The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
This is another book I judged by the cover purely for its tactile appeal but it didn’t disappoint between the covers either. Roy’s writing is often rich and intense interspersed with small bubbles of calm. The story was, admittedly, a little hard to get into as I wasn’t sure what was going on, to start with, but I did persevere and I’m glad I did. I learnt a lot about a region that I was totally ignorant of before which prompted me to do a little bit of research and educate myself on the difficulties and plight of a region that has received very little exposure.
‘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.‘ (GoodReads Review)
If you enjoy a good read interlaced with a little bit of interesting history, then gives this book a try…it certainly won’t disappoint. I give this book FOUR COFFEE CUPS ☕☕☕☕