Rating: 6.5/10
Overall Thoughts
Revolving around the themes of class relations and cultural tensions, forbidden love, betrayal, and social discrimination, 'The God of Small Things' is a tale set in Kerala (Southern India) about a fractured family who is unhappy in their own way, and through flashbacks and flashforwards, the author unravels the secrets of the family's unhappiness.
It is essentially a story about the childhood experiences of fraternal twins Estha and Rahel whose lives are destroyed by the "Love Laws" that lay down "who should be loved, and how. And how much." Even while reading the first thirty pages of the novel, you know bad things will happen, but it's not initially clear who are the perpetrators and how the story would eventually unfold.
Definitely a thought-provoking novel. The language used is both creative and original, but jumping back and forth in time makes it difficult to keep the characters and their timelines straight.
Favourites from 'The God of Small Things'
"They sensed somehow that she lived in the penumbral shadows between two worlds, just beyond the grasp of their power. That a woman they had already damned, now had little left to lose, and could therefore be dangerous."
"'We're Prisoners of War,' Chacko said. 'Our dreams have been doctored. We belong nowhere. We sail unanchored on troubled seas. We may never be allowed ashore. Our sorrows will never be sad enough. Our joys never happy enough. Our dreams never big enough. Our lives never important enough. To matter.'"
"When you hurt people, they begin to love you less. That's what careless words do. They make people love you a little less."
"If he touched her, he couldn't talk to her, if he loved her he couldn't leave, if he spoke he couldn't listen, if he fought he couldn't win."
"Ammu shivered. With that cold feeling on a hot afternoon that Life had been Lived. That her cup was full of dust. That the air, the sky, the trees, the sun, the rain, the light and darkness were all slowly turning to sand. That sand would fill her nostrils, her lungs, her mouth. Would pull her down, leaving on the surface a spinning swirl like crabs leave when they burrow downwards on a beach."
"This man tonight is dangerous. His despair complete. This story is the safety net above which he swoops and dives like a brilliant clown in a bankrupt circus. It's all he has to keep from crashing through the world like a falling stone. It is his colour and his light. It is the vessel into which he pours himself. It gives him shape. Structure. It harnesses him. It contains him. His Love. His Madness. His Hope. His Infinnate Joy."
"Change is one thing. Acceptance is another."
"Biology designed the dance. Terror timed it. Dictated the rhythm with which their bodies answered each other. As though they knew already that for each tremor of pleasure they would pay with an equal measure of pain. As though they knew that how far they went would be measured against how far they would be taken."
"'We're Prisoners of War,' Chacko said. 'Our dreams have been doctored. We belong nowhere. We sail unanchored on troubled seas. We may never be allowed ashore. Our sorrows will never be sad enough. Our joys never happy enough. Our dreams never big enough. Our lives never important enough. To matter.'"
"When you hurt people, they begin to love you less. That's what careless words do. They make people love you a little less."
"If he touched her, he couldn't talk to her, if he loved her he couldn't leave, if he spoke he couldn't listen, if he fought he couldn't win."
"Ammu shivered. With that cold feeling on a hot afternoon that Life had been Lived. That her cup was full of dust. That the air, the sky, the trees, the sun, the rain, the light and darkness were all slowly turning to sand. That sand would fill her nostrils, her lungs, her mouth. Would pull her down, leaving on the surface a spinning swirl like crabs leave when they burrow downwards on a beach."
"This man tonight is dangerous. His despair complete. This story is the safety net above which he swoops and dives like a brilliant clown in a bankrupt circus. It's all he has to keep from crashing through the world like a falling stone. It is his colour and his light. It is the vessel into which he pours himself. It gives him shape. Structure. It harnesses him. It contains him. His Love. His Madness. His Hope. His Infinnate Joy."
"Change is one thing. Acceptance is another."
"Biology designed the dance. Terror timed it. Dictated the rhythm with which their bodies answered each other. As though they knew already that for each tremor of pleasure they would pay with an equal measure of pain. As though they knew that how far they went would be measured against how far they would be taken."
