I picked this book to read just because its a Booker Prize winner. Its a very simple story with an unhappy ending. The plot is set in a village called Ayemenem in Kerala. When I began reading it I thought it will be a boring read. I was unable to connect the dots since it has a non sequential story line. "Why did I begin to read this novel?" was my initial reaction.
However, the excitement came when I was done reading first half of the book. Things began to fall in place. This was the time when I accepted its unique style and everything began to make sense. There's more - Arundhati Roy makes the story to have a language of its own. What fascinated me is that, it narrates most serious issues with great sense of humor with precise comic timing and yet protecting the essence in them. No doubt some of the things mentioned are very explicit and may be labelled "controversial" and "vulgar". But as I said, you need to accept it and read along. It also details issues of Indian society like caste system, political tensions and complexity of forbidden love.
Secondly, the human emotions are very delicately and beautifully described. It could make one's heart go beating with gush of feelings through it. The minute details of Ayemenem and characters associated with it are elaborated very neatly in a very unique way. I am sure you will enjoy reading those passages. Talking about the story line, sometimes, it makes you wonder "What happened before that?" rather than "What will happen next?" This book is a work of "art". So, if you decide to read this, you need to accept it as it is. Then its definitely a fun read.
