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The God of Small Things cover art

The God of Small Things

Written by: Arundhati Roy
Narrated by: Siobhan Finneran, Paul Bhattacharjee, Yasmin Wilde, Richard Sumitro, full cast
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Publisher's Summary

A full-cast BBC Radio dramatisation of Arundhati Roy's Booker Prize-winning novel—plus bonus interview with the author.

Arundhati Roy's debut novel The God of Small Things took the literary world by storm, winning the Booker Prize in 1997. It went on to sell over six million copies in 40 languages, and was named as one of the BBC's 100 'Novels That Shaped Our World' in 2019.

Set in Kerala in both the present and 1969, it tells the compelling tale of fraternal twins Rahel and Estha, whose lives are shattered by the 'Love Laws' that dictate 'who should be loved, and how. And how much'. As children, they are inseparable: so close, they think of themselves as one person. But when they are just seven, everything changes. A terrible tragedy occurs, and, drawn into its devastating repercussions, they are forced apart.

Twenty-three years later, Rahel has moved to America and made a new life. But when she hears that Estha has been 're-returned', she travels to Ayemenem to be with her long-lost, broken brother. As painful memories come flooding back, the heartbreaking events of the twins' childhood gradually unfold, and through flashbacks and flash-forwards, the secrets of their desperately dysfunctional family are revealed....

A powerful story of forbidden cross-caste love and what a community will do to protect the old ways, this enthralling, atmospheric drama stars Yasmin Wilde, Richard Sumitro and Shaheen Khan, and features a haunting soundtrack by internationally renowned musician Nitin Sawhney. Also included is a bonus episode of Radio 4's Bookclub from 2011, in which Arundhati Roy talks to James Naughtie about what was then her only work of fiction. Taking questions from the audience, she discusses the novel's themes and symbolism, and reveals how her training as an architect helped her plan its complex, multi-layered structure.

Production credits:

Written by Arundhati Roy.

Adapted by Tanika Gupta.

Original music by Nitin Sawhney.

Produced by Nadia Molinari.

Cast:

Rahel—Yasmin Wilde

Estha—Richard Sumitro

Young Rahel—Jatlnder Purewal

Young Estha—Shakeel Ahmed

Ammu—Thushani Weerasekera

Velutha—Paul Bhattacharjee 

Sophie Mol—Poppy Rush

Chacko—Vincent Ebrahim

Baby Kochamma—Josephine Welcome

Mammachi—Shaheen Khan

Inspector—Matthew Raadrawl

Vellya—Badi Uzzaman

Kochu—Adlyn Ross

Margaret—Slobhan Finneran

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 12th-23rd July 2004.

Bookclub: Arundhati Roy—The God of Small Things

With James Naughtie and Arundhati Roy.

Produced by Dymphna Flynn.

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 2nd October 2011.

©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

What listeners say about The God of Small Things

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Surreal and yet hard hitting in its realism

This is the first time I actually managed to finish the book from start to end (the last many attempts found me lost in the labyrinths of description and imagery that invariably drowned and overwhelmed me to a point of not being able to move further. Thanks to Audible I finally got around to finishing a book I've longed to read in its entirety for years! The production is just perfect! A big thank you to every single one of you out there (the author and the performers alike) for this beautiful presentation.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A powerful narrative

Loved it from the beginning to the end. Very relatable concepts describing the atrocities meted out to a society by the extremists who continue these evil practices to date.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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God damn! Beautiful imagery

She describes everything so visually, I can physically feel how the characters feel and sometimes taste or smell what the characters are experiencing.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Rawness Narrativized

To this day, I have never experienced a story so raw in its descriptions and depictions. It has been weeks after listening to this audio book and I can still feel the pain from the tugs that this story made at my heart strings. The still and moving images it made in my head will forever remain there, as if I were the characters. For me, that's a testament to the exceptional talent, skill and passion of the author, Arundhati Roy.
The only issue I have with this audio book is the pronunciations in the narration, but I will chalk that up to me being a perfectionist Malayali. But I highly commend the narrators, sound directors and all the members of the crew, for their successful effort in breathing life into the words. I thoroughly enjoyed the interview with Ms. Roy at the end.
To everyone looking forward to listening to "The God of Small Things", you have picked a gem from the English literature!

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What an awesome narration..

Loved and mesmerised the amount of effort they invested in making the narrative so beautiful 🤩

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Good story for Indian context

Good plot for Indian context, not the most creative or captivating storyline, but human emotions are captured well

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Very unusual narrative

Very unusual narrative. This is an abridged version of the novel. It was hard to follow the story line in the beginning. But gradually got interesting. May be an unabridged version is better as I didn't find anything find exciting to live up to the hype of this book!

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Gross

I didn’t like it. Sex is not a way for any emotional healing and that too between twins. If the writer is against love laws then she just putting forth the idea of any two people having sex for example, Rahel and ammu also.

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