Il Dio Delle Piccole Cose

This book had been on my lists for ages, before I even knew who was Arundhati Roy, and I was surprised that it took me a while to like it. There was something holding me back a little. It's a slow drama, like a train crash in slow motion, often foreshadowed through the labyrinthine construction between the present and different times in the past. Eventually, it started to make sense and the incredible writing gripped me.

Magnifique livre, très émouvant et incroyablement bien écrit. Ce premier livre de l'auteur, si je me rappelle bien mes lectures à son sujet, fit sensation dans le monde de la littérature anglaise. Il est de fait étudié au Bac français (option littérature anglaise) 2024-2025. Le style est de réalisme magique, vu depuis les yeux de deux enfants, faux-jumeaux, qui ont développés une vision très particulière du monde, certainement par protection. Bien qu'il traite de sujets parfois sur, ce style justement permet d'éviter de se retrouver le cœur trop broyé para leurs tribulations.

Tätä kirjaa oli aika uuvuttava lukea. Ensimmäiset kaksi ja puoli sataa sivua tuntuivat aika sekavilta ja tapahtumat irrallisilta, kerrontatyyli oli minusta ärsyttävä, ja vasta viimeisen sadan sivun aikana koko tarinaan tuli jotain tolkkua. Mutta kyllä sitten, kun loppuun asti sai punnerrettua, tästä muodostui melko voimakas kertomus eteläintialaisen yhteiskunnan jännitteistä.

Short but intense book, with lots to say about caste, class and family.
It was a powerful read but I honestly am not sure if I can say I liked it. It is disturbing and confronting. It is also extremely well structured, I will probably need to sit with it for a while.

Kerala and nearly all of the characters expand into three dimensions in a story that weaves between past and present and addresses class and patriarchal structures, colonialism, family dysfunction. It's cluttered however with poetic turns of phrase that founder and repeat and grow overshadowly wearisome.