Reviews with content warning for Incest - The God of Small Things

Reviews tagging 'Incest'

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

159 reviews

xoxo_strangelog's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

While it does talk about important issues in Indian, well Malayali society — the caste issues, the love for the British, oppression of women which still are a huge topic of concern even today, the book really does feel dragged out and extremely slow paced.

I'm also really disappointed in the fact that this is another book with an inappropriate unnecessary sex scene, I'm growing tired of this. Why did she make the twins do it. The book wouldn't have felt so terrible otherwise.

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mollymoll44's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

I almost dnfed this book halfway through and I am very glad that I powered through. Highly recommend to physically read, the audiobook does not translate. I tried the audiobook and had to go back and find the ebook, where I enjoyed it so much more.

The writing style is the closest I've found to 100 Years of Solitude (except other magical realism). Sometimes it feels like you're drunk/on drugs experiencing the world/trauma which is so interesting.

Holy Shit this was tough to read because it was so horribly depressing though. So so much abuse towards children and especially women. It's tough because NAH I do not want to read that, however it's based off of real experiences and it's important to represent the struggles of less privileged parts of the world. It was interesting to read the Author's word afterwards and how all of it is about her life growing up, and how others deeply related to it. I find it hard to rate it with this in mind. Often my ratings are off of purely personal enjoyment, and I didn't loooooove reading it. However. It's an undeniably gorgeous book and I believe I will be comparing future reads to this writing. I would give it a 4.75 but I'm docking .25 for the

twin incest. It was so close to making it to the end with them having a normal relationship. I'm sick to death of the twins incest trope. Make a point without incest PLEASE.

The whole point of the book is how higher powers are failing the vulnerable they are supposed to be looking after, to be symbolism for the government failing it's people. But wow, very sad, very tough to read. Absolutely gorgeous writing though.

Crazy that India charged the author with corruption of public opinion after this came out.

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darren_cormier's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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archie_dermott's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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buzzybuzzybeefudge's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The prose was gorgeous and had a lot of really creative and visceral motifs but

WHY DID IT END IN TWINCESSSSST UGHHHHHHHH

also in general it was just really dark with a lot of disgusting visuals which were powerful but very difficult to listen to, so i would be careful if you are considering reading this book. read trigger warnings!!

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mehmehsloth's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

You can't come up with words if youbwere to describe the emotions. It's hard to digest and yet somehow easy to ready. You might be aware of what is coming and hence you'll be scared to go ahead. But even through all the grotesque parts a perspective of child is not lost.

No praise is enough to convey what this book says. On surface it's a social themed book but it's a entertaining one. It makes you see it all through eyes of the kids. Hence it makes people feel like kids.

Every description of culture, people, architecture, food and even clothing is discovered and made to look differently. Immense description ranging from kathakali to communism in Kerala to pickle making and to what not. It is one of those pieces that you read once but will remember with incidents and progression.

Ending is what catches you off-guard.

Atleast the incestuous conclusion.

Irrespective of the ending conclusion because, there is no conclusion, the book is devastating story, wrapped in perfectly wrapped flowers of prose and poetry and luxurious descriptions.

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