Book for October - The God of Small Things
So many pictures of Son de Flor women reading books everywhere – in the middle of the fields, under wise old trees, in cafes or on comfortable benches. Do they only pose or do they also read?
Surely, reading is a little bit of luxury these days, especially if you are a working mom, even though in a slow fashion field. Priorities usually shift around family, kids, school and after school activities, job, home chores, food, evening tales… But whenever there is a chance for reading, even though for half an hour, it feels like taking yourself for a small local vacation, diving in another world, letting your imagination fly, where anything and everything is possible.
‘If I am happy in a dream, does it count?’ - what a simple and yet such a tricky question, isn’t it? This rhetorical question comes from the mind and heart of Arundhati Roy, one of the most inspiring, courageous, and wise authors ever read. The God of Small Things is the book that keeps embraced long after the last page is finished.
If there was a book to be offered for a read in October, it would be
The God of Small Things.
The God of Small Things is set in Kerala, India in 1969. We follow fraternal twins — Esthappen and Rahel — the children of a single woman (their Ammu) who fled an abusive relationship to live with her family. As the story unfolds, the twins make fateful discoveries about life, love, and how secrets can ripple across a family and across a life.
Every sentence of The God of Small Things is exquisitely crafted. The novel is constructed with perfect grace, with phrases that build on and call back to each other throughout, so that the story feels like it was built with the architectural precision of a building.
Even though the book was read long time ago, there are so many scenes that still linger inside and a quote that could easily lead for life: “As Estha stirred the thick jam he thought Two Thoughts and the Two Thoughts he thought were these: a) Anything can happen to anyone. and. b) It is best to be prepared.”
Enjoy other quotes from the book below, however, it’s just eating the crumbs, the whole cake comes by entering each and every page of the book starting with the first and ending with the last one...
“And the air was full of Thoughts and Things to Say. But at times like these, only the Small Things are ever said. Big Things lurk unsaid inside.”
“When you hurt people, they begin to love you less. That’s what careless words do. They make people love you a little less.”
"Things can change in a day."
“It is curious how sometimes the memory of death lives on for so much longer than the memory of the life that is purloined.”
“He folded his fear into a perfect rose. He held it out in the palm of his hand. She took it from him and put it in her hair.”
“It was a time when the unthinkable became the thinkable and the impossible really happened."
Find the book here. By the way, have you heard of a Bookshop platform? It's an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores! Read more and enjoy the benefits of this platform here!
