Purchased cheap from a library book sale!

From Amazon.com:
With sensuous prose, a dreamlike style infused with breathtakingly beautiful images and keen insight into human nature, Roy's debut novel charts fresh territory in the genre of magical, prismatic literature. Set in Kerala, India, during the late 1960s when Communism rattled the age-old caste system, the story begins with the funeral of young Sophie Mol, the cousin of the novel's protagonists, Rahel and her fraternal twin brother, Estha. In a circuitous and suspenseful narrative, Roy reveals the family tensions that led to the twins' behavior on the fateful night that Sophie drowned. Beneath the drama of a family tragedy lies a background of local politics, social taboos and the tide of history; all of which come together in a slip of fate, after which a family is irreparably shattered. Roy captures the children's candid observations but clouded understanding of adults' complex emotional lives. Rahel notices that "at times like these, only the Small Things are ever said. The Big Things lurk unsaid inside." Plangent with a sad wisdom, the children's view is never oversimplified, and the adult characters reveal their frailties -- and in one case, a repulsively evil power -- in subtle and complex ways. While Roy's powers of description are formidable, she sometimes succumbs to overwriting, forcing every minute detail to symbolize something bigger, and the pace of the story slows. But these lapses are few, and her powers coalesce magnificently in the book's second half. Roy's clarity of vision is remarkable, her voice original, her story beautifully constructed and masterfully told.

RELEASE NOTES:

I have two copies of this so I'm bringing this to meet-up tonight.

I found this book hard work and did get annoyed with some of the characters, especially the mother of the young children who seemed to allow herself to be bullied by her family. The writing was quite beautiful at times, and the life taken by the twins is quite strange.

RELEASE NOTES:

Will release at brunch meetup

I picked this up at the Sunday Brunch meetup. I think it will be welcome on the Bookcrossing shelf at the Warrandyte Neighbourhood house. If it sits too long I'll rescue it and wild release.

The little yellow sticker was flapping in the wind and calling "look at me!, look at me!" so I had to walk over and pick it up from the seat outside the Community Centre. I love small things and love photographing small things so the name got me interested and the fact that it won the Booker prize in 1997 sealed it for me. I had to take it home.

CAUGHT IN WARRANDYTE VICTORIA AUSTRALIA