Opinion on this book has been sharply polarized. There are quite a few people who are subconsciously reviewing the book keeping the author’s public image in mind and thus missing the woods for the trees.
I’ve read this book quite a few times and while I like this book, its definitely not a classic and definitely not a MUST read.
And heres why.
Most Keralites have fond memories of their native village or town and Ms.Roy herself seems to be reliving her summer vacations in her native place with her wonderful descriptions of Ayemenem.
The backdrop of a crumbling social order serves as a fitting base for the story. I sometimes feel that Ms.Roy could easily have replace the Syrian Catholic community with the Brahminical Namboothiris and still achieved the same result, coz the main theme is of times changing and people being left behind.
The early days of Communism have been deftly portrayed. Little wonder that quite a few people have risen up in arms for the rather flippant dismissal of the communist leader E.M.S.
The twins are obviously scarred from the start of life - due to their unique birth, their current unwelcome status at Ayemenem and Estha additionally by the cool drinks man. The arrival of Sophie mol serves to increase their sense of alienation. And then there is Velutha . One of the more enigmatic characters in this story.
The khakhi-shorts clad policemen, the servile Untouchable father, the Anglophile Chacko, the hyprocite grandaunt, the armpit scratching Comrade Pillai are all brilliantly etched out characters who seem to have fallen into the movie from real life. Kudos to the author.
Inspite of all this, the story does not hold together.
I felt that Velutha was not fully etched out. In fact the lust/romance between Ammu and Velutha has not been properly brought out. Why did she fall in love with this guy? What made a twice born Syrian Christian land-owning Ammu fall out of station and love Velutha-the Untouchable. There is no proper build up to this relationship by the author, which is why most of these questions go unanswered. It would have been awesome if the author had got complete closure on this. And in not doing so, a potential KO punch has been missed out. Instead its almost like a run-of-the-mill Bollywood script writer trying to sort things out in the cliched climax.
Sentence constructions in the story are very unusual. Quite often we see sparkling nuggets of literary genius and in most other places, sheer boredom. Sometimes we can smell the oil on the pickle jars and at other times, it feeling like studying for an exam with heavy migraine.
As for the climax scene, I am kinda ok with that. Rachael and Estha are locked in a world were they can only communicate with each other. So incest(if it was incest) seems justified by the story.
On the whole, if this had been any other authors work, it would not have got the same level of literary acclaim(or brickbats). I would rate it at(3/5). To give a comparitive idea, I would rate the Lord of the Rings at(4.9/5), Munshi Premchand’s Gowshala at(4/5) and Pride and Prejudice at(4.5/5)
I do wish however that she had gone on to write some more, rather than resting her oars to the plaudits earned from this one