expectations and racial dynamics deeply affect their lives. Overall, The God of Small Things is a thought-provoking read that unpacks complex themes of identity, loss, and resilience.

this was 90% superfluous description 10% everything else

This book was the hardest book that I have ever tried to read. It was like wading through a poetic moat. The words from the culture were foreign to me. The book is divided in ways that sometimes makes it hard to tell where you’re at, who you “are”, and what moment you're in. There are so many characters with exotic names (ex. Kochamma & Mammachi) introduced all at once that you don’t know who is who. Finally, the book spends the vast majority of the time describing things and not really telling a story. Maybe it's too "literary" for my tastes but I had to work really hard to finish it.

A book with 'small' in its title tackled some big subjects at its core. The book's narrative is not chronologically smooth some even can say it's disjointed and confusing but for me, it was near perfect although I a few times got confused on the timeline It didn't make any impact on my experience cause the events and memories that Roy has written are most memorable not only for the individual characters but the way they're presented in, I would say it becomes somewhat memorable to the reader too. The prose was excellent, I just loved the metaphors she used and her humour. for me, the prose is a big thing for a book and this book has the perfect pH level for that. Neither too descriptive like some of the old classics nor too simple and bare-boned. Roy addressed so many sociological, cultural, and religious aspects here, sometimes the negative part. Even with All of this, her book didn't feel too saturated to the point of being careless and it didn't feel like somebody read a bunch of articles of societal and religious hypocrisy and dumped them at the same place.
I accept that some of the middle portions seemed rather mundane to the whole story that's why it doesn't become a 4.25 star read.
some might say that I enjoyed it more cause I'm pretty familiar with the political and social structure of that time, of Indian society but I think anyone who has a little knowledge about the political situation of that time along with keen observation and introspective thinking would be easily able to understand it pretty clearly.
so parts can be pretty triggering to some, but it was;t too gory in my opinion do check the trigger warnings before that. Otherwise, I am pretty sure I will recommend it pretty much to anyone who is looking for a realistic literary fiction book. It took me only 4 days even though I was only reading it on my breaks.
p.s- Now I understand why the hype and why it became a booker winner