The God of Small Things — [short] Book Review

I usually dive into a novel having a minor clue on what it is about, just to familiarize myself with the book, to acquaint myself with it. I believe every reader does that — some connect with it while others don’t, and that’s okay. However, I’m very glad that I went ahead into the novel without referring to its plot because as I was slowly uncovering the book, I realized that to read a good book you don’t necessarily need to know its synopsis or read its critic reviews. Once a chapter carries you to the next, the book has done its job, the author has succeeded.

And to me, Roy not only succeeded, she triumphed.

Roy’s debut novel The God of Small Things is the story of Rahel and Estha, fraternal twins, and how their lives are changed and damaged after an event that occurred in the past, which led to a tragedy. Not only was I moved by how the novel is crafted, but I was completely overwhelmed by its beautiful writing. So poetic. Every sentence made sure I was using all my senses — I could visualize the river, smell the petrichor, listen to the fishes underwater, taste the fruits, feel the cold air brush against my skin.

I’ve never shed so many tears on a book (yes, I’d like to warn you: prepare lots of tissues!). Roy made me care not only about the characters but also her story. In the beginning, you’ll be left with many questions, but Roy helps you answer them one at a time as the story progresses. Furthermore, the novel shifts between past and present, but mostly recounts what happened in the past. And it’s not just the past of the twins, but of their divorced mother, Ammu; of their Oxford-graduate uncle, Chacko; of their self-made grandmother, Mammachi; of their manipulative grand-aunt, Baby Kochamma.

Giving these characters a backstory showed that they are not just some side-characters, but they all play an equal and important role. Apart from that, it showed that these characters have human qualities — selfish, greedy, cruel, real. There were moments in the book where the adults, who supposedly know everything, teach the twins how to pronounce certain words, for instance when Estha said “Thang God”, he is corrected by his grand-aunt, but towards the end of the book, Rahel, the other twin, makes this same mistake, but she is not corrected because she had whispered it to her brother. Her brother did not correct her like how their grand-aunt did. He didn’t correct her at all. This seems to imply that children don’t generally learn well if they are constantly discouraged of their manner of learning.

It was painful to read that the adults who love their children, teach them, scold them or slap them sometimes fail to protect them. For instance, how Ammu failed to protect Estha when he was molested or even understand his discomfort around his molester, or how Chacko failed to save his daughter from drowning. And when the adults think they’re protecting their children, they don’t realize that they are ruining their lives. Like how Mammachi ruined not just Ammu’s life, but also that of her grandchildren’s after Ammu’s affair with a lower-caste servant was brought to light.

The story is heavily focused on the caste differences, which is still relevant in India. Ammu, a “Touchable”, has a forbidden love (and sexual) affair with Velutha, an “Untouchable”. It’s interesting to read how Ammu scolds Rahel for making her “clean” frock “dirty” at the airport, but she later has an affair with a member from lower-caste, who are deemed to have a certain “smell”. But all these are “Small Things”, such things shouldn’t really matter when you’re in love.

Apart from this, I loved the relationship between the twins — intimate and raw. In the beginning of the novel, they think of “themselves together as Me, and separately, individually, as We or Us.” This indicates that the dizygotic twins are One when they are together, when they are with each other, but when they are singular, when they are “physically separate”, they are “Alone”, yet somehow linked. But this “Me” and “Us” changes later into “They” after they drift apart, and it slowly turns to “He and She” and finally back “We and Us” following their reunion. And when they make love, they are back to “Me”. When they made love, it wasn’t them but Estha’s years of “Quietness” and Rahel’s years of “Emptiness” that were making love. After all, it was their mother who explained to them that “people always loved best what [or who] they Identified with”, and no one understood the twins like how they understood themselves.

I simply loved this book so much. I enjoyed the process of reading and the thoughts after reading. The last pages were so gut-wrenchingly painful to read that I had to calm my anxious heart. I would recommend everyone to read this book at least once in their lifetime. The God of Small Things is a brief love story and it’s a lasting tragedy. It could have been a lasting love story and a brief tragedy if only the society wasn’t so harsh, if only family didn’t betray one another.

So, love each other. To rebel against society, spread love.

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cw on the book// sexual molestation, sexual harassment