The God of Small Things (1997) is the debut novel of Indian author Arundhati Roy. It is a story about the childhood experiences of fraternal twins whose lives are destroyed by the "Love Laws" that lay down "who should be loved, and how. And how much." The book is a description of how the small things in life affect people's behavior and their lives. The book won the Booker Prize in 1997.
The God of Small Things is Roy's first book and, as of 2012, is her only novel. Completed in 1996, the book took four years to write. The potential of the story 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.
While generally praised, the book did receive some criticism for its verbosity and controversial subject matter.
Read more about The God Of Small Things: Plot, Characters, Techniques
Famous quotes containing the words god and/or small:
“Let God alone if need be. Methinks, if I loved him more, I should keep him—I should keep myself rather—at a more respectful distance. It is not when I am going to meet him, but when I am just turning away and leaving him alone, that I discover that God is. I say, God. I am not sure that that is the name. You will know whom I mean.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a rat hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage into the lovliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head through the doorway.”
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)