The God of Small Things
by Arundhati Roy · first published 1997
60% recommend40% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Lyrical, richly observed novel set in Kerala, praised for its vivid sense of place and social setting; a good pick for readers wanting well-written literary fiction about India.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The God of Small Things is the debut novel of Indian writer Arundhati Roy. It is a story about the childhood experiences of fraternal twins whose lives are destroyed by the "Love Laws" that lay down "who should be loved, and how. And how much." The book explores how the small things affect people's behavior and their lives. The book also reflects its irony against casteism, which is a major discrimination that prevails in India. It won the Booker Prize in 1997.
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2022–2025Babel
R. F. Kuang, Michel Pagel
Recommended by 3 · mentioned by 133 recommend · 13 mention3 recommend · 133 recommend
2009–2026Midnight's Children
Salman Rushdie
Recommended by 18 · mentioned by 3018 recommend · 30 mention18 recommend · 3018 recommend
2011–2026The strangest man
Graham Farmelo
Recommended by 14 · mentioned by 1814 recommend · 18 mention14 recommend · 1814 recommend
Notes from the Underground
Fyodor
Recommended by 21 · mentioned by 3321 recommend · 33 mention21 recommend · 3321 recommend
2008–2026Flowers for Algernon
Daniel Keyes
Recommended by 63 · mentioned by 12063 recommend · 120 mention63 recommend · 12063 recommend
2008–2026The Stars My Destination
Alfred Bester
Recommended by 34 · mentioned by 4834 recommend · 48 mention34 recommend · 4834 recommend
2010–2026The Rational Optimist
Matt Ridley
Recommended by 18 · mentioned by 3518 recommend · 35 mention18 recommend · 3518 recommend
2017–2026There Is No Antimemetics Division
qntm
Recommended by 64 · mentioned by 8964 recommend · 89 mention64 recommend · 8964 recommend
Fiction War and Peace Crime and Punishment Count of Monte Christo 1984 God of Small Things Paradise lost Divine comedy Non fiction Selfish gene Meditations Madness explained (the best book I've encountered for explaining how the mind works) The Red Queen Tao te Ching
on “Ask HN: Which books do you wish you'd read earlier in life?” ↗The God Of Small Things Winner of the booker prize, a delightful tale set in Kerala, a province of India where our ancestors first landed on the subcontinent. Very well written, and invokes powerful imaginery of Kerela's environ…
on “Ask HN: Best books read in 2022” ↗Three Booker prize winners I’m particularly fond of: The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is another recent literary favorite
on “Books I Loved Reading in 2024” ↗…you can * Plato's Republic, maybe some other philosophy classics like Thus Spoke Zarathustra * Midnight's Children (how old does it have to be to be a classic?) * Paradise Lost, Iliad, Odyssey * The God of Small Things
on “Ask HN: You've got $300 to fill an empty library. What do you choose?” ↗This is something I’ve been interested in for ages. I recently went to India and the first thing I Googled was “best books set in India” (answers: Shantaram, A Fine Balance, Midnight’s Children, God of Small Things). So definitely something I would use. Some comments from me: 1. Needs to be much bigger. You currently have four books recommended for London, both fiction and non-fiction. But there are hundreds and…
on “Show HN: Destination Reads – Find the best books set in cities around the world” ↗…I went to Osteria Vibrato which was discovered and booked by my agent - Sends me 3 interesting discoveries every day based on what I am doing on GPT/Instagram/Google search. It recommended I read The God of Small Things in Kerala by finding my upcoming trip. Loved the book. - We curate my memory together, each day it sends me a memory diff by looking at my data which I manually edit and approve. Disclaimer: I am part…
on “Context Use – turn your data exports into portable AI memories” ↗…offer some kind of solace and hope for betterment -- yikes. Like Proust, Naipaul seems to like unpacking the (nonobvious, often directly contradicting the obvious) motivations behind actions, and like The God of Small Things, the picture that emerges is one in which nobody is all that good, though it mercifully lacks its clockwork-mechanism-of-misery aspect I generally find that books leave me with ideas and sensations that…
on “A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind (2010) [pdf]” ↗Check the style difference between "The God of Small Things" vs "No Great Mischief" both best sellers, very different styles.
on “The Problem with Writing-Style Advice” ↗Invisible Women If you liked Freakonomics, you will like this. It's not a rant, just one example after another of how we fail to account for half of the population. I just finished The God of Small Things. The writing is phenomenal, but it was not quite my kind of book, so it took me a bit of effort to finish.
on “Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?” ↗I was initially very surprised to see "The god of small things" in this list and even more so to see it at 32 in the list. But then, this is a list voted for by authors, critics and academics who are probably the only set where such books are popular.
on “100 Best Novels of All Time” ↗