Top 100 books challenge: 85. The God of Small Things

I really enjoyed this book, and read it in a few days. It was nice to find a book I couldn’t put down after I was disappointed by Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.

The story is set in India and follows twins Rahel and Estha. We see their experiences, and the book interchanges from when they are seven and never apart, to when they are 31, and reunited. They were separated after an incident that happened to them, and don’t see each other again until they are adults.

I really enjoyed reading about the twins lives, and seeing the differences from childhood to adulthood. At first I thought that the interchanging chapters flitting from them at seven to them at 31 would be distract from the story, and be hard to follow. It wasn't at all, and in fact actually enhanced the story.

The main theme of the book is love, and the Love Laws, which say who should be loved and how much. It focuses on the small things that affect people’s behaviour and lives.

We see this with the difference in the twins between the two ages. Estha is particularly affected by events that happened at the age of seven, when the twins cousin Sophie Moll dies. What happens after this tragic incident ultimately results in the death of an innocent man, and the twins being split up. It shows how one night can change the rest of your life. The twins are marked by the events in their past - with Estha silent and Rahel with a haunted look in her eyes. Neither have been able to keep a relationship, and find that there is no one who can understand them.

It was also interesting to get a glimpse of life in India in the 1960’s, where social discrimination and class relations are high.

I found that I couldn’t put this book down, as I was so keen to hear what happens to the twins. Some parts were hard to read, for example the twins mother being beaten by her father and husband, and an incident when Estha was sexually assaulted. But these were key elements to the story, and it wouldn’t have stood up with out them. They contributed to the fall of the twins, and explained their behaviour as adults.

Rating 9/10