Each opinioned synopsis is written right after I, Sheridan, read the book. Each synopsis is not overly edited and is not changed or added on to. Each one reflects the feelings and thoughts of the book fresh after reading it; each is written in a style close to that of the book. Some may give away a lot, others not so much.

Monday, July 5, 2010

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

The God of Small Things is a book woven out of sights, smells, feelings and strong senses. Of dreams, of the past, the present and future. What is true, what isn't- what is possible, what impossible.
The connection of two-egg twins, the mish-mash of feelings each person has and the danger of those feelings.
The strength and presence of History, all the time. Influencing the present and already dictating the future. History chooses what is possible and what is impossible. History locks people where they are, and won't let them go, move on or change. And the people work to keep their history the same, unbroken, unstained. But by doing so they seal their lives into cages.
In this book the innocence of childhood is shattered, "not death, but ending life." By small things, small choices, more than one life can be destroyed, lived but not fulfilled. Divorce is like death, Die-vorce. Make one wrong mistake and you have completed your life, caput, it's over. Then the children, the two egg twins learn that the impossible can become possible and things can change in a day.
This book is made of several aspects, not many but all woven together and elaborated by metaphors and the complication of all the senses. The chapters switch back and forth, from the present to the past (with the threat of the future). This book is funny, sad and disturbing, almost all at once. A strange read.

Recommended to ages 15 and Up