I think I like it. No orgasmic euphoria, but it is a genuine literature accessible for the Masses (me that is). I even started digging this structure of two narratives: forward and reverse culminating in the scenes of love and death in the conclusion. You still have to pay attention to these two threads: I think I missed the reason Ammu got pissed at her children that send them scurrying to the History House. The lovescene in the conclusion went down pretty well. The R-rated foreplay passage goes to my quotations page. The prude that I am, I am not sure I see why the incest and and pedophilia scenes greatly help the novel. Well, the twins lovescene was sort of excusable -- yet another taboo to break (parallel to the unsanctioned liaison with a lower caste). But it is unclear what particular purpose the handjob with a 6-year-old serves. Well, maybe to later liken other events to this particularly disgusting one. Anyhow, seven and a quarter stars out of ten. I am going to have to get over the soap-opera effect: I got used to spending my last awake minutes with the characters every night. ---------------------- I had my car repaired this morning and put in some GoST reading while they were at it. You know what? It is far more pleasant to read in the morning rather than when I am dead tired at night. I actually have some patience for cuteness of the text and appreciation for the finer details. I found new things to relate too -- I was touched by Ammu preparing things for Estha before sending him off to his dad (you know the parenting stuff). Hey, the book even has a *gasp* plot twist. I was thinking Velutha will end up screwing Rahel, but he is a frisky fellow and is doing the mom. Well, in the last 90-some pages he may still get it on with the child but that is sort of less exciting. Hey, I am like Chacko, officially sympathizing with the students yet sweating them in the lab. ----------------------- I am about 2/3ds done with the god of small things. GoST is good. Not great, but good. I guess I am a philistine in literature so I don't get off on style and verse. So the events and characters are interesting, there are a few cultural tidbits to feel enriched but that's about it ----------------------- I am changing my position on Roy. I am on page 60-ish now. The characters are more attractive. Chacko is a (theoretical) Marxist (very much like some of us) and Ammu is an extremely intelligent woman. The twins are savants. So it feels nice to be in good company. Even though the characters are more palpable, I still cannot recover from the initial half-hearted descriptions. It still seems they are the talking heads channeling the authors words. Well, anyhow if it stays the same as it did for the last 10 pages, it'll be a good book. ----------------------- Roy's prose is rich and thick. She, unfortunately, is afflicted with Marquezitis. She paints her characters with broad strokes in a sort of detached and distanced way, so they come out as cardboard cutouts -- hard to relate to. I enjoy the little ethnic and cultural tidbits that sometimes show through. Yet, it seems that the novel is intentionally stripped of them and sterilized. It also seems, that I am using it for the purpose not intended by the author -- like trying to find military strategy (hi, Stan) tips in "War and Peace". One interesting leitmotif -- patriarchy. Overall, The main focus of the novel so far is on portraying the dynamics of a screwed up middle class family in the country. No doubt she gathered inspiration from her own childhood, I wish she had a more interesting one. The c*mminists are a cute fixture of the background -- like the tea plantations or the mossed walls of the house.