Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Rose City Reader's notes re: Offshore and The God of Small Things

I hate to interupt Trevor's impressive collection of reviews! Especially just for a couple of light observations.

I've been on a Booker roll lately. I recently read two
Booker Prize winners, Offshore (1979) and The God of Small Things (1997), when taking a break from slogging through Henry James’s, The Ambassadors.

In one of those oddly common instances of literary serendipidy, Offshore and TGST were similar in several respects — both were by women, about women, and involved atypical, insular communities. Offshore is about a group of misfits living in converted barges on the Thames river in London. TGST is about a Syrian Christian family in a small town in India.

Also, both were excellent entertainment, although in different ways. Offshore was a little gem that offered a glimpse into this secret world on the river before ending without tying up loose ends. TGST addresses bigger issues, has a more complicated plot, and uses wonderful, Nabokov-like word play. Both have stuck with me.

1 comment:

  1. I'm excited to read those two books! My wife has read The God of Small Things, and it's stuck with her, so I'll hopefully get to it soon. Perhaps I'll put it and Offshore close together too.

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