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76th out of 100 books
—
2 voters
The Cost of Living
From the bestselling author of The God of Small Things comes a scathing and passionate indictment of big government's disregard for the individual.
In her Booker Prize-winning novel, The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy turned a compassionate but unrelenting eye on one family in India. Now she lavishes the same acrobatic language and fierce humanity on the future of her b...more
In her Booker Prize-winning novel, The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy turned a compassionate but unrelenting eye on one family in India. Now she lavishes the same acrobatic language and fierce humanity on the future of her b...more
Paperback, 144 pages
Published
December 18th 2007
by Modern Library
(first published October 12th 1999)
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This is "make your blood boil" journalism by the author of The God of Small Things, which I loved. Brought to my attention by my sometimes radicalized family, Arundhati Roy's book consists of essays on India's gigantic dam projects, and on the advent of the Indian nuclear bomb.
Roy describes the displacement of thousands of Adivasis (indiginous southern Indians) resulting from huge dam projects sponsored with inadequate planning by the World Bank. It is an outrageous example of the alienation of...more
Roy describes the displacement of thousands of Adivasis (indiginous southern Indians) resulting from huge dam projects sponsored with inadequate planning by the World Bank. It is an outrageous example of the alienation of...more
عبارة عن تقارير واحصائيات عن استغلال الحكومة لأكتاف الفقراء والصعود عليها في سبيل التطور والأمن القومي ، خصوصاً انشاء السدود ومسؤليته عن تشريد ملايين المواطنين عن أراضيهم
، تعتبر الهند 3 أكبر بانية سدود بالعالم ، من الكتاب : الهند لاتعيش في قراها ،الهند تموت في قراها، الهند تطارد وتطرد من قراها، الهند تعيش في مدنها، قرى الهند تعيش فقط لتخدم مدنها .. ،
أول كتاب أقرأ لـ أروندهاتي أعجبني أسلوبها القوي والتعلقيات الذكية
ووصفها الدقيق للأوضاع .
، تعتبر الهند 3 أكبر بانية سدود بالعالم ، من الكتاب : الهند لاتعيش في قراها ،الهند تموت في قراها، الهند تطارد وتطرد من قراها، الهند تعيش في مدنها، قرى الهند تعيش فقط لتخدم مدنها .. ،
أول كتاب أقرأ لـ أروندهاتي أعجبني أسلوبها القوي والتعلقيات الذكية
ووصفها الدقيق للأوضاع .
damn dams
I really just read the second essay in the book called "The End of Imagination." It was really something that reminded me about how violent and terrifying nuclear bombs are. I feel like I've just grown complacent and accepting that the nuclear bombs exist and that we, as Americans, of course are allowed to have them more than anyone else. Because clearly we've proven that we are not a country of lunatics, we don't have genocide (anymore), or religious hatred (yeah, right).
How horrifying that mo...more
How horrifying that mo...more
This selection is a misnomer -- I picked up one-half of this book, a pamphlet called "The End of Imagination," in India in 2000. Roy's fiction has never really interested me; her work has always been trumped by Jhumpa Lahiri, a similar but more intriguing fictioneer. But Roy's polemics are breathtaking: She describes nuclear war -- and damns the Indian nuclear proliferation program -- in the most aggressive language I've ever read on the subject. She writes with the brutal conciseness of a quiet...more
Hell hath no fury like a woman. Go, Arundhati!! I love angry women and I was actually surpised by the depth of her rage at the incompetence of "those in charge" who are cutting off their noses to spite their faces -- building dams in India to provide water and in the process basically destroying the environment and humanity that stands in the way. Man, it was great just to experience such a cathartic screed. So much that is written about injustice is done in tempered, measured tones. This was gr...more
Tidak semua wanita menghabiskan waktunya menekuri emansipasi di setiap esai mereka. Salah satunya adalah Arundhati Roy, yang menuliskan tentang modernisasi India melalui pembangunan bendungan. Awalnya dibangun dengan tujuan for a greater good, tapi malah mempergelap kehidupan masyarakat India.
Salah satu contoh esai kritik yang baik, menurut saya dan bagi saya untuk dipelajari. Roy menilik permasalahan pembangunan bendungan tidak hanya melalui satu sudut-inilah keistimewaan esai karya Roy ini.
Salah satu contoh esai kritik yang baik, menurut saya dan bagi saya untuk dipelajari. Roy menilik permasalahan pembangunan bendungan tidak hanya melalui satu sudut-inilah keistimewaan esai karya Roy ini.
I read this book a few years ago and remember liking it a lot. Her writing is beautiful, though I did find some parts hard to get through -- I can't remember exactly why (sorry, I have a lousy memory). But it was a good book and a great one to check out if you're thinking about global policies, the spread of democracy and capitalism, and the influence of the West on Indian life.
I actually read this back in 2002, but I forgot that when I bought it at the library sale. I just love her writing so much, and I really wish she would write another fiction book. She has said in interviews that as long as the political horrors continue, she can't take the time to write fiction. Plus, nobody, I mean nobody, says the words "George Bush" with as much venom as Roy.
Roy does fantastic job of impressing upon the reader not just the depth of human sorrow created by dams and the atomic bomb but also the absurdity of human indifference behind these atrocities. One drawback of her writing is that it is overly colloquial, occasionally losing its power through misplaced sarcasm.
esai arundhati yang memukau. tentang bendungan yang meruyak di india, sampai kemudian india menjadi pembuat bendungan terbesar ke 3 di dunia. ternyata, masalah yang muncul dibalik pembangunan bendungan2 tersebut. semua diceritakan dengan mengalir dan detail.
This is an opinion piece and I absolutely loved the opinion. She put in facts to support her conclusions. She talks about development in India against the poor and about nuclear warheads and how they do not create peace.
Features two essays ("The Greater Common Good" and "The End of Imagination") previously published in the magazines Frontline and Outlook. "The Greater Common Good" details the horrors caused by dam-building in India. "The End of Imagination" focuses on the detonation of India's first nuclear bomb. Both essays were extremely haunting and thought-provoking. However, I read both essays roughly 10 years after their original publications and I don't know much about what has happened since...improved?...more
Another fine, provocative, thoughtful, and urgent book by one of India's (and the planet's) most articulate and compassionate spokespeople.
Aug 03, 2011
Renuka
added it
Amazing and sad. I couldn't believe what I was reading and I couldn't help but be affected.
Novel ini menemani saya selama perjalanan Jakarta-Jogjakarta..:)dan sangat inspiratif
A fine, clear, short read that will introduce you to some of India's internal politics.
How much would you sacrifice for your standard of living? How many other people have to suffer for your comforts?
These are two amazing essays on India. They are sad, thought-provoking, and powerful.
the cost of living ... : very expensive
thats why not many people can enjoy it
thats why not many people can enjoy it
Two great essays. One concerning the building of a damn in India and the other their first nuclear testing. Contains her famous quote:
To love. To be loved. To never forget you own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To...more
To love. To be loved. To never forget you own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To...more
Loved this book. Really good writing and rings so close to home...
A must read for every living being on this planet!
Everyone must read this book! Her writing is poetic, and compelling. She displays complex political situations in such a light that you cannot help but laugh at the reality that is, and cry at her description of what should be. Arundhati was politically blacklisted and cannot return to her home in India as a result of these essays.
This book is comprised of two short essays on the state of India. One a commentary on India developing nuclear weaponry, and the other a look at the building of a larg...more
This book is comprised of two short essays on the state of India. One a commentary on India developing nuclear weaponry, and the other a look at the building of a larg...more
A passionate report of the Indian government's disregard for the individual, "The Cost of Living" does just as named. A voice of this strength can be hard to come by, but Roy succeeds brilliantly in her compelling factual narrative.
Terus terang aku tertarik dengan buku ini setelah membaca resensinya di Kompas. Who is Arundhati Roy? Aku menemukan bukunya di toko buku beberapa minggu kemudian dan langsung membeli. Ulasan yang sangat bagus. Orang-orang seperti Arundhati inilah yang dapat menggiring opini ke arah yang diinginkan. Semoga mereka diberkahi sehingga dengan tulisannya mampu merubah dunia menjadi tempat yang lebih baik. Aku masih mencari buku lainnya The God of Small Thing yang belum aku temukan sampai sekarang
Arundhati Roy writes a necessary polemic. Roy brings up real issues that cause real concern. Even more, she elucidates the terrible processes and ways by which governments quite simply screw over their peoples. Although the specific issues about which she writes are now slightly dated, the message remains clear and important.
There's something about Arundhati Roy's prose that causes her writing to hit your senses. After reading The God of Small Things, I picked up a few books of her essays, whose topics cover a wide range of material. My favorite essay is in this collection - The Cost of Living - and it is titled "The End of Imagination."
I think this book is better thanthe more popular, God of Small Things. I guess its apples & oranges to say that but her writing manages to be extremely beautiful and also so powerful that you want to drop what you're doing and go to India to stop dam-building. The second part about the bomb will take your breath away.
Definitely not the author's strongest work, the best part of this book might be the footnotes, which are extensive. Still, it is a useful, and passionate, introduction to some global issues that people need to know more about. Reader might do better with Roy's other book of essays on similar topics - "War Talk".
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Arundhati Roy is an Indian writer who writes in English and an activist who focuses on issues related to social justice and economic inequality. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things, and has also written two screenplays and several collections of essays.
For her work as an activist she received the Cultural Freedom Prize awarded by the Lannan Foundation in 2002.
More about Arundhati Roy...
For her work as an activist she received the Cultural Freedom Prize awarded by the Lannan Foundation in 2002.
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“To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.”
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