Spende von St. Johann von Capistran.

Reserved for a Wishlist RABCK.

1001-Book?

"The God of Small Things", which won a prize and was critically acclaimed, tells the story of a family in India caught in society's rule and how hate and fear destroy lives.

Mostly it's told through the perspective of the two twins Rahel and Estha, who have, (though they are two-egg twins) an unusual connection to each other's thoughts. It's also told in two different times: the present and the time back when they were children and "one day was enough to change the world". The jumping back and forth among different times, and because the story itself is told in retrospective instead of the usual linear, make it difficult to read. It's not very thick - less than 340 pages - so it's still manageable, though.

Another difficulty for a continental European is the whole lack of background information about Indian culture, starting with the words for different clothes and names people are called, references to songs and myths the children grow up with, as well as the "Love Laws". Although the family portrayed is very anglophile, and partly even Christian, the whole culture is very Indian, and though some words are explained by the author, a lot requires wikipedia or similar sources to get an understanding.

The language is also very unusual - many adjectives are joined together to describe sensations, and smells play a big part. I don't know if this is typical for the Indian English dialect, or just the special voice of this author. While it's interesting to see the pictures and metaphors created by the author, it also takes some time to puzzle out the meanings.

On the one hand, love that crosses society's rules and thereby causes tragedy has a long tradition in Western literature and art, too, from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to Effi Briest and similar. So on one hand the story is believable. On the other hand, the insurmountable walls between castes and the untouchables in India even today are hard to grasp for Western readers - not that class distinctions no longer exist, but because most class borders have become invisible instead of obvious, and because most people imagine themselves to have shaken off these old-fashioned ideas for self-actualization and equality.

I also kept wondering why the thought of leaving, looking for a job and then caring for the children herself, to be indepent of her family and escape the poisiounus atmosphere and contempt at home, never seems to occurr to the mother of the twins, or why the couple doesn't dream big of going where they aren't known. But I don't know the problems unmarried women face in India's society when they live outside family, or how deeply the idea of staying with your family in your home village is entrenched into people.

All together, despite not being easy, I do recommend it (as all the dozens of critics before me).

4th book of the ABC-Challenge
http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/14/469386/ Thread
und http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/14/470201/ Erfolge

Sent by mail. Sorry for the delay - I'm now glad I did read it before sending it on.

This adds USA to my Life Time Challenge (Release a book in every country)

Got in the mail today, thanks!