Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things (Continuum Contemporaries) [Paperback]

Julie Mullaney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0826453279 | ISBN-13: 978-0826453273

This is part of a new series of guides to contemporary novels. The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years – from ‘The Remains of the Day’ to ‘White Teeth’. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Study Aids Get Chic
Concerned about keeping up at the book club? Stuck for something to say when dinner party talk turns to Zadie Smith? Or no time to read Captain Corelli’s Mandolin before the movie comes out? Never fear, cool new study aids are here in the form of Continuum Contemporaries....The Novel Approach, a series of handy readers’ guides to contemporary fiction. Launching in September, with further waves in January and May 2002, they’re much slicker than the frumpy cheat-aids of yore, including everything from website links to review buzz, and deliberately featuring new novels such as Bridget Jones’s Diary, The Shipping News, Trainspotting, and even the Harry Potter books." —Time Out (London)

"A brilliant idea—short, perceptive books which tell you what you need to know about some of the most vibrant and challenging writing around today—a bit like having a reading group in your pocket."—Ian Rankin

"The series comes as near to squaring various circles - popular / academic, 'good read' / 'classic Lit', novel / film of the book as any I know. And at best it goes a fair way towards reshuffling those categories and redrawing the boundaries. With the first volume, I was relieved. After two or three, I was hooked.

The books are invaluable for gathering out-of-the-way or ephemeral comment from TV and radio interviews and the web as well as from literary reviews.

Refreshingly upfront and up-to-date…

Given the space, there are remarkably balanced film/novel comparisons of the most well-known examples…

An important feature is the fully referenced bibliographies, including reviews and copious website addresses - the latter ranging from fanzines and authors' and publishers' own sites to academic discussion lists and online journals.

In method as in subject matter, these guides move freely on the interface between print culture and multimedia. Highly finished and pleasantly handleable as books in their own right, they gesture accommodatingly to both words and worlds beyond.

Taking the series as a whole, it also confirms two things: that narrative nowadays is generically highly hybrid and increasingly cross-media; and that an understanding of the processes of writing and reading 'contemporary classic' (or at least 'currently famous') fiction cannot be separated - yet must be distinguished - from the processes of making and marketing books and films."
— The Times Higher Education Supplement, May 31, 2002


"…invaluable for gathering out-of-the-way or ephemeral comment from TV and radio interviews…the web…[and] literary reviews." (The Times Higher Education Supplement )

From the Publisher

This is an excellent guide to Arundhati Roy’s prize-winning novel. It features a biography of the author, a full-length analysis of the novel, and a great deal more. If you’re studying this novel, reading it for your book club, or if you simply want to know more about it, you’ll find this guide informative and helpful.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (March 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826453279
• ISBN-13: 978-0826453273
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #565,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very high quality reader's guide, August 2, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things (Continuum Contemporaries) (Paperback)

This is the third of these guides that I have read, and they have all been very good so far. (The other two were about The Poisonwood Bible and The Shipping News.)This one follows the same basic idea. There is a chapter about the author, which is very interesting about Roy's upbringing and political background. And then there is a bigger chapter which looks at the book itself. It's intelligent without being difficult to read, and it's clear without being patronising or dumbed-down. This is a long way away from the Cliffs Notes I used to use back in school! But my favourite chapters in each of these books that I've read so far are the ones about the reviews that the novels got when they were published. It is just fascinating to see how the literary establishment reacted to this novel when it first appeared, and how some people picked up on the resonance of it immediately, and others seemed to miss the point. Anyway, I enjoyed this book very much, and I learned quite a lot about Indian literature in the process.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than a Guide: A Scholarly Work, May 31, 2006

By 

David A. Brown (Columbia, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things (Continuum Contemporaries) (Paperback)

The novel resonated with me on so many levels that I simply needed to dig deeper, so I bought my first reader's guide ever. What I found was a scholarly work as fascinating as the novel itself. It not only illuminated the structure and symbolism of Roy's book, it provided a rich background of the story's setting in India, comparisons to other Indian authors' works, and the political climate that led Roy to concentrate on social activism after her first and only novel.

I was thrilled by the intellectual stimulation of reading Dr. Mullaney's guide and wanted more. In addition to the many references and recommended reading that she includes in this guide, you can find more of her own writing through the Manchester Metropolitan University's English Research Institute. This one guide has opened new vistas for an old engineer used to reading non-fiction, sci fi, survival stories, poitical thrillers, and the like. I've always appreciated excellent writing whatever the genre, but now am once again a student. Such thorough research, clear thinking, and precise exposition is refreshing and infectious.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The God of Small Details, January 21, 2007

By 

Paula C. Aird - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things (Continuum Contemporaries) (Paperback)

This story is artistically crafted and exceptionally poetic with lots and lots of similes and repetition. The author clearly has her own unique style. The story moves backwards and forwards - it is often difficult to keep these shifting time periods in perspective - and in the telling we learn many historical facts: we note the complications of beurocracy, the legacy of colonization, the influence of American TV, sexual molestation, the unjust treatment of untouchables, etc... The greatness of this book lies in the way the writer has crafted her story. She is without doubt the God of Small Details.

Although I found this story rambling at times, I highly commend the tremendous artistry of this author in this tale of love and loss.