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The God of Small Things

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

The New York Times bestselling and Booker Prize–winning novel about an Indian family in tragic decline that introduced the world to the voice of Arundhati Roy

Likened to the works of Faulkner and Dickens when it was first published twenty years ago, this extraordinarily accomplished debut novel is a brilliantly plotted story of forbidden love and piercing political drama, centered on the tragic decline of an Indian family in the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India. Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, the twins Rahel and Esthappen fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family—their lonely, lovely mother Ammu (who loves by night the man her children love by day), their blind grandmother Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), their enemy Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt), and the ghost of an imperial entomologist's moth (with unusually dense dorsal tufts).

When their English cousin and her mother arrive on a Christmas visit, the twins learn that things can change in a day. That lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever. The brilliantly plotted story uncoils with an agonizing sense of foreboding and inevitability. Yet nothing prepares you for what lies at the heart of it.

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      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
    • Publisher's Weekly

      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.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This highly regarded novel is one of the most well-known Indian novels in English. Fraternal twins Rahel and Estha experience the ups and downs of childhood during periods of both family and national drama. Narrator Sarita Choudhury captures the lyrical prose with vocals that are as soft as velvet. She captures the dreamlike state of the child narrator's musings, which dominate most of the story. In a lilting cadence, Choudhury conjures the sense of mystery behind the images and descriptions peppered throughout the story. This title is an example of the many benefits of literary fiction delivered in audio form. The listener can close her eyes and be swept away by the story, under the spell of an experienced narrator. M.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

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  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:840
  • Text Difficulty:4-5

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