Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A heartbreaking tale of children being failed by the adults in their lives again and again

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

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“Where the Love Laws lay down who should be loved. And how. And how much.” Here’s the thing I don’t get about me and literary fiction: why do I hesitate so much in picking up these books? I mean, yes, they tend to be slow-reading, and every once in a while, they will take their toll on me, but so often I end up giving them 5 stars that I can’t understand what stops me. But I digress; let’s talk Bingo. If my calculations are correct, […]

Red Tinted Glasses and Painted on Time

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

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After reading this book I read an interview with the author in the back. In this interview she mentioned that her goal was to make a “completely unfilmable book.” I have to say that, at least in my opinion, she very much succeeded. I cannot imagine how this could ever be adapted without major changes of many kinds. This is the story of Estha and Rahel, two egg twins. It is also the story of their Ammu. It is also the story of an English […]

Love’s Tragedies

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

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This book tells the story of a well-off Syrian Christian family in Kerala, India, over the course of 23 years, starting in 1969. The main characters are fraternal twins whose lives are forever impacted by a tragedy that occurs when they are 7 years old. Political unrest and a rigid society that does not allow people to overstep the set boundaries form the backdrop. First of all and most importantly, Roy has a fantastic grasp of language. She uses it effortlessly in the most unusual […]

My first LOVE of the year

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 Y’all, I don’t really know where to start with this book. I loved it. And I don’t fully understand what I read? I devoured every word but also had a tough time picking it back up after I’d put it down. It was amazing and I am going to have a very hard time telling you why. I did not know the backstory on this one until I was almost through, but twenty years ago, the author Arundhati Roy broke onto the scene with her […]

Trigger Warning: Life can be tragic

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Last month, the New York Times, and subsequently other major news outlets, covered the controversy over trigger warnings in academia, i.e., a growing movement on US college campuses to have professors provide warnings in advance of potentially disturbing topics covered in their syllabi (rape, racism, suicide, etc.). When I saw some of the books listed as requiring trigger warnings (Huck Finn, The Great Gatsby, Things Fall Apart), I was deeply disturbed and I generally agree with those who have spoken out against warnings. And does […]



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