Must-Reads of the New Era: Bringing Hope and Light to Illustrate Human Worth Amid the Massive Extinction of Humanity and a Call for Moral Awakening
Arundhati Roy is an Indian author, humanist, and rights activist who raises revolutionary inquiries to expose the glaring realities of the structural inequalities created by stagnant governance and social systems to uphold and change the course of social justice, economic inequality, and environmental degradation.
Through her writing, she delves into the root causes of inequality and injustice in the social system and how the social system is weaponized to raise capitalism and is continuously nurtured to sustain injustice and economic inequality. She rigorously criticizes the make-believe growth narrative of stagnant and corrupt governance systems that use the poor as capital to augment their capitalistic goals. In this system, the poor become poorer and gradually diminish in the cycle of poverty.
She is one of the non-expatriate Indian authors whose book became an international bestseller. She is best known for her groundbreaking debut novel “The God of Small Things,” which is highly acclaimed for its semi-autobiographical nature, covering a significant part of her childhood in Aymanam.
Roy began writing the novel “The God of Small Things” in 1992 and concluded in 1996 – five years of creative imagination and in-depth recapitulation that swept away the readers and immediately became a bestseller. “The God of Small Things” won her international fame and led to her success in winning the highly acclaimed International Man Booker Prize in 1997 for fiction and being listed as a Bestseller in The New York Times.
About the author
Born on 24th November 1961, in Shillong, Meghalaya – a beautiful hill station with misty mountains, exquisite landscapes, aromatic flowers, and serene tribal cultures. Roy’s mother, Mary Roy, was a women’s rights activist of Syrian Christian descent who challenged India’s inheritance law and sought justice for an equal share of her father’s property. Her father, Rajib Roy, is a Bengali tea planter. After her parents’ separation, she moved to Kerala and grew up in Kerala, Tamil Nadu.
Later, she moved to Delhi to study architecture at the School of Planning and Architecture. She joined the National Institute of Urban Affairs. She married Gerald Da Cunha in 1978 and separated in 1982. Later, she worked with Pradip Krishen in two award-winning movies and collaborated on a television series about India’s independence. They married but live separately in Delhi.
Roy won the National Film Award for Best Screenplay in 1988 for her screenplay for “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones.” She aspired for a writing career rather than in architectural design. She wrote several TV dramas and fully immersed herself in her writing career as she began writing “The God of Small Things” in 1992.
In 1997, she published her widely acclaimed, groundbreaking debut novel “The God of Small Things.” Her novel was an immediate success and became the bestselling book by a non-expatriate author. In her trailblazing writing, she moved away from the regular trend of bestselling semi-autobiographical traditional plots and light prose to a new form of artistic vigor with a blend of South Asian themes and characters with rich lyrical composition. She won the Man Booker Prize for this novel in 1997.
In her later works, Roy produces immersive nonfiction that focuses on the political and socio-economic difficulties and problems of her homeland on the verge of global capitalism.
Some of her remarkable non-fictions are “Power Politics” (2001), “The Algebra of Infinite Justice” (2002), “War Talk” (2003), “Public Power in the Age of Empire” (2004), “Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers” (2009), “Broken Republic: Three Essays” (2011), “Capitalism: A Ghost Story” (2014), and “My Seditious Heart” (2019). After 20 years of the publication of her first novel, Roy published her second novel “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness” in 2017, which was chosen for the longlist of the Man Booker Prize in 2017 and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2018.
This story is a blend of exploratory encounters with contemporary issues in India and its Kashmir issues. Roy contributes most of her time to political activism and nonfiction on the anti-globalization movement that challenges neo-imperialism and environmental causes.
She is a strong advocate of humanism, a supporter of the independence of Kashmir, and against the Narmada Dam Project. For her environmental and human rights activism, she has faced trials for challenging governance. For her unwavering and candid human rights advocacy, she was awarded the Lannan Cultural Freedom Award in 2002, the Sydney Peace Prize in 2004, and the Sahitya Akademi Award from the Indian Academy of Letters in 2006.
Spoiler-Free Summary of Arundhati Roy ‘s Books
The God of Small Things
“The God of Small Things” is filled with mind-blowing imagery, vivid descriptions of nature, and insights into human nature, all combined into a narrative that creates an illusory style, evolving into a new genre of prismatic literature. The story, set against the backdrop of family drama in Kerala, India, challenges social taboos and political games amidst the historical significance of the caste system.
Roy masterfully reveals the blatant frailty of adults, posing questions to younger minds through a tale that is both heart-wrenching and magnificently illustrated with unbelievable symbolism. This prismatic approach exposes the many shades of seemingly white light—a light that reveals the darkness of the illusory white.
“’The God of Small Things’ offers such magic, mystery, and sadness that, literally, this reader turned the last page and decided to reread it. Immediately. It’s that haunting.” —USA Today
“The quality of Ms. Roy’s narration is so extraordinary—at once so morally strenuous and so imaginatively supple—that the reader remains enthralled all the way through.” —The New York Times Book Review
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Two decades after the publication of her first novel, Roy released her profound and original second novel, “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness,” in 2017. This whispering tale shouts against the domination of social stigmas that silence individuals and paradoxically disrupts falsified peace accords, echoing the long-silenced and crumbled human existence like the voice of freedom in Kashmir.
Recognized as a New York Times bestseller and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Roy is a brilliant storyteller who reinvents her protagonists to never lose hope, despite being broken patches in a paradoxical world.
“A fiercely unforgettable novel…a love story with characters so heartbreaking and compelling they sear themselves into the reader’s brain.” —Patty Rhule, USA TODAY
“Epic in scope, sharply realized. . . an engaged story, with many threads, that blends tragedy and political outrage with a humane and hopeful vision of the future…’The Ministry of Utmost Happiness’ places Roy at the forefront of Indian literature.” —Gregory McNamee, Kirkus
“Dazzling. . . expansive, touching . . . a novel teeming with indelible characters. Roy shifts places, time periods, and viewpoints with the grace of a master choreographer…’Ministry’ is a beautifully written, powerful story [that] spans a continent and several decades of war and peace and people who live in places and on the streets, as well as undercover and underground—a novel that’s worth the wait. Once again, Arundhati Roy has told a real story.” —Renee H. Shea, Poets & Writers (cover story)
“Brilliant. . . well worth the wait. Roy looks unflinchingly at poverty, human cruelty, and the absurdities of modern war; somehow, she turns it into poetry. Highly recommended.” —Kate Gray, Library Journal, (starred review)
“Roy’s novel will be the unmissable literary read of the summer. With its insights into human nature, its memorable characters, and its luscious prose, ‘Ministry’ is well worth the wait.” —Sarah Begley, TIME
Opinion about Arundhati Roy ‘s Books
Arundhati Roy creates a sanctuary for readers and her characters, allowing them to navigate through the pain and discrimination perpetuated by society and politics that threaten to suffocate the essence of human kindness. She brings to light untold, silenced, and whispered truths through her brilliant use of imagery, connecting these images with the impacts of environmental and natural forces.
These two novels showcase Roy’s unparalleled talent in revealing the truth about the greed and malevolence lurking within what appears to be a true and perfect world. The imperfections and wickedness of political and social stigmas are presented as far more dangerous, leading society and the environment towards a potential apocalyptic end.
Roy’s vivid descriptions reveal the rich cultural depth and originality of South Asian literature, possessing a universal appeal that connects readers to the raw essence of human nature.
Books by Arundhati Roy
- Azadi
- Capitalism: A Ghost Story
- The Doctor and the Saint: The Ambedkar – Gandhi Debate
- An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire
- The Algebra of Infinite Justice
- Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers
- Walking With The Comrades
- Things that Can and Cannot Be Said: Essays and Conversations
(with John Cusack) - The Cost of Living
- The End of Imagination
- My Seditious Heart: Collected Nonfiction
- The Shape of the Beast: Conversations with Arundhati Roy
- In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones
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