On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 12:43 PM, Nikhil Mehra <nikhil.mehra...@gmail.com>wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 11:04 AM, Shoba Narayan <narayan.sh...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> I LOVED God of Small Things. It was magically written and beautifully >> crafted. As a piece of fiction, it is quite wonderful. >> > > I thought GOST turgid in parts and good in others. > The thing with GOST is that your reaction to it is likely to depend on your reading aesthetic. I happen to like clear, spare, functional prose, and dislike the baroque expressionism of the likes of Roy and Rushdie. I see style as being a slave to substance, and dislike prose that drives attention to itself instead of driving the narrative, or which shows a fetish for detail. But I accept that these things are a matter of personal taste -- and I can see why someone who likes the more baroque stuff might like Roy. Her prose in GOST is indeed 'magically written and beautifully crafted', as Shoba writes. Some people like their food simple and subtly flavoured; others pile on the masala and garnish elaborately. This is hardly worth arguing about. Her non-fiction, on the other hand, I dislike in terms of both style and substance. The writing is overwrought, gimmicky (the tired capitalisations, for example) and excessively hyperbolic -- and don't get me started on her politics. -- Amit Varma http://www.indiauncut.com http://www.twitter.com/amitvarma
