I’m trying to figure out why I like it so much. It’s a damn entertaining story, but so are many others. The efficient prose delivers winner after winner, but other books have done that without being nearly as stirring. The characters, especially the kids, are written just right. The flightiness, the whimsy, the seriousness, the hang-ups they have, Rahel being keen to exchange punishments (missing dinner in exchange for Ammu loving her as much as before)… it rings true. But that isn’t it. I like the economic and political backdrop, esp. the Communist movement playing out behind the scenes until it interacts crucially with the main plotline and the whole Paradise Pickles venture, which takes several wild character-driven turns, mostly seen through child-colored glasses.
Perhaps it is the glasses which really makes it special, the non-linear structure that always seems to be spiraling in on something that you just can’t quite get at till the end, the way ideas and images keep coming back at unexpected moments in ways that remind you of past baggage and tint the current scene. The use of a cold, shivering-legged moth on the heart, the way orangedrink lemondrink shows up being sold at the station for the farewell-- the language, the things evoked-- they bounce off the page like superballs.
Ah, listen to me gush. I hope someone else has read this book, because I’d be interested to hear what they think of it. I’m at a loss to think of anything notable I disliked here, which hasn’t happened before.
Also, any authors that write in a similar God-I-Love-Reading-Every-Sentence style? Roy’s written another book, but being in China, I can’t exactly get stuff on command, so I just resort to browsing bookstores and various cafes (where they have bookswaps and used books shelves).