The God Of Small Things

This book review was a long time coming.  I finished it over two weeks ago and meant to get around to a "review" but it hasn't happened until today.  The reason?  I didn't like it all that much... though maybe "didn't get" is a more accurate description.

So what am I talking about?  Well, if you haven't figured it out by the post title or that little graphic to the left... it is Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things.  This book has been sitting on my shelf for a loooong time (likely years!).  A few book reviews ago, I was bragging how much I have enjoyed the books nominated for the UK's Booker Prize.  So when browsing the nominated book lists from the past few years, I was reminded that Small Things won the Booker in 1997... so I figured it was time to dust it off.

I apparently found the exception (thus far) to my Booker Prize "rule."

This was quite the struggle... and despite being tempted to toss it aside, I did muddle my way all the way through it.  As he sometimes does with books that I am reading, Todd picked up the book and read the first chapter.  I asked him what he thought and he responded... "It seems pretty well-written, but I am not sure I know what's going on."  At that point, I was nearly finished with the book and pretty much had the same exact thought running through my head!

I absolutely despise not "getting" a book.  I think I am fairly well-read and I certainly have nothing against a challenging read... but I really thought this was quite a mess.  It had flashes of brilliance, but I would find myself zoning in and out of understanding what was going on... there are a lot of characters and present/past time shifting, which again is okay... but I think ultimately more than a tad overambitious.

So I was relieved to head on over to Amazon and read the reviews and learn that I was not the only one who didn't like/get this book.  Now it was probably 6 to 1 masterpiece, brilliant, "best book ever" vs. "literary masturbation" and "why in the world did I read this book?" comments.  So I am in the minority, but at least I am not alone!

While I was reading the reviews, I saw that Roy was favorably compared to the likes of William Faulkner, Salman Rushdie, and Toni Morrison.  I quite agree.  Unfortunately I did not know that going into Small Things...  as those are three particular (and quite acclaimed!) authors who I have not particularly found to be enjoyable at all (well, some of Morrison's early works are fine... but I for one found Beloved to be pretty unreadable).

So that's my thoughts... a pretty rare non-glowing book W&C book review... but don't take it from me, a lot of folks seem to really love it... so proceed (with caution).

tags:  the god of small things