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anharchive's reviews
90 reviews
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
5.0
As I tell you about Roy’s book, more comes to mind about the language and painstaking attention to detail, rather than the plot that loosens itself in the backdrop. It is minimal, unravelling around an Indian family whose extended members have all ended up living together, and not by their own choice.
It’s a bizarre, dysfunctional assemblage of people who grow together, then grow apart: the abusive Pappachi and overprotective matriarch Mammachi; the bitter and proud Baby Kochamma who fiercely governs over an empire of pickle preserve production; her disillusioned daughter Ammu, single mother of “egg twins”, the inseparable little angel demons Rahel and Estha (that unapologetically steal your whole heart); their divorced uncle Chacko, whose Oxford education slings around him like a cape (which he willingly dons).
The story advances in a non-linear path as past and present can’t decide to meet each other half-way, embodying perhaps how trauma and their past lingers in the family. You especially follow the children and you feel your heart slowly stepped over when you witness their world doesn’t allow them to be children. A world of selfishness, self-preservation, dog-eat-dog, where heartfelt moments are to be followed by bone-chilling wake up calls. Where the characters remain unsatisfied for the whole book about who they are, and reminisce on who they could become.
Now onto the language that wraps itself around them; Roy has a beautiful relationship with the world round her, and i m so grateful she decided to share it with us. If human thought and observation could speak, it would be in her voice. She manages to find the just right images and words to wrap an invisible, intangible feeling or moment into something tactible, possible to taste. My favourite recurring description motif is Pappachi’s moth that lies on Rahel’s heart, who flaps its wings whenever Rahel feels anxiety.
While reading this book, many elements of the Indian context could be palpable. Themes of class, colonialism, the communist wave in India, the caste system, poverty and strife weave in an out of the narrative. I definitely will want to read more non-fiction and educational material on the periods this book lapses in, around 60s India to contemporary India.
The way it ends is so satisfying. I turned the last page and only at the final stop did I realise I had finished my journey. I hope you will have an equally enjoyable time picking up Roy’s phenomenal book. ❤️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Violence
Moderate: Blood
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
adventurous
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Someone tell me why it only got truly good when Patroclus dies? Madeline Miller is quite good at writing ghosts. I think my main issue is how the book was written, quite monotonously but effectively. In the same vein as Percy Jackson, but Riordan breathed so much life and character into his narration. It’s a personal preference thing, as I like detail and unique voices; the main romance is still quite enjoyable to follow. Even felt my heart being tugged at occasionally. I would have given this a 5 star and enjoyed it thoroughly if the narration had a bit more character. The rest of the characters also lack personality, all relying on tropes and so making it a flat world. Even Patroclus, I get it you’re a normie but come on! I want to see a bit of personality spiced in there that isn’t just a set of characteristics manifested once in a while.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This book is very close to my heart. As an Asian living and studying in Britain, but having lived half of my adolescent life in Italy and never stepping foot in a Vietnamese school, the frustration and grieviances, the constant negotiations of cultures that I share were expressed so well in this book. This book had so much personality and spunk, its characters well-fleshed out in my opinion, enough for me to keep turning the page. Character motivations, internal logics and dynamics were well plotted for me to fall in love and understand most characters. Its long spiraling paragraph seem to be a turn off for some reviewers, but for me I was completely immersed, and appreciated how close to life the uncouth and messy deliberations were, a bit like our daily unorganised and free-associating trains of thoughts. The metaphors and similes Zadie uses were also really vivid for me, as I enjoy this kind of abstract writing at times. It is not however without criticism, especially some of its long-winded paragraphs, and the ending felt slightly anti-climatic. However I felt that was appropriate and true to life...rarely do our lives follow a well-planned out and methodical narrative arc. Since it is her debut novel, I am excited to see how she will refine this writing style. In the meantime, I cherish this work that encompasses my experience as a child of the diaspora, keeping this quote very close to my heart: "And underneath it all, there remained an ever present and hurt, the feeling of belonging nowhere that comes to people who belong everywhere."(pg. 269)