The God of Small Things

The God of Small Things is a much reviewed, much discussed book. Everyone seems to have read it, and everybody has differing views on it. I had read it when Arundhati Roy won the Booker Prize for it, and I remember being vaguely intimidated by the novel. I do not know now why it should have had that effect on me. Moreover, I did not even remember what it was about. If I remember right, I had borrowed it from somebody and had to return the book very quickly, so I just rushed through it.

Anyway, I got the chance to read it again. I still don't know if I like it or not, but it has affected me deeply.

The story is told as seen from the eyes of seven-year-old Rahel. She, and her twin Estha are typical Indian kids. They have the run about the old, ancestral home in Ayemenem, a village in Kerala. They have come back there to Ayemenem, unwelcome, with their mother, Ammu, a divorcee. The story revolves around the twins, the high point in their lives being the arrival of their cousin Sophie Mol from London. The story moves back and forth through time, and the shadow of "The Terror" lurks in every page. Even as you are getting comfortable in the happy child play of the adorable twins, there appears the dark, foreboding figure of The Terror . As you read, A.Roy drops hints here and there of what the Terror is. You can guess what it is by and by, just as all the pieces fall in place one by one, like a jigsaw puzzle. And what a jigsaw puzzle! Intricate, dense, crammed with images. The novel is more about the characters and the settings, than about the actual story. The story , as such, is very little, but heartbreaking, and it totally changes all the lives in that old house in the little village.

The characters are larger than life. I could identify with the kids so well, right down to Rahel's hair in a "fountain", tied with a Love-in-Tokyo, and her feet in brown Bata sandals. I mean, how much clearer can the character get? Their thoughts, fears, fantasies, are all very real, very true. The entire story is told in the high imagination of the young mind. The imagery is detailed, intense. Sometimes too much to bear. Just as the suspense builds up, and you start reading faster and faster, A.Roy comes up with a detailed explanation of some totally unrelated thing, which slows down the pace, throws you off-balance and makes you lose your patience. There are a series of anti-climaxes like this scattered throughout the story. Yes, the explanation of that thing, if you read it with patience, is usually very good. She notices small things, observes intricacies of human nature and behaviour, which you would have seen, but taken for granted. That talent is abundant in her writing.

But yes, she goes overboard at times. I felt that the novel was like a lady decked up in all her jewellery. Each and every piece of jewellery she owns. The jewels might be beautiful when worn in moderation, but altogether - sometimes it gets nauseating. Maybe she knew she would be writing only one novel, so she poured everything into this! Just like a lonely lady who knows she will be invited to only one party and wears all her jewels for that one party! [Help! I am becoming like A. Roy!]

One more grouse - or should I call it that - I have against her is her excessive use of non-English. There is poetic license, and there is A. Roy. Just one example - "Scurrying hurrying buying selling luggage trundling porter paying children shitting people spitting coming going begging bargaining reservation-checking. Echoing stationsounds.". This is totally not English - these are random words thrown together. As a stickler for good English, repeated use of such language made me uncomfortable. But you know what, it works. That whole sentence conjures up the familiar railway station image so well, that it is astounding. One more example -' "Stoppit", said Ammu, and Rahel Stoppited.' - It is like A. Roy thought, "This is funny and conveys what it wants to. The English be damned." Makes me wonder!

The whole story has been woven together as if in a hazy daze - it has the nature of a disturbing dream during an afternoon nap on a very hot summer day. It is like you are asleep and dreaming, but you are aware of what is going on around you. In short, it is like you are hallucinating. That's it. The entire story is like a string of Hallucinations!