At magic hour; when the sun has gone but the light has not, armies of flying foxes unhinge themselves from the Banyan trees in the old graveyard and drift across the city like smoke…’
So begins The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Arundhati Roy’s incredible follow-up to The God of Small Things. We meet Anjum, who used to be Aftab, who runs a guest-house in an Old Delhi graveyard and gathers around her the lost, the broken and the cast out. We meet Tilo, an architect, who although she is loved by three men, lives in a ‘country of her own skin’ . When Tilo claims an abandoned baby as her own, her destiny and that of Anjum become entangled as a tale that sweeps across the years and a teeming continent takes flight…
I absolutely adored ‘The God of Small Things’ – one of the best books I’ve ever read – and this novel, ten years in the making, is just as good.
This is a tricky book to explain; it’s almost impossible to summarise, so I won’t even try. It is so intricately woven and so complicated, but it isn’t difficult to read – in fact it’s an immense pleasure to do so because every single passage is so beautifully crafted. Arundhati Roy is a remarkable writer, a genuine talent and I heartily recommend this book not only to those who love to read, but also to those who write, because we could all learn a thing or two from the writing here.
I didn’t know a great deal about Kashmir before I read this book. The horrors of that ongoing conflict are told through some fascinating and compelling characters – which makes it all so much more disturbing. But the book is also life-affirming and positive, the kindness of strangers, of friends, of family overcoming the bloodshed and the violence.
I can’t recommend this book enough. I hope it doesn’t take the author another ten years to write her next novel.
Alison Williams Writing 