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{{Short description|1997 novel by Arundhati Roy}}
{{about|the Indian novel|the Nucksal album|The God of Small Things (album){{!}}''The God of Small Things'' (album)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox book 
| name = The God of Small Things
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = File:Thegodofsmallthings.jpg
| caption = First edition
| author = [[Arundhati Roy]]
| cover_artist = [http://www.granta.com/Contributors/Sanjeev-Saith Sanjeev Saith]
| country = [[India]]
| language = English
| genre = Novel
| awards = [[Booker Prize]] (1997)
| publisher = [[Random House]] (USA)<br />[[Random House of Canada]] (Canada)<br />[[HarperCollins]] (UK)<br />RST IndiaInk & [[Penguin Books]] (India)
| release_date = 15 March 1997
| media_type = Print (hardback & paperback)
| isbn = 0-06-097749-3
| oclc = 37864514
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}

'''''The God of Small Things''''' is the 1997 [[debut novel]] written by Indian author [[Arundhati Roy]]. The novel follows the seven-year-old twins Estha and Rahel as they navigate their childhood and the circumstances surrounding the arrival of their British cousin to [[Ayemenem]], [[India]]. The novel's events are set against the backdrop of social discrimination and political upheaval in 1960s [[Kerala]], with [[casteism]] and [[History of the British Raj|British colonialism in India]] being central themes.

Upon publication, the novel became a bestseller<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cunningham |first1=Valentine |title=Manufacturing a masterpiece |url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/55822/manufacturing-a-masterpiece |access-date=27 February 2026 |publisher=Prospect Magazine |date=20 December 1998 |language=en}}</ref> and was the recipient of the 1997 [[Booker Prize]]. ''The God of Small Things'' is Roy's most well known work and is considered a staple of [[postcolonial literature]].

==Plot==
The story is structured with a [[nonlinear narrative|disjointed narrative]] shifting between 1969 when the [[fraternal twins]] Rahel and Estha are children, and 1993 when they meet again in adulthood. Ammu Ipe, their mother, divorces their father and takes the twins with her when she returns to her family in Ayemenem. Chacko, Ammu's brother and the twins' uncle, returns from [[England]] after his divorce with Margaret, an English woman. The family home includes Mammachi, the ageing matriarch and mother to Ammu and Chacko, and Baby Kochamma, Pappachi's younger sister.

The death of Margaret's second husband prompts Chacko to invite her and their daughter, Sophie, to visit Ayemenem. On the road to the airport, the family encounters a group of [[Communism in Kerala|Communist protesters]] who surround the car and humiliate Baby Kochamma. Among the protestors, Rahel thinks she sees Velutha, an [[Untouchability|Untouchable]] servant who works for the family's pickle factory. Later at the theater, Estha is sexually molested by the "Orangedrink Lemondrink Man", a vendor working at the snack counter. Rahel's claim of seeing Velutha in the Communist mob leads Baby Kochamma to associate him with her humiliation. Rahel and Estha develop a bond with Velutha, while Ammu is drawn to him romantically, and they begin a clandestine relationship. When Velutha's father exposes their affair to Mammachi, Ammu is locked in her room and Velutha is banished. Ammu blames the twins for her plight, leading them to flee the house with their cousin Sophie, taking their boat in order to reach the abandoned house across the nearby river. The boat capsizes and Sophie drowns; Margaret and Chacko return to find her body dead on the sofa.

The twins shelter in the abandoned house; unbeknownst to them, Velutha is seeking refuge there as well. Baby Kochamma accuses Velutha of Sophie's death, leading to his brutal beating and arrest by the police, a traumatic event that is witnessed by the twins. At the police station, the twins are questioned by a police inspector, who realises Baby Kochamma's deception. Aware of Velutha's Communist ties, he fears unrest if the wrongful arrest is exposed, and he threatens Baby Kochamma for falsely accusing Velutha. To save herself, Baby Kochamma manipulates Estha and Rahel into implicating Velutha in Sophie's death. Velutha dies from his injuries.

Baby Kochamma convinces Chacko that Ammu and the twins are responsible for Sophie's death. Chacko ejects Ammu from the house and Ammu decides to separate the twins, sending Estha away to his father and boarding school. Rahel moves to America to attend university and work, and Ammu dies alone in a hotel room at 31 from a respiratory sickness. After a failed marriage and divorce, Rahel returns to Ayemenem and reunites with Estha, who lives a solitary, mute existence with Baby Kochamma and her servant, who are now the only occupants of the house. The twins reconcile and seek comfort in one another through [[incest|physical consummation]]. The novel concludes with a bittersweet reflection on Ammu's and Velutha's relationship.

==Characters==

=== Major characters ===
* Estha, Rahel's twin brother, a serious, intelligent and somewhat nervous child who becomes mute in adulthood
* Rahel, Estha's twin sister, an intelligent and impulsive child who becomes a detached drifter in adulthood
* Ammu, the twins' mother, an independent, strong-willed woman who is looked down upon due to her divorce
* Velutha, a Paravan caste carpenter for the Ipe family secretly involved in the local Communist movement, intelligent and kind with Ammu and the twins
* Chacko, Estha's and Rahel's maternal uncle, a proud [[Anglophile]] who studied at [[Oxford]] who professes Communist ideals while managing the Ipe family's pickle factory
* Baby Kochamma (named Navomi Ipe), the twins' resentful maternal great aunt who is spiteful towards the twins

=== Secondary characters ===
* Sophie, also known as "Sophie Mol," only daughter of Chacko and Margaret, but raised by Margaret and stepfather Joe, and Estha's and Rahel's [[Anglo-Indian people|half-British]] cousin.
* Margaret Ipe, Sophie Mol's English mother and Chacko's ex-wife
* Mammachi, the twins' grandmother and mother of Ammu and Chacko
* Pappachi, Rahel's and Estha's late grandfather, an embittered entomologist who physically abused Mammachi before being stopped by Chacko
* Kochu Maria, a cook and servant who lives in the Ayemenem House
* Baba, the twins' absent father and ex-husband of Ammu
* Vellya Paapen, Velutha's father
* Kuttapen, Velutha's older brother, who is paralyzed from the waist down from a work accident
* Father Mulligan, A priest that Baby Kochamma fell in love with when she was a young woman
* Mr. Hollick, Baba's boss at the Assam tea estate
* Larry McCaslin, Rahel's American ex-husband, their relationship ends once he realises Rahel cannot emotionally connect to him.
* Comrade K. N. M. Pillai, the hypocritical leader of the Communist Party in Ayemenem
* Inspector Thomas Mathew, a calculating policeman who leads the investigation into Sophie's death

==Development and publication==
===Development===
Roy began writing the manuscript for ''The God of Small Things'' in 1992 and finished four years later in 1996, leading to its publication the following year. The potential of the story was first recognized by [[HarperCollins]] editor [[Pankaj Mishra]], who sent it to three British publishers. Roy received a £500,000 advance, and the rights to the book were sold in 21 countries.

Arundhati Roy, after being involved with making films and writing screenplays, popularly ''[[In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones]]'' and ''[[Electric Moon]]'', "wanted to do something where I didn't have to deal with people; I wanted to do something alone." She bought a computer and soon figured out how to use it. She noted she didn't know she was writing a novel.<ref name="harperscollins" /> Roy took inspiration from her childhood experiences in [[Aymanam]], a village in the [[Kottayam district]] of [[Kerala]], [[India]], where she led an unprotected child's life. Being an "adult child", Roy observed and remembered what she sensed in the village and "said everything I wanted to say at that point of time" through writing the novel.<ref name="Estha, Rahel now speak Malayalam" /><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Barsamian |first=David |date=16 July 2007 |title=Interview with Arundhati Roy |url=https://progressive.org/magazine/interview-arundhati-roy-Barsamian/ |magazine=[[The Progressive]] |access-date=29 December 2024}}</ref><ref name="harperscollins">{{Cite web |url=http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/intv1/017/roy2.htm |title=Interview with Arundhati Roy: How Small Things Grow into Something Far Greater |author= |date=7 May 1997 |website=[[HarperCollins]] |access-date=29 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19971013220227/http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/intv1/017/roy2.htm |archive-date=13 October 1997}}</ref>

Roy began writing her first novel on her computer in 1992 in [[New Delhi]], though the first few months she "was just fooling around before I realized what was happening and got down to writing the book properly" and completed it in 1996.<ref name="harperscollins" /><ref>{{cite book| last = Roy| first = Amitabh| title = The God of Small Things: A Novel of Social Commitment| publisher = Atlantic| year = 2005| pages = 37–38| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2LgYuhRK0yIC&q=%22Pradip+Krishen%22&pg=PA37|isbn=978-81-269-0409-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last = Roy|first = Arundhati| title = The God of Small Things| publisher = HarperPerennial| year = 1998| pages = 321| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2GESvfIWs4YC|isbn=9780060977498}}</ref> Without a plan, she enjoyed that her writing "kept surprising" her and was unsure if she would ever finish it.<ref name="harperscollins" /> She didn't tell her friends or her husband [[Pradip Krishen]] about her writing, "afraid she would talk the tale out". Krishen adored when she showed him her final draft.<ref name="theindependent">{{cite news |last=Sachdeva |first= Maanya |date=April 8, 1997 |title=Goddess of Small Things |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/goddess-of-small-things-1266017.html |work=[[The Independent]] |access-date=February 21, 2024}}</ref> She "wrote it out of sequence. I didn't start with the first chapter or end with the last chapter. I actually started writing with a single image in my head: the sky blue Plymouth with two twins inside it, a Marxist procession surrounding it. And it just developed from there. The language just started weaving together, sentence by sentence."<ref name="salon">{{cite news |last=Jana |first=Reena |date=30 September 1997 |title=Arundhati Roy |url=https://www.salon.com/1997/09/30/00roy/ |work=[[Salon.com]] |access-date=28 December 2024}}</ref>

Roy stated that she never rewrote a written sentence in the novel and that arranging the plot took time, "but was never painful."<ref>Gani, Martin. An Interview with Arundhati Roy, the Author of The God of Small Things
. online pdf here: https://www.sosyalarastirmalar.com/articles/an-interview-with-arundhati-roy-the-author-of-the-god-of-small-things.pdf</ref> Roy said that the novel is semi-autobiographical. For instance, she modelled some of her characters from those she knew in real life, like her mother [[Mary Roy]] as Ammu, her maternal grandfather P.V. Issac as Pappachi, her uncle George Issac as Chacko, his ex-wife Cecilia Philipson as Margaret Kochamma just to say a few.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Abraham |first=Vinu |date=October 26, 1997 |title=Ayemenem country |url=https://www.theweek.in/webworld/features/society/ayemenem-country.html |magazine=[[The Week (Indian magazine)|The Week]] |access-date=January 6, 2025}}</ref> Roy's mother confirmed she was very similar to the character Ammu; however, unlike Ammu, she was never involved with a man of lower caste.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/Theres-something-about-Mary/articleshow/15871684.cms|title=There's something about Mary – Times of India|work=The Times of India|access-date=16 December 2017|archive-date=17 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817012123/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/Theres-something-about-Mary/articleshow/15871684.cms|url-status=live}}</ref>

Roy's training as an [[architect]] influenced her writing. One day, she "woke up and sketched the plot graphically with a series of drawings. That's when I understood what I was getting at."<ref name="theindependent" /> Writing the novel was "about [[design]]" and "like [[architecture]]" for her. She told ''[[Salon.com|Salon]]'' in 1997: {{blockquote|"In buildings, there are design motifs that occur again and again, that repeat—patterns, curves. These motifs help us feel comfortable in a physical space. And the same works in writing, I've found. For me, the way words, punctuation and paragraphs fall on the page is important as well—the graphic design of the language. That was why the words and thoughts of Estha and Rahel, the twins, were so playful on the page... I was being creative with their design. Words were broken apart, and then sometimes fused together. 'Later' became 'Lay. Ter.' 'An owl' became 'A Nowl.' 'Sour metal smell' became 'sourmetal smell.'"<ref name="salon" />}}

The novel's title was conceived at "the very last minute" while the manuscript was going to press. Speaking to ''[[HarperCollins]]'', Roy said: "One of the chapters was called ''The God of Small Things'', I don't know how that happened, ... When I read the book now I can't believe the amount of references there are to small things, but it was absolutely not the case that I started with the title and built the novel around it."<ref name="harperscollins" />

===Publication===
''The God of Small Things'' was published by various publishers in 1997. The potential of the story was first recognized by [[HarperCollins]] editor [[Pankaj Mishra]], who sent it to three British publishers. The rights for the novel were auctioned by her British agent, David Godwin, for $250,000 in the UK and $160,000 to Random House in [[New York City|New York]]. Godwin was alerted by Mishra, who took the manuscript along on a train trip and "overcome with excitement, broke the journey midway to telephone his congratulations to Roy." Godwin, after reading a sample chapter in [[London]], "booked the first flight to India on impulse ... and signed her up on the spot". Roy was paid $1.6 million in advance. She felt pressure to live up to her massive advance, but she said, "It's their business risk, ... I trust my book."<ref name="theindependent" /><ref>{{cite news |last=J. Cooper |first=Kenneth |date=October 19, 1997 |title=FOR INDIA, NO SMALL THING |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1997/10/20/for-india-no-small-thing/55341440-88e5-41e5-aaed-c9de9f6cb891/ |work=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=April 6, 2025}}</ref>

==Reception==
''The God of Small Things'' received stellar reviews in major [[American newspapers]] such as ''[[The New York Times]]'' (a "dazzling first novel",<ref>{{Cite news | last = Kakutani | first = Michiko | title = Melodrama as Structure for Subtlety | newspaper = [[The New York Times]] | date = 3 June 1997 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/03/books/melodrama-as-structure-for-subtlety.html }}</ref> "extraordinary", "at once so morally strenuous and so imaginatively supple"<ref>{{Cite news | last = Truax | first = Alice | title = A Silver Thimble in Her Fist | newspaper = The New York Times | date = 25 May 1997 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/25/reviews/970525.25truaxt.html }}</ref>) and the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' ("a novel of poignancy and considerable sweep"<ref>{{Cite news | last = Eder | first = Richard | title = As the world turns: rev. of ''The God of Small Things'' | newspaper = [[Los Angeles Times]] | page = 2 | date = 1 June 1997 |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/12168713.html?dids=12168713:12168713&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+01%2C+1997&author=RICHARD+EDER&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=As+the+World+Turns%3B+THE+GOD+OF+SMALL+THINGS.++By+Arundhati+Roy+.+Random+House%3A+321+pp.%2C+%2423&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604044505/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/12168713.html?dids=12168713:12168713&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+01,+1997&author=RICHARD+EDER&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=As+the+World+Turns%3B+THE+GOD+OF+SMALL+THINGS.++By+Arundhati+Roy+.+Random+House:+321+pp.,+$23&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 June 2011 | access-date =18 January 2010}}</ref>), and in Canadian publications such as the ''[[Toronto Star]]'' ("a lush, magical novel"<ref>{{Cite news | last = Carey | first = Barbara | title = A lush, magical novel of India | newspaper = [[Toronto Star]] | page = M.21 | date = 7 June 1997}}</ref>). ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' named it one of the best books of the year.<ref>{{Cite magazine | title = Books: The best of 1997 | magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date = 29 December 1997 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987619,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080306145812/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987619,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 March 2008 | access-date =18 January 2010}}</ref> Critical response in the United Kingdom was less positive, and the awarding of the Booker Prize caused controversy; [[Carmen Callil]], a 1996 Booker Prize judge, called the novel "execrable", and ''[[The Guardian]]'' described the contest as "profoundly depressing".<ref>{{Cite news | title = The scene is set for the Booker battle | publisher =BBC News | date = 24 September 1998 |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/179131.stm | access-date =18 January 2010}}</ref> In India, the book was criticised especially for its unrestrained description of [[sexuality]]. [[E. K. Nayanar]],<ref>{{Cite news | last = Kutty | first = N. Madhavan | title = Comrade of Small Jokes | newspaper = [[The Indian Express]] | date = 9 November 1997 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000605215053/http://www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/19971109/31350653.html |archive-date=5 June 2000 |url=http://www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/19971109/31350653.html | access-date =18 January 2010}}</ref> then Chief Minister of Roy's home state Kerala, voiced criticism about the book's depiction of women and sex, and she had to answer charges of obscenity.<ref>{{Cite news | last = Bumiller | first = Elisabeth | title = A Novelist Beginning with a Bang | work = [[The New York Times]] | date = 29 July 1997 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/29/books/a-novelist-beginning-with-a-bang.html | access-date =18 January 2010}}</ref> Some critics have pointed out that the reader reviews of this book on bookseller websites are so extremely opposed at times that it is difficult to imagine readers are talking about the same book.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things|last=Tickell|first=Alex|publisher=Routledge Taylor and Francis Group|year=2007|isbn=978-0203004593|location=UK USA Canada|pages=xiii}}</ref>

The book has since been translated into [[Malayalam]] by [[Priya A. S.]], under the title ''Kunju Karyangalude Odeythampuran'' ({{langx|ml|കുഞ്ഞുകാര്യങ്ങളുടെ ഒടേതമ്പുരാൻ}}).<ref name="Estha, Rahel now speak Malayalam">{{Cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/estha-rahel-now-speak-malayalam/article1156883.ece |title=Estha, Rahel now speak Malayalam |first=K. P. M.|last= Basheer |date=3 January 2012 |work=The Hindu |access-date=20 July 2015}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/world/bbc-toasts-indian-literature/cid/1717452 | title=BBC toasts Indian literature }}</ref>

In 2014, the novel was ranked in ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' as one of the 10 all-time greatest Asian novels.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-04-22|title=10 best Asian novels of all time|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10630332/10-best-Asian-novels-of-all-time.html|access-date=2020-12-06|website=The Telegraph}}</ref> On 5 November 2019, the [[BBC News]] listed ''The God of Small Things'' on its list of the [[BBC list of 100 'most inspiring' novels|100 most influential novels]].<ref name=Bbc2019-11-05/> Emma Lee-Potter of ''[[The Independent]]'' listed it as one of the 12 best Indian novels.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lee-Potter|first=Emma|date=2020-08-05|title=12 best Indian novels that everyone needs to read|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/books/fiction-books/best-india-books-literature-novels-salman-rushdie-arundhati-roy-a9264211.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/books/fiction-books/best-india-books-literature-novels-salman-rushdie-arundhati-roy-a9264211.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=2020-12-23|website=The Independent}}</ref>

In 2022, the novel was included on the "[[Big Jubilee Read]]" list of 70 books by [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] authors, selected to celebrate the [[Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2Ynpj933DJ2YG5nsMS6fn8k/a-literary-celebration-of-queen-elizabeth-iis-record-breaking-reign|title=The Big Jubilee Read: A literary celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's record-breaking reign|publisher=BBC|date=17 April 2022|access-date=15 July 2022}}</ref>

===Awards===
Roy was awarded the 1997 [[Booker Prize]] for ''The God of Small Things''. The award carried a prize of approximately US$30,000<ref>{{cite news |title=Arundhati Roy interviewed |first=David |last=Barsamian |work=The South Asian |date=September 2001 |url=http://www.the-south-asian.com/Sept2001/Arundhati_Roy-Interview1.htm |author-link=David Barsamian |access-date=21 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225031554/http://www.the-south-asian.com/Sept2001/Arundhati_Roy-Interview1.htm |archive-date=25 December 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref> and a citation that noted, "The book keeps all the promises that it makes".<ref>{{cite web | title = Previous winners – 1997 | publisher = Booker Prize Foundation | url = http://www.themanbookerprize.com/about/previous/1997.php | access-date =21 March 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070127162449/http://www.themanbookerprize.com/about/previous/1997.php |archive-date = 27 January 2007}}</ref> Roy donated the prize money she received, as well as royalties from her book, to human rights causes. However, the decision to award the novel was controversial. Callil said on television that it should not even have been on the shortlist. Booker Prize chairman [[Martyn Goff]] said Roy won because nobody objected, following the rejection by the judges of [[Bernard MacLaverty]]'s shortlisted book due to their dismissal of him as "a wonderful short-story writer and that ''[[Grace Notes]]'' was three short stories strung together".<ref>{{cite news |first=Dan |last=Glaister |url=http://www.sawnet.org/news/news220.html |title=Popularity pays off for Roy |work=The Guardian |date=14 October 1997 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050227170112/http://sawnet.org/news/news220.html |archive-date=27 February 2005}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
In 2013, ''[[Talkhiyaan]]'', a [[Pakistan]]i television series based on the novel, was aired on [[Express Entertainment]].

The band [[Darlingside]] credits the novel as the inspiration for their song "The God of Loss".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/event/music/450545356/first-watch-darlingside-god-of-loss |title=First Watch: Darlingside, 'God of Loss' |last=Boilen |first=Bob |date=29 October 2015 |publisher=NPR |access-date=25 April 2017 |quote="The character Velutha is tangled in a web of familial, cultural and romantic loyalties. The lyrics for 'The God of Loss' were inspired by Velutha's attempts to preserve his humanity in the face of those competing forces."}}</ref>

==References==
<references>
<ref name=Bbc2019-11-05>
{{cite news
| url = https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50302788
| title = 100 'most inspiring' novels revealed by BBC Arts
| publisher = [[BBC News]]
| date = 2019-11-05
| access-date = 2019-11-10
| quote = The reveal kickstarts the BBC's year-long celebration of literature.
}}
</ref>
</references>
* Ch'ien, Evelyn. "The Politics of Design: Arundhati Roy". In ''Weird English''. Harvard University Press, 2004.

==Further reading==
* ''Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things: Critique and Commentary'', by R. S. Sharma, Shashi Bala Talwar. Published by Creative Books, 1998. {{ISBN|81-86318-54-2}}.
* ''Explorations: Arundhati Roy's the God of small things'', by Indira Bhatt, Indira Nityanandam. Published by Creative Books, 1999. {{ISBN|81-86318-56-9}}.
* ''The God of Small Things: A Saga of Lost Dreams'', by K. V. Surendran. Published by Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 2000. {{ISBN|81-7156-887-4}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=L9Fx0g3wyrAC&q=The+God+of+Small+Things Excerpts]
* ''Arundhati Roy's The God of small things: a reader's guide'', by Julie Mullaney. Published by Continuum International Publishing Group, 2002. {{ISBN|0-8264-5327-9}}.
* ''Reading Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things'', by Carole Froude-Durix, Jean-Pierre Durix. Published by Editions universitaires de Dijon, 2002. {{ISBN|2-905965-80-0}},.
* ''Arundhati Roy's The god of small things: a critical appraisal'', by Amar Nath Prasad. Published by Sarup & Sons, 2004. {{ISBN|81-7625-522-X}}.
* ''Derozio To Dattani: Essays in Criticism'', by Sanjukta Das. Published by Worldview Publications, 2009. {{ISBN|81-86423-19-2}}
* ''The God of Small Things: A Novel of Social Commitment'', by Amitabh Roy. Published by Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 2005. {{ISBN|81-269-0409-7}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2LgYuhRK0yIC&dq=%22Pradip+Krishen%22&pg=PA37 Excerpts]
* ''Arundhati Roy's The god of small things'', by Alex Tickell. Published by Routledge, 2007. {{ISBN|0-415-35843-4}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZhpamUVJYNQC&dq=Khejarli&pg=PA34 Excerpts]
* Caste and The God of Small Things [[Emory University]].
* [https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/r/roy-god.html The God of Small Things, Chapter One – Paradise Pickles and Preserves] ''[[The New York Times]]''

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/133_wbc_archive_new/page5.shtml Arundhati Roy discusses ''The God of Small Things''] on the BBC ''[[World Book Club]]''

{{Booker Prize}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:God of Small Things, The}}
[[Category:1997 debut novels]]
[[Category:1997 Indian novels]]
[[Category:Booker Prize–winning works]]
[[Category:Books about the caste system in India]]
[[Category:Culture of Kottayam district]]
[[Category:Fiction about incest]]
[[Category:Novels set in 1969]]
[[Category:Novels set in 1993]]
[[Category:Indian English-language novels]]
[[Category:Indian novels adapted into television shows]]
[[Category:Nonlinear narrative novels]]
[[Category:Novels by Arundhati Roy]]
[[Category:Novels set in Kerala]]
[[Category:Obscenity controversies in literature]]
[[Category:Postcolonial novels]]
[[Category:Postmodern novels]]

The God of Small Things - Revision history

Shilpi: Created some pg w/ infobox