The God Of Small Things (winner Of The Booker Prize)

By (author) Roy, Arundhati
Short description/annotation:

‘They all broke the rules. They all crossed into forbidden territory. They all tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And how much.’

Description:

‘They all broke the rules. They all crossed into forbidden territory. They all tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And how much.’

This is the story of Rahel and Estha, twins growing up among the banana vats and peppercorns of their blind grandmother’s factory, and amid scenes of political turbulence in Kerala. Armed only with the innocence of youth, they fashion a childhood in the shade of the wreck that is their family: their lonely, lovely mother, their beloved Uncle Chacko (pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher) and their sworn enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun, incumbent grand-aunt).

Arundhati Roy’s Booker Prize-winning novel was the literary sensation of the 1990s: a story anchored to anguish but fuelled by wit and magic.

Review quote:
‘Richly deserving the rapturous praise it has received on both sides of the Atlantic…”The God of Small Things” achieves a genuine tragic resonance. It is, indeed, a masterpiece.’ Observer
Review quote:
‘Roy is truly gifted, not just in her ability to make words playful and meaning mischievous, but to use this to create a language texture that bowls you along, gathering momentum like the narrative itself…Witty and vivid, full of rich, memorable images…a verbal stream of steady beauty.’ Ali Smith
Review quote:
‘It is rare to find a book that so effectively cuts through the clothes of nationality, caste and religion to reveal the bare bones of humanity. A sensational novel.’ Daily Telegraph
Review quote:
‘A quite astonishing novel by any standards – broad in its historical sweep, emotionally profound and marvellously acute and delicate.’ Economist
Review quote:
‘Quite brilliant…One can only strongly recommend this extremely funny and enchanting and pretty much genius piece of debut fiction.’ Spectator
Biographical note:

Arundhati Roy is an award-winning filmmaker and a trained architect. In 1997 she won the Booker Prize for ‘The God of Small Things’. She lives in New Delhi.

Promotional headline:

Winner of the Booker Prize

Feature:

Winner of the Booker Prize

• A masterpiece

• Winner of the Booker Prize, 1997 – only the second debut novel to win

• An international No 1 bestseller in hardback

• Translated into 27 languages (excluding Indian ones); published in 31 national editions

• Over 100,000 hardbacks each sold in Britain, in Germany and in the US

• National colour advertising

• Superlead promotion

Competition: Things That Can And Cannot Be Said; Midnight''S Children; The White Tiger; Kerala - Blue Guide Chapter (From Blue Guide India); Nine Lives. Arundhati Roy;Colson Whitehead; Ali Smith; Salman Rushdie; Kamila Shamsie; Zadie Smith; Jon McGregor; Paul Auster; Mohsin Hamid; Amy Tan; Colson Whitehead;