Arundhati Roy -The God of Small Things

Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things (Random House, 1997) is living the dream of most first time novelists. When she finished the book, which took almost five years to write, she hoped to get it published by a small publisher in her native land of India. Fate thought differently. When she brought the manuscript to an Indian editor he immediately loved the book and saw a marketing potential far larger than Ms. Roy had hoped. He contacted an agent in England. Within three days that agent was on Ms. Roy's doorstep asking to represent her. Rights to the book were sold in 18 countries prior to publication - now, 2 months after publication that number has increased to 21 countries. The God of Small Things is a book that in all accuracy, can be said to have taken the publishing world by storm. And Ms. Roy, ending a lengthy multi-country tour sounded as if she were feeling a bit battered by the storm when we spoke.

An Excerpt from The God... | A review by Emily Gutheinz

When I asked if she were finishing her tour she responded "Yes, just another three more days or four more days. But it feels like another month. First I was all over India, then I was in Norw

Especially since she has a background in screen writing, does she have any plans to make the novel into a movie? "There's been a lot of interest in making movies out of this, but I am very sceptical about it because I think it's a stunningly visual, but un-filmable, book. The book isn't about what happens so much as a brooding over how something affected people's lives... (Right now) there's so much happening. I'm a very disorganized person and when I don't want to deal with something I just stuff faxes into books and forget about them. At this point movie faxes are in the books."

Does Ms. Roy agree that the overall world view of the book is bleak? That it proposes that human nature will always keep trying, but will always be beaten down? "I wouldn't actually say that. What it does say is that human beings always divide ourselves up. And there will always be those of us who make those divisions, that there will always be those of us who argue against them. The fact that that argument carries on is the most important thing." Whether that argument ever wins is not important? "Nothing will ever win. There is no candy at the end of the story. The fact is that this is a continuing process. It's not like now we will all live happily ever after because the human spirit will find a solution to this. You look at what's happening in the world around us. There's no question of us thinking everything's going to be alright."

The novel memorably evokes the child's world through the twins' experiences. Why twins? Has Ms. Roy ever known twins? "I'm not a twin, and I've never known twins. The book really delves, very deep I think, into human nature. The story tells of the brutality we're capable of, but also that aching, intimate love. And for me the twins are what that is about...the ability to actually dream each other's dreams and to share each other's happiness and pain."

The story in The God of Small Things centers around fraternal twins, Estha and Rahel. Their mother, Ammu, has been ostracized by her family and society in the small town of Ayemenem where they live, because she had the audacity to divorce the drunken, abusive man she married. The action of the book focuses on a visit to India from the twins' Uncle Chacko's ex-wife and daughter. The daughter tragically dies during that visit. That death sets in motion a chain of events that will control and haunt the family for the rest of their lives. The book does not always depict an India that is positive - India is shown as divided by class and torn by political strife; the natural world is strikingly described throughout the book as decaying, and menacing. With this in mind we asked how the book was received in India. "In India, it has been phenomenally successful...what happened is that, last September the media got hold of the news that there was this book which was being printed in - 18 countries at that time, now it's 21. So there was a whole lot of media excitement and no book because the book wasn't out yet. Since then there's been relentless media pressure on me, you know...What is the book and how have you sold so much... But the reaction when the book came out was fabulous, except there are (those) people, who I call the proper light brigade, who say you're not showing India in a positive light. But there hasn't been that much. I was expecting more of it. Really it is a sign of maturing self confidence that (India) can look at itself critically. I really feel very happy about that because it is a difficult history that we've had and it is very difficult to face criticism of yourself. But I think it's understood very clearly that it comes from affection, not from standing outside and sneering or laughing."

Ms. Roy appears very well grounded and surprisingly free of ambition. The fame attendant to the publication of the book she recognizes as fleeting and of little overall importance. Perhaps because she has done a number of other things in her life - architecture, scr

Some topics in this essay:
Ms Roy, India India, God's God's, Baby Kochamma, Kochamma Baby, Estha Rahel, Ms Roy's, Uncle Chacko's, Ammu Velutha, Delhi Looking, ms roy, it's story, book book, screen writing, there's question, book write, structure book, faxes books, baby kochamma, book sold,