The God of Small Things - A Review

The fifth thing that strikes you about this book, once you reach the last pages, is the complete disregard for the 'normal' movement of Time in a story. The novel ends with a touching description of a single night (and the 13 nights which followed it), a night on which "...the Love Laws were broken. The laws which lay down who should be loved, how, and how much." A night on which a 'touchable' had sex with an 'untouchable'.

Imagine the storyline of the novel to be arranged in increasing order of time, from the past to the future. Now break it up into several pieces; different events. Rearrange the pieces in this way: place a significant event of the novel, which actually occurs in the middle of our original arrangement, right at the end (described above). Keep this event as a reference point. Place a few events which happen after the reference point, right in the beginning of our original arrangement, followed by a few events which happen before our reference point. Continue placing pieces one after the other, constantly juggling between events that happen after and before our reference point. The reference point itself is placed, as mentioned before, right at the end of our new arrangement. Insert hints and teasers of things that will take place later in the book. And you get the novel, 'The God of Small Things', in its actual form.

The novel is set in the town of Ayemenem, Kerala. A small town, with the caste system quite visibly prevalent. The story revolves around the twins Estha and Rahel, a boy and a girl. Their mother Ammu (the 'touchable'). And a man who has being doing odd jobs for the family, ever since he was a child, in exchange for a small plot of land for his father and crippled brother to live in: Velutha (the 'untouchable'...also 'the god of small things'). Velutha is a Paravan: a person of the lower caste. When they were children, Velutha used to make little toys out of dried palm leaves and place them carefully on Ammu's outstretched hand, so as not to touch her. Paravan's were not supposed to touch upper-class Syrian Christians. Years later the same Velutha and Ammu had the briefest of relationships: 14 days. They met by the side of a river near their house on each night. When Ammu's family got to know about this relationship, they were naturally furious. I would not like to reveal most of the plot here. So lets just say that a series of circumstances (some related to Ammu's relationship, some not) led to the death of Sophi Mol (the twins' cousin). To 'save' their honour, Ammu's family framed Velutha on charges of attempt to rape and kidnapping. But before I tell you what happened next...

The God of Small Things is essentially about a caste ridden, male dominant and highly traditional society. It also talks about politics and the rise of the Communist Party in Kerala. One of the things I'll always remember this book for is its use of the terms 'Love-Laws' and 'History'. According to the book the Love Laws were created hundreds of years ago; they are not officially recorded anywhere, they are just there in our heads. They signify the accepted norms, the prejudices, the generations old traditions in our society. At first glance, it might seem that the book is asking us to break the Love Laws (the societal rules which tell us who should be loved, how, how much). To be a rebel. Some of the characters in the book do, do that. Scratch the surface a little, and you realize that the book is trying to do more. What it is essentially trying to tell you, is frankly, quite depressing. Break the accepted norms of society (more specifically, the Love Laws) and you will be butchered by the world around you, in some way or the other. The 'butchers' can include politicians, the moral police, the real police, your own family...all of them (along with society's intolerance of rebels) are bundled into a neat little package, a term: History.

...Velutha is brutally beaten up by the police ('brutally' is an understatement, the scene is described in such vivid detail; we're told exactly how each bone in his body broke, how each muscle tore); he dies...Ammu is asked by her family to leave the house, she dies a lonely death...the twins live without a mother or father, they live very lonely lives, with 'holes' in their hearts, seperated from each other...

The book takes an innocent stand on what happened. It neither justifies nor criticizes the atrocities its characters experience. It simply says (time and again) that "...History negotiates its terms and collects its dues from those who break its laws".

Style. The book associates certain phrases with the characters. A character's mention is occasionally followed by the phrase associated with it (One Loved from the Beginning, One Loved a little Less, The God of Loss etc.). Certain lines in the book are repeated quite often. This did seem a bit irritating at first; but further along these constant repetitions managed to create a wholesome picture of the characters. Capitalisation of certain words is another technique used to give greater emphasis on certain aspects. Symbolism is another distinguishing characteristic. Rahels's feelings are often represented by this moth which spreads its wings and folds it.

And finally...

The first thing that struck me about this book...was the sheer beauty of the place it talked about: Kerala. God's own country is no stranger to me. My home town (Ayurkunnam) and Ayemenem (even if its a ficticious place) are located in the same district, Kottayam. But to read about the place I long to go to every summer, described in such a fresh and exotic manner...brought back memories. Nostalgia.

"...the hot May...the wet June...the countryside turns an immodest green...pepper vines snake up electric poles...and small fish appear in the puddles that fill the PWD potholes on the highways"

Aby Joseph
2009PH10702