The God of Small Things
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The God of Small Things (1997) is a semi-autobiographical, politically charged novel by Indian author Arundhati Roy. It is a story about the childhood experiences of a pair of fraternal twins who become victims of circumstance. The book is a description of how the small things in life build up, translate into people's behaviour and affect their lives. The book won the Booker Prize in 1997.
The God of Small Things is Roy's first book, and as of 2005, is her only novel. Completed in 1996, the book took four years to write. The quality of the writing was first recognized by Pankaj Mishra, an editor with HarperCollins, who sent it to three British publishers. Roy received half-a-million pounds in advances, and rights to the book were sold in 21 countries.
The story primarily takes place in and around a town named Ayemenem, in the Kottayam district of Kerala, India. The temporal setting shifts back and forth from 1969, when Rahel and Estha, a set of fraternal twins are 7 years old, to 1993, when the twins are reunited at age 31. Much of the story is written with a viewpoint sympathetic to the 7-year-old children. Malayalam words are liberally used in conjunction with English. Prominent facets of Kerala life that the novel captures are Communism, the caste system and the Syrian Christian way of life.
Principal characters in the novel
- Rahel
- Estha (Esthappen Yako), Rahel's twin brother
- Ammu, Rahel and Estha's mother
- Chacko, Ammu's brother, son of Mammachi, divorced first husband of Margaret.
- Baby Kochamma, Rahel and Estha's grandfather's sister--their grand-aunt
- Kochu Maria, housekeeper to Mammachi, Chacko, and Baby Kochamma
- Sophie Mol, the twins' cousin, daughter of their Uncle Chacko and Margaret Kochamma
- Velutha, the title character
- Mammachi, blind grandmother of Rahel, Estha, and Sophie Mol, founder of the family pickle factory. Chacko and Ammu's mother
- Pappachi, Chacko and Ammu's father
- Margaret Kochamma, Chacko's ex-wife
- Comrade Pillai, leader of the local communist party
- Joe, second husband of Margaret
de:Der Gott der kleinen Dinge es:El Dios de Las Pequeñas Cosas