A review by anna_m_k
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Did not finish book. Stopped at 43%.

Unfortunately, I cannot see what its fans and the Booker Prize saw in this book. While the language is evocative, Roy really overused repetition as a literary device. And the attempt to have a childish narrator during the childhood time period personally did not work and created a confused narrative voice. The hopping time periods and the social commentary was very interesting. But I did not find any of fhe characters compelling enough to follow through.

Additionally, the way fat and disabled bodies were described were othering and deeply cruel. The fact that two characters were fat was constantly mentioned alongside their moral and personality failings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Pedophilia

Moderate: Child death and Classism