The God of Small Things
CBC Books | CBC News | Posted: July 27, 2017 1:11 PM | Last Updated: January 26, 2021
Arundhati Roy
The God of Small Things heralds a voice so powerful and original that it burns itself into the reader's memory. Set mainly in Kerala, India, in 1969, it is the story of Rahel and her twin brother Estha, who learn that their whole world can change in a single day, that love and life can be lost in a moment. Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, they seek to craft a childhood for themselves amid the wreckage that constitutes their family. (From Vintage Canada)
The God of Small Things is Arundhati Roy's first novel. It won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997.
From the book
May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month. The days are long and humid. The river shrinks and black crows gorge on bright mangoes in still, dustgreen trees. Red bananas ripen. Jackfruits burst. Dissolute bluebottles hum vacuously in the fruity air. Then they stun themselves against clear windowpanes and die, fatly baffled in the sun.
The nights are clear, but suffused with sloth and sullen expectation.
From The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy ©1997. Published by Vintage Canada.