A paperback in English. I got this from an English friend when I was working in England. I don't know where he got it, but there are Spanish translations scribbled in some parts of the book and my friend does not know nor learn Spanish. Who knows where the book has already been?
This book is not a happy one, nor does the plot go in a chronological order, but those things do not make it a bad book. I like the way the story is told and how India is described in it. It is said about the book that it "explores the tragic fate of a family which tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved and how. And how much."

This book is now an international bookray book. The ray is open, so if you want to join in, just pm me!
Here are some rules:
1) Make a journal entry when you get the book. That way we all know that it is safe.
2) Try to read it in reasonable time, say, in a month. After reading, you can make a journal entry and tell what did you think of the book.
3) When you have read the book, send a pm to the next person on the list of participants and ask for an address (or arrange a meeting with him/her). Then send (or give) the book to that person. Make a journal entry informing that the book is no longer in your hands.
4) If the next person in the list does not answer the pm in about a week, try the next one and inform me, too.
Happy reading!

The participants:
laku05, Rovaniemi, Finland
Annelis, Kerava, Finland
Barbje, Gouda, Netherlands
uhmmm, Rotterdam, Netherlands
LindyLouMac, Vetralla, Lazio, Italy
namedujour, Waxahachie, Texas, USA

The last participant may keep the book or pass it on again!

The bookray has begun!
I gave the book to laku05 today.

Sain kirjan Kempulta, joka istui lukemassa (!) kuinka ollakaan Oulussa. Paneudun kirjaan mahdollisimman pian. Ihmettelen samalla miksi jostain syystä Intia on nyt niin ajankohtainen - Intia tulee vastaani kirjoissa, joita luen ( Banerjee-Louhija: Värikierre), joita vapautan (Munakoisokiukku), poikani matkakertomuksessa, ystävieni puheessa...
Got this book from Kemppu in Oulu, Finland. I look forward to reading it soon. Meanwhile I keep wondering why India is coming to my way in various occasions. In other books that I read, in my friends´ stories, in the travel journal of my son... maybe after reading the book I know better what is this omen.

Oli minulle aika raskas kirja. Ehkä minulla eiollut riittävästi aikaa paneutua siihen kunnolla.
Ehkä seuraava ringissä saa kirjast enemmän.
Kirja lähti tänään etelään.

The book arrived yesterday. Thank you, Kemppu! I'll be reading the book as soon as possible.

Kirja saapui eilen postitse. Kiitos Kemppu! Luen kirjan mahdollisimman pian.

I am almost done now and it is time to be asking for the next participant's address.
The book gives me quite a chaotic picture of India, maybe because things are not told in a chronological order or maybe because India seems to be chaotic for us.
Or maybe things seem to be chaotic as a child when one doesn't understand what is going on. Many parts of the story are told from the view point of a child.
Well, some people succeed in living a chaotic life even in our orderly society.
I was very much touched by meeting the Untouchables. They even had their own schools. Are things like that even today? It is worse than apartheid, isn't it?
This book was too melancholy for bed-time reading, but good for reading on a train to and from my work.
Thanks for sharing the book, Kemppu!

This book counts for India in my A Book From Every Country Challenge.


Edited 1 April
I mailed the book last Wednesday to Barbje.

The book arrived safely in Gouda!

I'm sorry, it's just not working between this book and me. Everone keeps telling me it's wonderful, but everytime I pick it up I start sighing.. :-( So, I decided, for the first time, to quit reading this ring, and wait for a dutch version to cross my path, for it is partly because of the language that is is taking me so long. I didn't expect english to be a problem, but in this case it is. So once again, sorry!, but I'm sending this book to uhmm as soon as I have her address.

the book arrived without any problems

saw some other person ahd trouble with the english too :)

hope to finish it myself tho
so far it looks nice to me
been reading a few pages in the buss this morning...

i'll let you know :)

Wow, what a weird coincidence, Kemppu and I were in very recent communication about this title with concerns over its whereabouts! Well it arrived safely today having been posted from the Netherlands on 31.07.06 with thanks to uhmmm. Now it is here I may as well read anyway as no chance to obtain another copy yet!

Just finished reading and i have already sent a pm to namedujour so hopefully this book will be off on its travels again shortly.
It has taken me a long time to get around to reading this 1997 Booker Prize Winner which was highly acclaimed at the time. Personally it did not come up to my expectations, I found the style and the fact the story is not told chronologically a little confusing at times. However I still found it an enjoyable read though very sad! This was a first novel and as far as I know Arundhati Roy has not written any more novels. I wonder why as generally this one was so well received.
Amazon.co.uk Review:
In her first novel, award-winning Indian screenwriter Arundhati Roy conjures a whoosh of wordplay that rises from the pages like a brilliant jazz improvisation. The God of Small Things is nominally the story of young twins Rahel and Estha and the rest of their family, but the book feels like a million stories spinning out indefinitely; it is the product of a genius child-mind that takes everything in and transforms it in an alchemy of poetry. The God of Small Things is at once exotic and familiar to the Western reader, written in an English that's completely new and invigorated by the Asian Indian influences of culture and language

RELEASE NOTES:

I now have an address for namedujour and this will be posted to her in the USA this afternoon.

Received the book safely today! I have one book ahead of it, but should be able to start it shortly. Thank you so much for sending it to me from Italy!!