"And the Air was full of Thoughts and Things to Say. But at times like these, only the Small Things are ever said. The Big Things lurk unsaid inside."

Normally I capitalize every word in the heading of the blog post, which is always a quote from the book I have finished. This was the first and probably only (we'll see) time that I made sure that the capitalization matched what was in the book. Because there were so many nuances in the author's choices in the format of the text that were deliberate and added so much to the meaning of the content.

And ya'll. The God of Small Things blew me away. 

It got me to thinking. As an occasional writer (ok, so technical writing is my full time job, but occasional fiction writer), all writers have access to all the same words. Sure, there are some who have slightly more advanced vocabularies than others. But for the most part, 99% of the words we all know are the same. So what Arundhati Roy was able to do with words, all the same words as I have access to, just blew my mind. And certainly made me think, "Oh yeah, no way I could ever in a million years write the way she does." I don't mind being brought down many pegs to be able to experience something this brilliant. 

And I don't throw around the word brilliant often. I think I tend to be pretty tepid with saying that every book was one of the most amazing things I've ever read. But this book honestly is. There is so much vivid imagery and creativity in what she presents about the environment, the characters, their actions, their inner thoughts. Like nothing I've ever read. And such a clever use of repetition throughout the book for key details about the characters, their physical attributes, things that happen to them, the world they exist in. I may be repetitive myself, but all I can keep saying is that it just blew me away. It was a book that I delighted in getting drawn into and one that I know would benefit from being read a second time.

As a just a quick summary of the story, it tells of two inseparable fraternal twins, Rahel and Estha, who live in Ayemenem, India and the fateful events that occur when their cousin, Sophie Mol, comes to visit from England in 1969. The children have their own lush world, part imagination, part very harsh reality. There are complex family dynamics and each character's history is explored. There is a backdrop of political issues (the burgeoning of communism in India, the persistence of the caste system) and an illicit love affair that leads to some of the horrific events that conclude the novel. Although, while these events "conclude" the novel, the storyline is split up throughout the book and heavy foreshadowing allows the reader to have a pretty clear idea of how things are going to end. But that doesn't make it any less shocking and terrible.

This book just rocketed up my list of favorites. I will probably say it again and again, but I've really never read anything quite as exquisite and lush with imagery. And written in a way that is new and interesting and compelling. And not done just for the sake of doing it. But because that is the story and who these characters are and the fiber of every moment of the book is made better by the way it is written. I wish I could provide a better explanation of what exactly it is that makes this novel so exemplary, but even with 99% of the same words, I cannot even remotely do it justice. 

So read it. READ IT. 

I'm taking a momentary pause from the lists to pick up Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. I'm on break for the holidays starting next week so I wanted to pick up something to usher me into my glorious free time that I felt I could read quickly. I also have some quality time in the waiting room of a hospital next week, ripe for reading. We'll move on back to the lists after that. I'm hoping to finish this one before the end of the year and squeeze in a year recap post, but we'll see how that goes. 

197 left to go.