The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
by Roy, Arundhati
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good/Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 0241303974
- ISBN 13
- 9780241303979
- Seller
-
Didcot, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Reviews
"Their wounds were too old and too new, too different, and perhaps too deep, for healing. But for a fleeting moment, they were able to pool them like accumulated gambling debts and share the pain equally, without naming injuries or asking which was whose. For a fleeting moment they were able to repudiate the world they lived in and call forth another one, just as real."
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is the second novel by Booker Prize winning author, Arundhati Roy. The story begins with Aftab, whose confusion about what he was found relief at the Khwabgah, among other hijra. He became Anjum, and eventually she ran the Jannat Guest House (in its highly unusual location), a refuge for the quirky, the oppressed, the different.
Integral to the tale is S. Tilottama, real and adopted daughter of Maryam Ipe. Tilo's story, and that of the three men who love her, is told not only by her, but by Dr Azad Bhartiya (fasting Free Indian), Biplab Desgupta (her ex-Intelligence Bureau landlord), and Musa Yeswi (elusive militant). Filling out the quirky cast are a paraven calling himself Saddam Hussain, Zainab the Bandicoot, Naga the journalist, a singing teacher, and an abandoned baby, to name just a few.
How all their lives intersect and how these lives are impacted upon by Government and policy, and in particular, the Kashmiri freedom struggles, is told using vignettes, anecdotes, loosely connected short stories, moral tales, memos, disjointed scraps, accounts that take detours and meander off on tangents. As with Rushdie, Seth and Mistry, this novel has that unmistakeable, essential Indian quality, in characters, in dialogue, in plot.
But here, moreso than in The God of Small Things, the fact that this is a novel by Arundhati Roy the social activist, is very much in evidence (as readers of her non-fiction works will attest) and thus includes illustrations of the many issues against which she rails. Some reviewers describe this novel as "preachy"; the causes are worthy, but readers may feel that is it is only a shade off being exactly that, and perhaps be forgiven for wishing that it was more novel, less moral tale.
Some of Roy's descriptive prose, as with in The God of Small Things, is staggeringly beautiful, poetic and profound: "They understood of course that it was a dirge for a fallen empire whose international borders had shrunk to a grimy ghetto circumscribed by the ruined walls of an old city. And yes, they realised that it was also a rueful comment on Mulaqat Ali's own straitened circumstances. What escaped them was that the couplet was a sly snack, a perfidious samosa, a warning wrapped in mourning, being offered with faux humility by an erudite man who had absolute faith in his listeners' ignorance of Udru, a language which, like most of those who spoke it, was gradually being ghettoized."
However, the vague and veiled references to certain personages, events and ideas which are, perhaps, obvious to those familiar with Indian current affairs, will go straight over the heads of other readers, the message will be lost or less than clear. There is humour, heartache, despair and hope, there is much cruelty but also abundant kindness, making it a moving and powerful read.
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- PsychoBabel & Skoob Books (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 544273
- Title
- The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
- Author
- Roy, Arundhati
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Edition
- First Edition, First Printing
- ISBN 10
- 0241303974
- ISBN 13
- 9780241303979
- Publisher
- Hamish Hamilton
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 2017
Terms of Sale
PsychoBabel & Skoob Books
Refunds
Returning unwanted goods
7 days to cancel purchase for non-faulty goods
In the EU, you have the right to cancel your on-line purchase within seven working days.�
This seven-day "cooling off" period begins on the day when you receive your purchase.�
You can choose to cancel your order for any reason within this time frame – even if you simply changed your mind.
We will give you a refund within 30 days. This refund must include any shipping charges you paid when you made your purchase.
Although you have a right of refund, you will have to pay the postage costs of shipping goods bought on-line back to us.
Worldwide returns:
Our voluntary returns guarantee: You may return, for a full refund, any item ordered from us within 30 days of receipt, provided it is in perfect condition.
Please contact us to obtain a returns authorisation by completing and returning this cancellation form, emailing (books@psychobabel.co.uk) or telephoning +44(0)1235 861411. You will be responsible for the cost of returning the item to us, unless we delivered it to you in error or it is faulty. It is your responsibility to ensure safe return of the item.
If you return a high-value item, we recommend you use a recorded delivery service. Once we've received your item, we'll refund the same means of payment as you used to make your purchase. This returns guarantee doesn't affect your statutory rights and therefore doesn't affect your right of cancellation described above.
Emails are usually answered within 24 hours, except at weekends.Shipping/Delivery TimesWe ship orders from Monday to Friday and all orders received and paid for before 3:00pm are sent the same day. Orders placed on weekends or Bank Holidays are shipped the following business day.
UK packages are sent via Royal Mail. International orders are shipped via Royal Mail's airmail service. Expedited courier deliveries can be arranged. Please contact us for a quote.
Heavy orders (over 5kg UK or international) are usually shipped via private couriers. If your order is for a particularly heavy book or a volume set, please contact us with your shipping address and we will quote your total cost - the price of your order plus shipping costs - before you place your order.
Postal Insurance and special delivery is available at extra cost - simply let us know and we'll quote your total order amount, including p&p for whatever service you require.
�
About the Seller
PsychoBabel & Skoob Books
About PsychoBabel & Skoob Books
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Shelf Wear
- Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...