Teaser Tuesdays: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

I was really excited when I heard the news that Arundhati Roy after the longest break was back with a new fictional book. The very day the book was published I was in the bookstore asking to buy a copy.

And then I read some lukewarm reviews, and then I saw that it didn’t make it into the Man Booker shortlist. And then I put this book on the backburner.

I couldn’t stay away from it too long though, and once I started I simply fell in love with the beautiful writing. Sure, the book has its flaws, but despite (or maybe because) I have fallen headlong in love with it.

Here’s a quote from the book – a woman musing about her lover.

They had always fitted together like pieces of an unsolved (and perhaps unsolvable) puzzle- the smoke of her into the solidness of him, the solitariness of her into the gathering of him, the strangeness of her into the straightforwardness of him, the insouciance of her into the restraint of him. The quietness of her into the quietness of him.

~ The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? Review of this book is coming up shortly.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

teasertuesdays31

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

3 comments

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  1. My Favorite Books of 2017 – Nishita's Rants and Raves

    […] The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy – I have yet to find the words to describe what I thought of this book. It has many flaws especially with the flow in the first half. However, once the character of Tillotamma enters the book, I completely fell in love with it. Also, this book is very Rushdie-like in tone. These two aspects were enough to make me fall in love with it. […]

  2. Karen

    I loved her first book but like you hesitat d wen I saw the mixed reviews for this latest novel.

    • Nishita

      @disqus_gmoXW9BOB2:disqus I am glad I waded in though. It’s very different from The God of Small Things. This book is a much more political novel, and hence does not appeal to everyone. But I loved the heart and thought behind the book. The writing is also amazing! I am now a hard-core fan of hers. I do hope she writes more fiction.

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