Name: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
ISBN: 9781524733155

Arundhati Roy

A dazzling, richly moving new novel by the internationally celebrated author of The God of Small Things The Ministry of Utmost Happiness takes us on an intimate journey of many years across the Indian subcontinent--from the cramped neighborhoods of Old Delhi and the roads of the new city to the mountains and valleys of Kashmir and beyond, where war is peace and peace is war. It is an aching love story and a decisive remonstration, a story told in a whisper, in a shout, through unsentimental tears and sometimes with a bitter laugh. Each of its characters is indelibly, tenderly rendered. Its heroes are people who have been broken by the world they live in and then rescued, patched together by acts of love--and by hope. The tale begins with Anjum--who used to be Aftab--unrolling a threadbare Persian carpet in a city graveyard she calls home. We encounter the odd, unforgettable Tilo and the men who loved her--including Musa, sweetheart and ex-sweetheart, lover and ex-lover; their fates are as entwined as their arms used to be and always will be. We meet Tilo's landlord, a former suitor, now an intelligence officer posted to Kabul. And then we meet the two Miss Jebeens: the first a child born in Srinagar and buried in its overcrowded Martyrs' Graveyard; the second found at midnight, abandoned on a concrete sidewalk in the heart of New Delhi. As this ravishing, deeply humane novel braids these lives together, it reinvents what a novel can do and can be. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness demonstrates on every page the miracle of Arundhati Roy's storytelling gifts.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

"A richly moving new novel--the first since the author's Booker Prize-winning, internationally celebrated debut, 'The God of Small Things,' went on to become a beloved best seller and enduring classic. 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness' transports us across a subcontinent on a journey of many years. It takes us deep into the lives of its gloriously rendered characters, each of them in search of a place of safety -- in search of meaning, and of love. In a graveyard outside the walls of Old Delhi, a resident unrolls a threadbare Persian carpet. On a concrete sidewalk, a baby suddenly appears, just after midnight. In a snowy valley, a bereaved father writes a letter to his five-year-old daughter about the people who came to her funeral. In a second-floor apartment, a lone woman chain-smokes as she reads through her old notebooks. At the Jannat Guest House, two people who have known each other all their lives sleep with their arms wrapped around each other, as though they have just met. A braided narrative of astonishing force and originality, 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness' is at once a love story and a provocation -- a novel as inventive as it is emotionally engaging. It is told with a whisper, in a shout, through joyous tears and sometimes with a bitter laugh. Its heroes, both present and departed, have been broken by the world we live in -- and then mended by love. For this reason, they will never surrender. How to tell a shattered story? By slowly becoming everybody. No. By slowly becoming everything. Humane and sensuous, beautifully told, this extraordinary novel demonstrates on every page the miracle of Arundhati Roy's storytelling gifts."--

MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS.

Gigi V

Difficult to get through
Difficult to get through. Tried my best but I gave up.

i started this a few days ago and told myself i'd finish my other 'currently reading' books before starting this one. i didn't read anything else while reading this. i saw the reviews and decided i needed all my attention on every page.

they were right. this was a heavy read. i thought i'd power through the first half of the book, but as the last few pages of the final chapters came, i found myself being filled with emotions. i was about to cry.

i've been putting off long books recently because it was overwhelming for me, as someone who has been reading short books for a while now. but this and the two other long books i've read are exceptions. i think i'm ready to bury my nose in the pages of long books again. 

this book is one of its own in all the 'finished' books in my library. what a goddamn ride this book was. i wouldn't blatantly recommend this as of course i have to know if the person has a faint heart. but i really do liked reading this because i was disturbed. i was disturbed by the reality faced and that my privilege had made me ignorant. 

we must not uphold tradition that entails oppression.

kite

i started this a few days ago and told myself i'd finish my other 'currently reading' books before starting this one. i didn't read anything else while reading this. i saw the reviews and decided i needed all my attention on every page.

they were right. this was a heavy read. i thought i'd power through the first half of the book, but as the last few pages of the final chapters came, i found myself being filled with emotions. i was about to cry.

i've been putting off long books recently because it was overwhelming for me, as someone who has been reading short books for a while now. but this and the two other long books i've read are exceptions. i think i'm ready to bury my nose in the pages of long books again. 

this book is one of its own in all the 'finished' books in my library. what a goddamn ride this book was. i wouldn't blatantly recommend this as of course i have to know if the person has a faint heart. but i really do liked reading this because i was disturbed. i was disturbed by the reality faced and that my privilege had made me ignorant. 

we must not uphold tradition that entails oppression.

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018 AND THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017 'A sprawling kaleidoscopic fable' Guardian, Book of the Year * 'A dazzling return to form' Independent THE SUNDAY TIMES #1 BESTSELLER FROM THE BOOKER-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS 'An astonishing intimate epic. This is the novel one hoped Arundhati Roy would write about India' Daily Telegraph 'At magic hour; when the sun has gone but the light has not, armies of flying foxes unhinge themselves from the Banyan trees in the old graveyard and drift across the city like smoke . . .' So begins The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Arundhati Roy's incredible follow-up to The God of Small Things. We meet Anjum, who used to be Aftab, who runs a guesthouse in an Old Delhi graveyard and gathers around her the lost, the broken and the cast out. We meet Tilo, an architect, who, although she is loved by three men, lives in a 'country of her own skin'. When Tilo claims an abandoned baby as her own, her destiny and that of Anjum become entangled as a tale that sweeps across the years and a teeming continent takes flight . . . 'Glorious, colourful and compelling. Roy's second novel proves as remarkable as her first' Financial Times 'The book filled me with awe. Propulsive, playful, gorgeous' New York Times Book Review 'The unmissable literary read of the summer. With its insights into human nature, its memorable characters and its luscious prose, Ministry is well worth the wait' Time 'Staggeringly beautiful - a fierce, fabulously disobedient novel. Roy is writing at the height of her powers. Urgent, intimate ecstatic' Boston Globe 'A searing portrait of modern India' Tatler 'This vast novel will leave you awed by the heat of its anger and the depth of its compassion' Washington Post

‘The Literary Read of the Summer’ - Time

Prashanth Srivatsa

Arundhati Roy's return to novels is a strange experience. While there was always going to be a blurry, almost illusory, line between personal and political, they overlap at astonishingly great intervals. There is hardly a story in these pages, only an experienced, well-researched outburst against the government, casteism and conformism. But it is such a beautifully written outburst, with a never-ceasing morbidity, that you want to revisit some of that anger for their sheer power. She ends with hope, in a secular graveyard, but it all feels too liberating to be true.

Shona Tiger

Quite magical in some places. Loads of meandering. Pretty memorable. 3.5

'How to tell a shattered story? By slowly becoming everybody. No. By slowly becoming everything.'In a city graveyard, a resident unrolls a threadbare Persian carpet between two graves. On a concrete sidewalk, a baby appears quite suddenly, a little after midnight, in a crib of litter. In a snowy valley,a father writes to his five-year-old daughter about the number of people that attended her funeral.And in the Jannat Guest House, two people who've known each other all their lives sleep with their arms wrapped around one another as though they have only just met. Here is a cast of unforgettable characters caught up in the tide of history. Told with a whisper, with a shout, with tears and with laughter, it is a love story and a provocation. Its heroes, present and departed, human and animal, have been broken by the world we live in and then mended by love -- and for this reason, they will never surrender.

Charles Siboto

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness has followed me around like my own shadow for almost three months. I started it on a MyCiti bus in Cape Town and knew immediately that I would fall in love with it and that, like The God of Small Things, I would need to revisit it many times in order for me to uncover all of its beauty and secrets. I read it in Cape Town, on a plane to Johannesburg, and on a bus to my grandmother's place in the Eastern Cape where I would see my grandfather, whom I was not overly fond of, for the last time before he died. I read it on a bus back to Johannesburg and on a plane to Cape Town. I read it on a plane to Germany and finally on the couch in my wife's small village and my heart is broken and yet my spirit is uplifted. Arundhati Roy weaves the tales of characters like Anjum, Saddam Hussain, Tilo, Musa, Naga and Biplab with an effortless sort of magic. She makes light of war in a way that is as deadly serious as it is ridiculous, like war is. Big events play out in the background but the focus is on the characters whom you fall in love with because like many seemingly ordinarily and unremarkable people they are extraordinary and remarkable beyond what you would imagine.

Caroline Mao

4 stars

hhhh THIS TOOK ME FOUR MONTHS TO FINISH GOD

it just drags on a lot?? like wayy too much, but it's also just so well-written. like it's really not much like the god of small things but it does have that same incredible writing style, that sense of poetry and fantastic imagery!!! there's more of a sprawling, epic kind of feel whereas the god of small things felt very contained within itself...it was about a family but this is about a country, you know? (but really they're both about countries.)

but also it took me four months to finish and i felt so frustrated with it at times i wanted to scream. it's really a book you need patience for.

but it's INCREDIBLE. god. i felt so deeply satisfied and emotional after it was over. anjum is such an incredible character. and tilo too. those two are really the best characters in the whole novel. i really like our heroines, they're wonderful and interesting and i care so much about them. plus i like how it sort of goes into the modern day? like. oh, this is still happening.

anyway. i just really love it tbh it's great. and the ending makes my heart happy :')

How to tell a shattered story? By slowly becoming everybody. No. By slowly becoming everything.' In a city graveyard, a resident unrolls a threadbare Persian carpet between two graves. On a concrete sidewalk, a baby appears quite suddenly, a little after midnight, in a crib of litter. In a snowy valley, a father writes to his five-year-old daughter about the number of people that attended her funeral. And in the Jannat Guest House, two people who've known each other all their lives sleep with their arms wrapped around one another as though they have only just met. Here is a cast of unforgettable characters caught up in the tide of history. Told with a whisper, with a shout, with tears and with laughter, it is a love story and a provocation. Its heroes, present and departed, human and animal, have been broken by the world we live in and then mended by love -- and for this reason, they will never surrender.

Ministry of Utmost Happiness The

Maria-Stefania Popa

“She knew he'd be back. No matter how elaborate its charade, she recognised loneliness when she saw it. She sensed that in some strange tangential way, he needed her shade as much as she needed his. And she had learned from experience that Need was a warehouse that could accommodate a considerable amount of cruelty.”

Amanda Wells

First things first - this book was beautifully written. The language was gorgeous, and littered with scraps of poetry from a number of languages and contexts. For the story itself I probably would have rated this a four star book, but for the language... *clutches heart*

As for the story (or more accurately, stories), I was most engaged and in love with Anjum. She was such a wonderful character to see the world through, and I dearly missed her when we switched perspectives. While the other characters gave engaging and interesting perspectives, I found myself actually pulled out of the story a few times, as I just wanted to return to Anjum. 

I think the reason it jarred me so much, was that I had thought I was going to read the story of Anjum, when in fact this is a story (stories) about Kashmir and the people caught up in / creating / participating in the conflicts and tensions there. This story is fascinating, heartbreaking and very complicated, and I appreciated having diverse and very individual perspectives on this on-going conflict.

I learned a little of what is going on, and has gone on in Kashmir at University, having studied 'The History of India' at post-grad level (a title torn apart as soon as you started the course and realised that a singular history of India is impossible given the size of the country, and its very diverse populations). I was also acquainted (online) with a person who lives in Kashmir, and who posted about recent crackdowns and conflicts occurring, before he disappeared from that virtual space. So I found it very interesting to have certain blanks in my knowledge filled in. I shy away from reading news articles about Kashmir, as I never know where the information is coming from - there are usually only two options when it comes to Kashmir: exaggeration, or downplay. But somehow reading about it from a fictional perspective made it easier to understand the breadth and depth of the issues. I didn't have to believe or disbelieve anything, because it was fiction - but it spoke to the real and deep conflicts that have occurred and continue to occur in that region.

I would absolutely recommend this book for a number of reasons. Primarily: it is beautiful. Secondly: it is a story that focuses on a region you don't often see in mainstream fiction. Thirdly: the inclusion of the perspective of Anjum, a hijra, certainly fits the criteria of a 'diverse' character, but also she individually is such a unique character. I loved her, and I think she'll definitely be one of my favourite characters from this year.

Shantesh Patil

Loved every bit of it. Having visited Kashmir just a couple of months ago made reading this book even more special. It's a book both brutal and funny in equal measure.

Laura

I never thought I'd actually read this book. I say this because I never had any desire to read The God of Small Things, even though people rant and rave about it and I still see it referenced quite a bit even though it's been 20 years (Christ, didn't think it's been that long) since it came out. But I don't know. There was something about this novel that drew me into it, perhaps it was the cover, perhaps it was the summary, but that compelled me to pick it up.

Honestly, I still have mixed feelings about it. I think I kind of convinced myself I liked it more than I did because the good parts are really good. I loved the first quarter with Anjum and her life, really liked the second part with the intelligence officer as it reminded me of Breakfast at Tiffany's, and then the book took a downhill turn. The third part was just plain confusing, and the fourth part was not nearly strong enough to recover from the confusingness of the third part. 

The main source of my confusion was the whole parts about the Kashmir war. While I did gather that it had something to do with India vs Pakistan and Hindus vs Muslims, Roy did not explain it well at all. It made me wonder what audience she was writing this book for, her fellow Indians (who are already aware of the wars and contention surrounding Kashmir) or the Western audience (who have no knowledge and would require pages upon pages of exposition just to tell what's going on). I think she settled on a compromise that pleased no one, because I still had to look up Kashmir on Wikipedia after reading.

Continue reading this review on my blog here: https://bookwormbasics.blogspot.com/2...