The God of Small Things

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Thu, 2003-09-04 12:56

I read this on the plane back, to take my mind off the fact that the Ethiopian pilot seemed to be deliberately steering us through thunderstorms and turbulence (and on my second *ever* international flight, the bastard!)

Prospects were not good - I have no real interest in the history of India, or the problems facing the traditional Indian family in the modern day, and I usually have a strong aversion to books that seem to be recommended on the basis that they're easy, and aren't clever (the anti-intellectual revenge snobbery again.) But Roy won me over in the end - the linguistic playfulness, timeline-skipping and 'collage' style kept my head awake, while the characters (particularly Estha and Rahel, the twins,) really pulled me in. Some of the description was overplayed, but mostly it was stunning.

The most powerful sequence for me was when a young Ammu creeps back inside the house after one of her father's tempers to rescue "her new gumboots, which she loved more than anything else." Her father catches her, and shreds the gumboots before her eyes with her mother's shearing scissors. I was close to tears. Which was an apt time for my travelling companion to remark that both I and the pilot were "pissed-up bastards."

Thu, 2003-09-04 13:26

Wolfgirl

Welcome back, Hen. I too read The God..., although I began with a different perspective to you, in that I AM interested in Indian history. My mother was born there after all. Loathed it though and found the copious amounts of over-writing very irritating. However, I think I will try it again; I don't think I was in the right frame of mind for it....

Thu, 2003-09-04 13:49

Hen

Ah, well - different strokes for different folks, eh?

Mon, 2003-09-08 07:12

Tony Cook

Go at it again, wolfie! I adore writing about India and although I don't think this was in the top drawer it was close. I'll have a look through my shelves over the next couple of days and try and and come up with a decent list of great Indian novels!

Mon, 2003-09-08 10:35

Hen

My companion spent the whole month-long trip relentlessly surging through one book - Vikram Seth's 'A Suitable Boy'. What a monster! I couldn't imagine anything that I'd find harder to read than a 1500 page novel that portrays Indian history through a vast cast of Dickensian characters.

Mon, 2003-09-08 12:52

Ems

I read this and was sorely disappointed. There were some beautiful parts and it engaged me occasionally, but overall I didn't rate it much.

Mon, 2003-09-08 13:50

Wolfgirl

I will go at it like an indian dog at an indian gate, Tony. Passage to India is pretty damn fine....

Mon, 2003-09-08 14:01

Liana

I didnt like it much either Ems. I gave it to my managing director afterwards with a smirk...

Tue, 2003-09-09 01:27

Hen

Good Lord. Doesn't anyone like the books I like?

Wed, 2003-09-10 01:08

#10

Peter

Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance - one hell of an Indian novel - and Vikram Chandre's (Chandra's? Can't remember) Red earth and Pouring Rain - they're the best two Indian novels I've read in the last ten years.

Wed, 2003-09-10 15:34

#11

Steven

Hen, I do have a question for you. About a year ago, you wrote a post about Leslie Epstein... about how he really stressed a style of simple writing, building one sentence upon another. You said that his advices would ruin the future of would-be writers. I don't particularly like the kind of writing that Leslie Epstein supports either, but I admire the craftsmanship of a novel extremely well-written with extremely realistic and local details. Saul Bellow has joined the BU ENGLISH faculty recently. Do you think that his presence will change the way that novel-writing is viewed at BU? Saul Bellow is my favorite writer. He does write about feelings, thoughts, ideas and how the individual reacts to these "internal" events.

Thu, 2003-09-18 20:23

#12

Hen

Well, I didn't think Epstein's recommended method was a one-way path to disaster - it was his contempt for anything else that irritated me, and the idea that he was striking out pages of his student's work on the basis that it wasn't written about "life in the middle" or was too 'fancy' that caused me to remark that he was ruining their future. On reflection, such behaviour might well push his students even further towards reactionary work, so he may well be producing results contrary with his wishes... I haven't read much Saul Bellow - to my mind the success of the presence of a writer at a University won't depend on their writing, but their method of teaching. If Bellow insists that his students write the same way as him, and sneers at anything else, then he's as bad as Epstein....but in my experience, most visiting writer/tutors aren't like that.

Sat, 2003-09-20 10:32

#13

drew

I didn't like The God of Small Things either I'm afraid. A friend of mine though has recently been raving about it. I liked A Suitable Boy. And as Peter says A Fine Balance is awesome. Such A Long Journey is fab too.

Sat, 2003-09-20 18:25

#14

Hen

Why on earth do you guys read all these books you don't like? ;-)

Sun, 2003-09-21 17:18

#15

drew

actually i made my judgement before the end of the first page. that was enough.

Sun, 2003-09-21 17:25

#16

Hen

So what, to your mind, was the problem with it? I remember being kinda indifferent towards the first few pages, but as it was the only book I could read at the time (waiting at the Ethiopian aiport,) I fought onward, and quickly became engaged.

Sun, 2003-09-21 17:32

#17

drew

i should give it another go - i remember the first couple of paragraphs being very lyrical and not saying much. my friend who read it said it was funny and touching.

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