Single yet Plural Story

Throughout The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy readers are provided with several different perspectives on a central story. The author begins the novel with a quote from John Berger, "Never again will a single story be told as though it's the only one." Rahel and Estha's family is complicated to say the least. The twins are thrown into a country and a family in turmoil. We experience their story in bits and pieces that focus on various characters. In many ways, we experience the story like a child. We learn the history of the family members in short periods of time, not in chronological order. As children, we know what the end of our grandparents story is, but we learn their journey to that ending at various times and family gatherings and usually only in small chunks. I firmly believe that the various experiences we have had in our past shape how we perceive the present. In the novel several family members are watching the same event unfold, but the personal crises and problems they are facing shape their reality. The story of the death of Sophie Mol is different for each character. By writing the novel in the manner she does, Roy takes readers through the journeys of the family members in the same way you learn about your own, which in some ways causes readers to feel as though they are a distant relative learning their own family's story. Readers feel connected to the characters, even the ones they loathe, creating a captivating novel, that while is in no means is an easy read, is still hard to put down.