This is a rather difficult book to read and/or to review. While [a:Arundhati Roy|6134|Arundhati Roy|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1496705394p2/6134.jpg] is a prolific writer, the story in itself lacked in certain aspects. The book is very complex, political and a little confusing at times. It revolves around two main characters, Anjum, confused about her sexuality, and her place in the world, and Tilo, caught in the web of love and politics. The author is candid about her political views on the religious riots and Kashmir unrest, and for those who will have the patience to navigate through the multiple characters in the book, the story is deliciously handled through the main characters.
Is it exciting, and engrossing? Probably no. Readers who have very little idea about the era and the political environment that is captured within these 500 pages, are unlikely to favour this book at all. However, it was an enlightening experience for me to read through her opinion, her take on the circumstances that are and have been affecting us one way or the other.
The story is a poignant way of showing us how we tend to find or make happiness with our lives, and the cards that we are dealt with. How we love, unconditionally. How we long to belong. It was an intricate story of humanness.

3.5/5

This is, in essence, a book that takes us through time, twisting and turning from past to present, of all our graveyard residents - the societal "rejects" -- from Hijras to the "untouchables" to communists -- all of whom have fought for their right to survive against injustice, to them, to their family, to their community. In between, there is stark commentary on the Indian government, taking in pieces of historical events - from 1984 to the constant terrorizing of Kashmir. The ministry of utmost happiness, thus, is this: happiness created through and because of strife and despair. Happiness that is fought for, that does not appear to be of its definition right off the bat, but is happiness nonetheless.

If anything, this text is one created to launch radicalization at the bare minimum. Kashmir is, and will always be, its own land with its own people. No amount of petty fighting between India and Pakistan, entrapping Kashmiri individuals in the crossfire, will change that. And, the injustice that individuals who are not a part of the characteristic high-class castes endure is, cruel and inhumane. And, without violence enforcing change, things will likely continue to be the same.

I really loved The God Of Small Things, I do, but I just... I just can't with this. It's too broad, too ambitious, too meandering, too political.

This is the second book I have read by Arundhati Roy, first being The God of Small Things. First things first, Ms Roy has an impeccable style of writing. She describes the smallest of emotion, sound or an object as beautifully as a poem. I have been a fan of her talent since the first time I read her book.

The story revolves around two humans, different from each other but yet very similar. Aftab’s story which must be set in 1950’s and would also be known as Anjum later. Through Aftab’s eyes you see his struggles of being born as a man with female body parts, his struggles to accept and make his family accept the reality, becoming Anjum from Aftab, transition of the most beloved Anjum to the discarded Anjum, the horrific Gujarat riots which changed Anjum, her life post her return to Delhi and finally the Jannat Guest House at a graveyard.

There is another character which comes through very silently into the book, as if it was waiting patiently for the reader to seek. That character is of Tilo, an illegitimate child who’s mother is in Kerala. This character and its incidents are very much of today’s times. Through Tilo’s eyes you see her careless life of college, her impact on the three men of her life and how these three men weave their story along hers, and a Kashmir most of us don’t know anything about. Both characters meet towards the end and they naturally blend with each other as though they were each other’s skin, showering their motherly love on Miss Jubeen, the second, another discarded baby who was left on Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.

Ms Roy has kept each layer of human emotion intact and breathed life in all her characters. And there are a lot of characters who have equally important roles in the story.

I felt while reading this book that Ms Roy has reflected herself in Tilo’s character. Or maybe it was inspired by her own struggles and experiences all along. Either way, the book has some really strong and interesting characters which Ms Roy has shaped beautifully.

A lot of people may have a difference of opinions on her political ideology but to me it seemed very fact based. I may or may not agree with the narrative but if it is presented with facts, I will not close my eyes. Very delicately and carefully, Ms Roy has explained the political tensions brewing all over the country and has managed to weave a picture very close to reality.

I wish she writes more, the world needs to read more of Arundhati Roy.