Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

by Arundhati Roy (Goodreads Author)

3.63 · Rating Details · 2,218 Ratings · 543 Reviews

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness takes us on an intimate journey of many years across the Indian subcontinent, from the cramped neighborhoods of Old Delhi and the roads of the new city, to the mountains and valleys of Kashmir and beyond, where war is peace and peace is war.

The engine of Roy's story is a hijra (India's third gender) named Anjum, and the story begins with h ...more

Hardcover, 464 pages

Published June 6th 2017 by Penguin India

More Details... edit details

Get a copy:

Or buy for

Win a Copy of This Book

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
by Arundhati Roy (Goodreads Author)

Release date: Jun 06, 2017

Enter for a chance to win 1 of 5 copies of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy!

Enter Giveaway

Format: Print book

Giveaway ends in: a

Availability: 5 copies available, 712 people requesting

Giveaway dates: Jul 14 - Jul 21, 2017

Countries available: CA

View details »

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

Most Anticipated Novels of 2017

177 books — 209 voters

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Man Booker Prize Eligible 2017

191 books — 119 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30)

filter | sort: default (?) | Rating Details

Mar 30, 2017 Emily May rated it it was ok

Shelves: arc, modern-lit, 2017

I, like many people, have heard of the success of Roy's The God of Small Things from twenty years ago. It's been on my mental longlist of books to read since before Goodreads existed. Perhaps it was a mistake to put it off and opt for Roy's newer release instead, but all I can say is my expectations have significantly lowered after reading The Ministry of Utmost Happiness.

At first, I thought the story was slow, dense and hard to follow. It took me a couple hundred pages of squinting hard to see I, like many people, have heard of the success of Roy's The God of Small Things from twenty years ago. It's been on my mental longlist of books to read since before Goodreads existed. Perhaps it was a mistake to put it off and opt for Roy's newer release instead, but all I can say is my expectations have significantly lowered after reading The Ministry of Utmost Happiness.

At first, I thought the story was slow, dense and hard to follow. It took me a couple hundred pages of squinting hard to see the truth: there is no story.

These kind of books have a special place in the heart of a certain type of reader. A reader who puts beautiful, complex writing over plot and emotional pull; a reader who doesn't mind looking back over almost 500 pages and realizing very little has happened, even if it was told with pretty language.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness essentially follows two main characters in South Asia - Tilo and Anjum - the former is dragged into the center of an independence movement, while the latter is intersex and living among ghosts. However, there is a confusing mess of characters introduced throughout the book and I found it hard to warm to anyone. It is set across the span of many years, through the partition of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, but these times of tremendous upheaval and horror were narrated coldly.

The book is just very difficult to enjoy. It feels deliberately intellectual and lacking in personality. Not only is there a sea of forgettable characters, but the book zips quickly between past and present, third and first person, with almost no dialogue to separate the huge paragraphs of dense description. The book constantly has a foot in several tangents about spiritual anecdotes, diatribes, history lessons and various monologues, each of which went on far too long. When it finally came back to the main issues, it took me a while to get back on track.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is a book without a plot that simply explores the perspectives, past and present, of many characters. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's also not the kind of book I enjoy reading. It even feels disjointed, almost like a collection of short stories rather than a novel. I feel like The God of Small Things is going to be on my TBR a lot longer.

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube ...more

flag 214 likes · Like · see review

Jun 25, 2017 Brina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: india

Last year as part of my annual women of color reading challenge, I read international Man Booker award winner The God of Small Things (1999). Full of luscious prose and distinct story telling skills, Arundhati Roy expertly tells her readers a story of life in newly partitioned India. Roy is an author who I would easily race to bring home her new books albeit one issue- following the success of The God of Small Things she did not write another work of fiction. Roy has spent her career as a journa Last year as part of my annual women of color reading challenge, I read international Man Booker award winner The God of Small Things (1999). Full of luscious prose and distinct story telling skills, Arundhati Roy expertly tells her readers a story of life in newly partitioned India. Roy is an author who I would easily race to bring home her new books albeit one issue- following the success of The God of Small Things she did not write another work of fiction. Roy has spent her career as a journalist and award winning non fiction author, until this year, eighteen years later with the publication of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. As the saying goes, some things are worth the wait.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness can best be categorized as contemporary literary fiction containing Roy's prose in many forms including poetry, letters, composition, dialogue, and her expert story telling skills. Her story begins in the graveyard Jannat Guest Home of Anjum, although we do not find out the setting or full cast of characters until much later. Anjum, born Aftab, is a hijra-- one who is neither masculine or feminine. In India it is said that only hijras enjoy true happiness, however; during Anjum's early life this is farthest from the truth. Shunned by all factions of society for being neither a boy or girl, eventually the newly female Anjum moves into a Khwabgah, a group home for hijras. The group develops a unique comradeship and it is amongst these people that Anjum lives for the rest of her life, either in the Khwabgah or guest house, which she builds for herself later on.

The first third of the novel is Anjum's story with a large cast of characters, each with a distinctive personality and story to tell. I was captivated by this tale and would have been satisfied if the entire novel was about her and later her desire to be a mother; however, the second third of the novel takes on an entirely new twist. Roy regales her readers with the ongoing conflict in Kashmir. She briefly touches on this when a group at the Khwabgah watches the 9-11 terrorist attacks unfold on television. The hijras are unfazed by events taking place on the other side of the world, but various Muslim and Sikh cells have been plotting secessionist movements in Kashmir since the 1980s.

Roy develops an entirely new plot with protagonists Tilo, Musa, Naga, and "Garson Hobart", who met at university; as well as sinister antagonist Commander Amrik Singh. Each comes from a distinct caste and are the unlikeliest of companions, yet a theater class brought them together, and they remain connected for the duration of their lives. The four play key roles in the free Kashmir movement, a life of terrorism, violence, human rights abuses, and too many funerals. A low point of the novel occurs with the story of the murder of Musa's three year old daughter, Miss Jebeen and his wife Arifa, one that tugged on both my and Tilo's heartstrings as Musa recounted it to her. He relates the line that stays with me the most, that in India, only the dead are living, and only the living are dead. To Musa, the murder was an inevitable part of war, yet, to Tilo, an event that sparked her maternal instinct to be a mother.

The two plot lines converge as both Tilo and Anjum desire to save an unclaimed newborn baby in Delhi proper. Each woman would love to raise this child in a life free of the conflicts plaguing India, that unfortunately continue until this day. Ironically, this utmost happiness occurs in Anjum's communal Jannat Guest House in a graveyard, where a community of outcasts band together in harmony, and to raise an otherwise unwanted child. Throughout all of her storytelling, Roy deftly employs various forms of writing techniques to paint a picture of hope in India, one that had me mesmerized from her beginning words until the ending chords. I grew attached to Anjum, only to feel for Tilo, and then the story continues to begin anew.

I would not be surprised if one day Arundhati Roy won the Nobel Prize for her life body of literary work. Her two novels are that powerful and each tell a captivating story of a distinct era in Indian history. While The Ministry of Utmost Happiness can be disjointed at times as one navigates through multiple plots and an extended cast of characters, the writing is excellent and holds attention throughout. Anjum, Tilo, and company are characters that I will remember for a long time. Hopefully we will not have to wait a full eighteen years for Roy's next work, but in the meantime, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is a scintillating 4.5 stars. ...more

flag 198 likes · Like · see review

Jun 03, 2017 Paromjit rated it it was amazing

Shelves: netgalley, literary-fiction

This is a novel that captures the life that Arundhati Roy has lived and the issues that have consumed her since the publication of her groundbreaking The God of Small Things. It is a story about our contemporary world, of India, and Pakistan, delivered through the microcosm of individuals living through the never ending and harrowing conflict in Kashmir, and the fringe communities of outsiders in Delhi. It begins with the observation of vultures being eliminated through poison, a metaphor for th This is a novel that captures the life that Arundhati Roy has lived and the issues that have consumed her since the publication of her groundbreaking The God of Small Things. It is a story about our contemporary world, of India, and Pakistan, delivered through the microcosm of individuals living through the never ending and harrowing conflict in Kashmir, and the fringe communities of outsiders in Delhi. It begins with the observation of vultures being eliminated through poison, a metaphor for the way Indian society has been poisoned by a history of corrupt and venal politicians, religious hatreds, and the overflowing rivers of blood and death denied justice. It touches on the issues of caste, divisions based on country, gender and religion, grief, loss, and love. It is a sprawling tale which lacks the steering hand of a plot, so might not suit those looking for a more defined and structured read. I found it a riveting read, infused with humour amidst the horror, and beautifully written with vibrant imagery, underpinned with artistic, lyrical prose.

In Delhi, a mother examines her new born boy, Aftab, only to find the disturbing anatomical female parts. The lonely Aftab grows up to haunt the Hijras, at the transgender centre, convinced that it is more home than his parental home or the rest of society where he cannot be himself. He is taken in and becomes the wildly popular Anjum, who takes in and raises a child, Zainab. We then get to know Tilo, in Kashmir, part of the youth brigades and her friends, a highly placed disenchanted intelligence officer, a journalist and Musa, an activist in the struggle. We see a region mired in infinite death without end. When asked to help Musa, Garson Hobard does so. Trauma causes Anjum to move to a family graveyard and build a home on top of it. It comes to be known as The Jannet Guesthouse, a sanctuary for outsiders and the misfits where no-one is turned away. It is a swirling hotbed for stories as a community springs up, supporting each other and bringing up a baby without the need for blood ties or religious divisions. This Ministry of Utmost Happiness, built on a graveyard, inhabited by minorities and outsiders, is the symbol for hope, peace and compassion amidst war torn Kashmir and for India.

For those who hold opposing political viewpoints to the author, they are unlikely to be enamoured by this book. For me, it has some deep flaws such as the vast array of characters that it is difficult to do justice to. However, its strengths far outweigh its weaknesses. I found it a heartbreaking read when it comes to looking at the history and the current state of India, it is difficult to be optimistic about the future. Amidst the carnage, Roy paints a picture of hope and love through her eccentrics and misfits for whom India offers no home. Who would stand in the way of this literary vision? A stunning and brilliant read that I recommend highly. Thanks to Penguin for an ARC. ...more

flag 174 likes · Like · see review

Jun 08, 2017 Alok Mishra rated it it was ok

When the harp begins to sing and the guitar begins to harp, things change dramatically! That is why the book by A Roy has become a dramatic monologue of the ideas and innuendos that she often offers off the books. Reference to the past events are always the best way to write a novel; however, a subtle mechanism behind recalling the events of the past and making them sound like one wants to does call for a scrutiny! Roy's thoughts against the Indian state are well-known. Nevertheless, one (a read ...more

flag 111 likes · Like · see review

Jun 09, 2017 Amit Mishra rated it did not like it

464 pages of utter garbage (organic as well as inorganic) against the Indian state as well as the popular belief, this is what the book offers you. Unless you are an ardent follower of the ideas that Arundhati Roy usually offers as a perfect example of hired gun by the people with vested interest, there is nothing in this book for you. So, don't be a reader like many including me who have wasted our money and time reading this unworthy material. You can read more about this book on the link belo ...more

flag 104 likes · Like · see review

May 30, 2017 Seemita rated it liked it

Shelves: india, fiction, religion, war, politics, culture, drama, toi, netgalley

[Originally appeared here: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/li...]

How does a lament sound? Like a distorted sonorous wave? Hitting the crest with a shrill cry and falling to quietude with mangled whimpers? Or like a prolonged stream of soiled garble, comprehensible only to its beholder?

I don't know on which note of the spectrum this book might fit in, but I do know that this book is a lament - lament on the daily struggles for (dignified) survival borne by the scarred populace of war-torn Kash [Originally appeared here: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/li...]

How does a lament sound? Like a distorted sonorous wave? Hitting the crest with a shrill cry and falling to quietude with mangled whimpers? Or like a prolonged stream of soiled garble, comprehensible only to its beholder?

I don't know on which note of the spectrum this book might fit in, but I do know that this book is a lament - lament on the daily struggles for (dignified) survival borne by the scarred populace of war-torn Kashmir, which unfortunately I can't talk of in past tense, and the marginalized of the society (taking the transgender as the pivotal link).

The book, from where I see, is about two characters - A transgender, Anjum and a riot victim, Tilottama. Anjum, born Aftab in Old Delhi but discarded by her family for socially- unacceptable biological makeup, is adopted by a whore-house. She lives a good part of her life here before shifting her residence to a graveyard, courtesy a grave altercation related to adoption and rearing of a girl child. Tilottama, on the other hand, begins as a firebrand member of the youth brigade in a posh South Delhi locality but eventually drifts, amid three of her friends and her own dichotomies, to Kashmir and the city's deep, unknown, frequently fatal, alleys. How life, with her own surprises and shocks, brings the two together rounds up the story.

This book, only second from Roy's stable in the last twenty years, retains the metaphorical music that she used to fair rapture in her first book. The descriptions, spring to life with her subtle touch, and she, almost, looks to have done that effortlessly.

But regardless of what admonition and punishment awaited him, Aftab would return to his post stubbornly, day after day. It was the only place in his world where he felt the air made way for him. When he arrived, it seemed to shift, to slide over, like a school friend making room for him on a classroom bench.

Roy's characteristic insight into her world's props and their subtle breaths is amply visible. She weaves intricate patterns, just like the stunning Kashmiri carpets she refers to couple of times, around her characters and one gets to see a motley crew doing their part well. The three friends, all of them men, who walk in and out of Tilo's life, represent the various facets of the societal fabric Roy wishes to highlight - Biplab is a senior officer in Intelligence Bureau, Naga is an incendiary journalist and Musa, an activist or terrorist (depending on the way you would like to see).

She sensed that in some strange tangential way, he needed her shade as much as she needed his. And she had learned from experience that Need was a warehouse that could accommodate a considerable amount of cruelty.

But she gets carried away. She touches upon issues of untouchability and gender divide, fanaticism and terrorism, but they emerge only as matter-of-factly. There are long stretches of pages which are dedicated to the haunting memories of Tilottama, which, at first grab our hearts and hold them in their throes, but soon, they become a necessary vent which loses both on emotional as well as novelty quotient. Anjum, in particular, is crafted with a lot of fragility and I would have loved to read a little more about her but Roy had another strong motive to accommodate. Those who are familiar with her political stances, which she has diligently championed across the various articles, non-fiction works and speeches she has put forward, would detect that a lot in this book comes shrouded in her disdain towards the state machinery and its administrators. Place as she might her contempt amid very many chapters, it comes straight out, and with a vengeance. The military establishments, too, come under attack and she holds very few guns back in lambasting their integrity. While she visibly tones down in the second half through the long monologues emanating from Biplab's hours of prophecy, she doesn't quite miss the diatribe train to dispatch her venom. Perhaps, that's why, even for someone fairly apolitical as I, the work didn't pass by without glaring its political face at close proximity to me.

Those viewing the work from a political prism will mostly react in an emphatic manner - whether in support or opposition will depend on their political inclinations. But those looking from an emotional prism will also not be disappointed - she amalgamates the calm and the turbulent of her world with experienced rendition.

Normality in our part of the world is a bit like a boiled egg: its humdrum surface conceals at its heart a yolk of egregious violence. In battle , Musa told Tilo, enemies can't break your spirit, only friends can.

The book teeters over its bumpy rides with seething heart and clamped teeth, and comes to a standstill in the culminating chapters where a certain ray of hope and perpetuity leaps into the air. The quietness of the shikara stands in stark contrast to the rippling graveyard that is celebrating a wedding, and one doesn't still know where the lament erupted from and where it died down. Or if it is still wailing.

[Note: Thanks to Netgalley, Arundhati Roy and Penguin Books (UK) for providing me an ARC.]

---

Also on my blog. ...more

flag 84 likes · Like · see review

May 30, 2017 Ron Charles rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: war-fiction, 2017-favorites

Truly, this is a remarkable creation, a story both intimate and international, swelling with comedy and outrage, a tale that cradles the world’s most fragile people even while it assaults the Subcontinent’s most brutal villains.

It will not convert Roy’s political enemies, but it will surely blast past them. Here are sentences that feel athletic enough to sprint on for pages, feinting in different directions at once, dropping disparate allusions, tossing off witty asides, refracting competing iro ...more

flag 73 likes · Like · see review

Jun 16, 2017 The Book Satchel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: indian-writing, 4-stars, published-in-2107, read-in-2017

This is one of the trickiest books to review because it is good and bad at the same time; likeable and non-likeable at the same time. Fans of Roy should expect a novel that is so unlike its predecessor.
The writing is beautiful, (more grim and dingy compared to The God of Small things) and Roy has managed to fit in almost all the problems of India, both political and social. The plot is weak, characters lack depth and the book could have been easily shorter. But on the other hand the book gives ...more

flag 41 likes · Like · see review

May 28, 2017 Arnav Sinha rated it it was amazing

I was in school in 1997-98, living in a small township. Most of my reading was limited to the age-appropriate fare on offer at our school library, which I had far outgrown (and read twice over). All of a sudden, this new book by an unheard of Indian author was being covered by the print media (and the one TV news program), and it felt like a good bet to spend my hard-earned pocket money on. The hardcover cost about Rs. 400, which seemed like a big amount for someone who had only bought 2nd-hand I was in school in 1997-98, living in a small township. Most of my reading was limited to the age-appropriate fare on offer at our school library, which I had far outgrown (and read twice over). All of a sudden, this new book by an unheard of Indian author was being covered by the print media (and the one TV news program), and it felt like a good bet to spend my hard-earned pocket money on. The hardcover cost about Rs. 400, which seemed like a big amount for someone who had only bought 2nd-hand Archie comic books before that. In my most impulsive purchase till then, I went ahead and bought TGoST in my next visit to the nearest town.

I started reading the book right there while waiting for my parents to get their own (non-book-related) shopping done, continued to read through most of the lunch, and on our trip back home, and late into the night. I cried when Ammu said 'Naaley'. Partly because the book had ended. Partly because nothing I had read had ever hit me so hard before that. Not much has since then either.

I have loved Arundhati Roy's first and, for a long time, only work of fiction deeply. It's the only novel I have read several times, and probably loved it more each time I have read it. It was the book that sustained me when I lived the life of a hermit preparing for my college entrance exams. That precious copy I had bought in school was gifted to my closest friend in engineering college. A number of other copies were bought after that and gifted to people dear to me. Heck, it was even my topic when I prepared for a version of Mastermind for our college quizzing club. And I tend to judge people often by whether they like the book or not.

So this 20-year wait for her next novel has been excruciatingly long. From what I have figured over this period from her nonfiction writing, even if she had written a book with a blindfold on, I would have found it difficult to completely dislike it.

With that hideously long preamble done, let me happily state that I mostly loved this novel too. Her crazy word play, those lovingly constructed characters, their heart-breaking relationships, surviving and not surviving through what time, geography and the Indian Government throw at them, are all there. At over 400 pages, it is not a short novel by any standards, but my interest never flagged (big deal for me) and I finished it in one sitting (even bigger deal).

(I don't talk about the story itself, but talk about the basic themes, but some readers might find even that a spoiler this early in the book's release history, so beware.)

The novel starts off in Old Delhi and spends a long time with a group of kinnars ('eunuchs' would probably be the literal, but impolite, translation). And then almost suddenly changes track and moves to Kashmir, with another set of characters. As one would expect, it all ties up eventually, but I would have liked to spend more time with the Delhi crowd (probably the only time I would say that about any Delhi crowd). In any case, members of the entire cast, even the least important ones, are beautifully realized. (Like Ammu in TGoST, there is a prominent character here too inspired in many ways by Roy herself.) This, I feel, is Roy's great strength. No matter how idiosyncratic the characters might be, they seem way too real, like you know them, and so, are worth caring for.

Roy's even greater strength is the relationships. Because, like the previous novel, this one is also primarily about love. Love in its many many weird manifestations, between humans, humans and animals, humans and dead humans, humans and dead animals, and well you get the idea. I would like to swear that I have grown older in the last 20 years, less susceptible to those tear-jerking tricks that authors employ. But like Frank Capra movies, Ms Roy's writing does some things that I can't explain.

So I will remain a fanboy for now. Readers strongly opposed to Roy's political views might have a more difficult task at their hands with this book though, because the novel covers the whole gamut of issues dear to her - Kashmir (the main plot), naxalism, capitalism, casteism, Gujarat riots, 1984 riots, rise of Hindu nationalism, and maybe more - and generally takes a stand not conforming to the widely held middle and upper class, 'mainland', view prevalent these days in India.

Even for me, who appreciates Roy's contrarian stands, without always completely agreeing with them, the novel seemed to edge very close to becoming a propaganda tool first and a novel as an afterthought in places. Heck, she even uses the phrase 'algebra of infinite justice' at a point. Some of her other book titles might also find mention, but I was not looking closely.

There are unflattering depictions of characters based on AB Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh, Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal. And, of course, Roy's favorite Gujarat's Lalla, who happens to be a very popular PM currently. For these reasons, it won't be surprising if in the way things are handled these days (in India and in many other parts of the world), there would be widespread criticism of the book (some nutcase might even call for its banning!) by many who haven't even read it.

We tend to be particularly sensitive to how India is portrayed in front of foreigners, and this litany of accusations (which is the only thing many might see here), this criticism of the 'stupidification' of the country, might seem like too much bad PR by a book that is bound to be feted and translated all over. That is, in fact, the only reason why these issues would antagonize most Indians. Otherwise, partly because these issues have been raised much too often already by the media and other authors, and partly because those who will generally read the book are fortunate to lead fairly comfortable lives, we have long become immune to them. ...more

flag 37 likes · Like · see review

Feb 21, 2017 Apoorva is currently reading it

Arundhati Roy is here to save us all.

flag 36 likes · Like · see review

Apr 07, 2017 Nick marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: xx

Pre-Read: This is one of those situations where I am trying desperately not to build up an insane amount of hype for this novel. I loved Arundhati Roy’s first novel, The God of Small Things, and have been waiting for her to publish a second for some time. Now, after years of waiting, finally, a second novel! And the last thing I would want — the last thing any of us would want — would be to build up my anticipation to such a great level that the novel could not help but disappoint. In a sense, t ...more

flag 34 likes · Like · see review

Jun 30, 2017 Emma added it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, dnf

I'm giving up on this one. It has flashes of her brilliance, but it wanders too far and too often from the path.

flag 25 likes · Like · see review

Jun 13, 2017 Subashini rated it really liked it

Shelves: indian-fiction

By standards of a conventional novel, this is a failure. It is one of the most interesting failures I've read. It's a sprawling, ambitious novel with no plot. Many of the elements of modern India--Dalit and hijra rights, the occupation of Kashmir, tribal land enclosures, Hindu fundamentalism, Maoist uprisings--are here. It's alive on every page.

This is bound to piss off far-right patriots and nationalists of every stripe. It will probably also piss off people who read solely for entertainment a ...more

flag 23 likes · Like · see review

Jun 10, 2017 Lashaan Balasingam (Bookidote) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.

20 years after the release of the classic Booker Prize winner The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy releases her second work of fiction, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Although I have yet to read the former—I do plan on doing so in the near future—my first experience of Roy’s writing wasn’t exactly a very compelling one. Tackling the social climate and various taboo subjects in India and its proximity, Arundhati Roy brings readers the story ...more

flag 21 likes · Like · see review

Jul 14, 2017 Mab rated it really liked it

Shelves: ebooks, india-via-books, borrowed, part-of-a-group, india-2017

A peculiar, powerful and disturbing story.
I was all set out to hate this book because I don't like the author's real life views on many situations, political and otherwise.
I also don't want upper caste Hindus to be blamed for every illness that India suffers, and Roy, even in this book has never a good word to say about them.
I am of the opinion that all religions, all castes ( I so want to be in a world without religion or caste, but that is not going to happen) and all genders have good peopl ...more

flag 20 likes · Like · see review

Jul 17, 2017 Dannii Elle rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction-love

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Arundhati Roy, and the publisher, Knopf, for this opportunity.

I can both acknowledge and deny the power of this book. It is a novel without a story. It is a story without a narrative. It is about everything and focused on nothing. And not knowing this sooner formed much of my early discontent with a novel that defied its own noun's traditions at every possible junction.

Beautiful penmanship trumps all, for m ...more

flag 18 likes · Like · see review

Jun 10, 2017 Francesca Marciano rated it liked it

I, like so many of us, was anxiously looking forward to read this book after such a long hiatus. With all due respect for a writer who waited so long to put out a second book after the overwhelming and life altering success of her first one - and imagining the anxiety she must've suffered because of the hysterical expectations for her next one - I must admit I found this book uneven, difficult to follow. Almost as if in the course of these twenty years Roy had attempted to write different novels ...more

flag 17 likes · Like · see review

May 10, 2017 Jacki (Julia Flyte) rated it it was ok

I so expected to love this book. I loved “God of Small Things” and several of my all-time favourite books are by Indian authors. So after approaching it full of anticipation and expectations, it pains me to say that I found it almost unreadable. Which is feel sure is more about me and my failure as a literary reader. But I did not “get” it.

The book is about a disjointed trio on the margins of society, people who have no people, who come together and make a new home in a Delhi graveyard. Anjum i ...more

flag 16 likes · Like · see review

Jun 12, 2017 Nidhi Mahajan rated it liked it

Shelves: delhi, indian-literature, kashmir

Originally posted on my blog.

I See Kashmir from (Old) Delhi at Midnight: Arundhati Roy's The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Dedicated to The Unconsoled, Arundhati Roy's The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is one of the most anticipated novels of the year. The novel is many different things: a literary adventure through Shahjahanabad (now, Old Delhi) and its history, a critical commentary on all that has happened and is happening in India post-independence, a lament for lives lost and lives torn apart ...more

flag 17 likes · Like · see review

Mar 30, 2017 Latkins rated it it was amazing

This book is well worth the 20 year wait since The God Of Small Things. Essentially, it's about outsiders living on the fringes of Indian society in Delhi and Kashmir. It's also a profound love story. I won't say any more about it, as it's embargoed until May, but it is brilliant!

flag 16 likes · Like · see review

Jun 27, 2017 Pechi rated it really liked it

Expectations would be your vilest villain if you venture into The Ministry of Utmost Happiness wanting to relive that oh-so-delicious reading of The God of Small Things. As the cliché goes, a rude shock would awaken you if you were that naive. You have to understand that Arundhati has switched professions and is now more of an activist than a writer. This is Arundhati-the-activist's book except for some parts few and far between where Roy's literary originality, mischief, and humor pokes its hea Expectations would be your vilest villain if you venture into The Ministry of Utmost Happiness wanting to relive that oh-so-delicious reading of The God of Small Things. As the cliché goes, a rude shock would awaken you if you were that naive. You have to understand that Arundhati has switched professions and is now more of an activist than a writer. This is Arundhati-the-activist's book except for some parts few and far between where Roy's literary originality, mischief, and humor pokes its head out for the starved reader to gorge on. It's understandable that most readers were enraged when they found that the activist had hijacked the writing of this novel.

This certainly isn't a novel in its traditional sense. Roy lays a buffet of India's most important social and political issues from the plight of Hijras to Naxalism to Kashmir. Characters are mere literary formalities she has to go through to ax in what she really wants to say about those issues. Some characters thankfully escape into three dimensions from their cardboard cutouts and such escapes are the ones that make this read worthwhile. If we didn't know better, we could argue that this book experiments with the structure, pushes the boundaries and expands the very meaning of a novel. But we know that Roy's concern for India and its oppressed, faceless and voiceless people (around which she has modeled her life as an activist. A formidable thing to do.) far outweighs her concerns (if any) about the appropriateness of this book as a literary work. Should we just call it transgressive in terms of structure and leave it at that?

The novel begins beautifully with the story of Anjum and for at least the first hundred pages you feel the same sense of ecstatic helplessness you felt with the seductive prose of The God of Small Things. But everything goes for a spin as the novel progresses, burdening itself with more characters, more agenda and even more national issues like a train slowly filling itself with passengers to the point of inundation. It is hard not to feel that Roy had an exhaustive checklist of problems she wanted to cover within the confines of this novel. But the momentary flashes of brilliance keep us going. It's amazingly written and there cannot be a second opinion about that. Roy's prose almost consolingly makes up for all the other multitudinous drawbacks.

If you're the one to find autobiographical elements in fiction interesting, you have Tilottama who seems to be a partial portrait of Roy herself. It is not widely known that Roy is an architect, that she lived in Delhi slums and tried her hands in acting, screenplay writing and a lot of other odd professions before writing her debut novel. (Her performance as an actress was highly praised by Sujatha in an article for Kanayaazhiyin Kadaisi Pakkangal he wrote around 1990. And she won a national award for screenplay writing in the late 80s.) If she decides to actually write it, her autobiography would be quite fascinating.

Written over a period of twenty years, you can sense the occasional palimpsest. Malls and WhatsApp and memes feel alien in this novel's landscape. They serve no purpose other than being the designated markers of contemporaneity. Not that they have to serve any purpose. But, there's too much plastic garbage contrived into this story.

But complaints apart, every issue she talks about IS actually relevant. Every single thing she complains about is making the lives of millions miserable. The day after I read about a Hindu mob lynching a man carrying the carcass of a cow (dead of natural causes) for killing-it-to-consume-it in this novel, an eerily similar event made the national headlines. We don't have any single intellectual in India who is famous across the country, who doesn't have prejudices against the North or the South, who is liberal in his views, who has international celebrity, who actually cares for the downtrodden and dares to oppose any giant power not fearing the consequences. Arundhati Roy is the closest we have to such an icon. She doesn't stop with merely talking about these issues. She protests with and for the oppressed. She screams because we've chosen to ignore their cries for too long and because she has one of the few voices that are heard.

But stacking one issue upon another without giving much importance to the emotional quotient ironically leads us to be inured to the very issues that were supposed to draw some kind of response from us.

Some magazine called Ministry "a fascinating mess" and there's no better way to put it. Tiring, perplexing and enraging at times; it is also funny, moving, memorable and horrifying. Like most things in this world, a binary good/bad classification would fail here and we gotta accept that it's a mixed bag. In these merciless, solipsistic times it is rare to find voices bursting with concerns about fellow humans and that's exactly why this book is to be treasured, fractured and disorderly though it may be. ...more

flag 17 likes · Like · see review

Jun 21, 2017 Alena rated it liked it

I want to give his courageous, far-reaching, epic novel my unconditional endorsement, but I just can't.

Is the writing breath-takingingly beautiful? Yes!
Are the characters engaging and complex? Yes
Was I transported to another world? Yes
Is Arundhati Roy a brilliant author? Absolutely

But this book, which really presents the very complicated modern history and warfare of India, was just too much for me. While I appreciated the horrors of trying to make a life in an environment of fear and terror, th ...more

flag 15 likes · Like · see review

May 29, 2017 Krista rated it really liked it

Shelves: the-subcontinent, arc, 2017

The planes that flew into the tall buildings in America came as a boon to many in India too. The Poet-Prime Minister and several of his senior ministers were members of an old organization that had long believed that India was essentially a Hindu nation and that just as Pakistan had declared itself an Islamic Republic, India should declare itself a Hindu one. Some of its supporters and ideologues openly admired Hitler and compared the Muslims of India to the Jews of Germany. Now, suddenly, as h

The planes that flew into the tall buildings in America came as a boon to many in India too. The Poet-Prime Minister and several of his senior ministers were members of an old organization that had long believed that India was essentially a Hindu nation and that just as Pakistan had declared itself an Islamic Republic, India should declare itself a Hindu one. Some of its supporters and ideologues openly admired Hitler and compared the Muslims of India to the Jews of Germany. Now, suddenly, as hostility towards Muslims grew, it began to seem to the Organization that the whole world was on its side.

I read The God of Small Things when it came out, and as this was long before there was a Goodreads, I don't have a review or notes or supporting quotes but I do, strongly, remember this: I was thoroughly transported by Arundhati Roy's magical prose and ended that book in shameless tears. It has taken nearly twenty years for Roy to publish a second novel, but she has hardly been idle in all that time: As an activist and political essayist, Roy has written enough nonfiction to have been collected into five volumes; none of which I have read. Yet, it doesn't take much Googling around to see what issues have inspired Roy to write – anti-nuclear weapons, anti-globalisation, anti-American foreign policy, pro-environmentalism – and in particular, her focus seems to have been on Kashmiri independence (her views on which led to Roy being charged with sedition by her own government in 2010). The Ministry of Utmost Happiness gives space to all of these issues – with a particular focus on the Kashmiri fight for independence – so in a way, this felt more like an effort to put information into the official record than a straightforward literary exercise. And because of that, my reaction is mixed: This is a fine (and likely important) work of witnessing, but not a novel of transporting and magical prose; despite blood and death and broken bodies, I was never brought to tears. As a character (Tilo) in the book says:

I would like to write one of those sophisticated stories in which even though nothing much happens there's lots to write about. That can't be done in Kashmir. It's not sophisticated, what happens here. There's too much blood for good literature.

After a later-day Prologue, Ministry opens upon a young mother, overjoyed by the birth of her first son. But examining his perfect little body, she discovers, to her horror, that tucked behind his boy-parts is a “small, unformed, but undoubtedly girl-part”. As this storyline develops and eventually leads to a home for Hijras – transgendered women who have a long history in Indian society (funny that I had never before made the connection to the legendary harem eunuchs) – I thought that I was reading one kind of book; a plotline I enjoyed very much last year in The Parcel. But halfway through Ministry, a second set of characters is introduced, and although everyone will come together in the end, the book becomes something different altogether.

If one has to choose, then give me a Hindu fundamentalist any day over a Muslim one. It's true we did – we do – some terrible things in Kashmir, but...I mean, what the Pakistan Army did in East Pakistan – now that was a clear case of genocide. Open and shut. When the Indian Army liberated Bangladesh, the good old Kashmiris called it – still call it – “The Fall of Dhaka”. They aren't very good at other people's pain. But then, who is? The Baloch, who are being buggered by Pakistan, don't care about Kashmiris. The Bangladeshis who we liberated are hunting down Hindus. The good old communists call Stalin's Gulag “a necessary part of revolution”. The Americans are currently lecturing the Vietnamese about human rights. What we have on our hands is a species problem. None of us is exempt.

In this second part, we are introduced to a casteless daughter of a Syrian Christian single-mother, S. Tilottama (“Tilo”; a character whose early biography mirrors Roy's own), who had met and befriended (and caused to fall in life-long love with her) three young men at college who would grow into professionals she could eventually call on when needed: Musa the Kashmiri militant who is, despite living mostly underground, Tilo's own true love; a Bengali intelligence agent, named Biplab Dasgupta, who will eventually come to sympathise with the insurgents; and Nagaraja Hariharan, a respected Tamil journalist who can provide Tilo cover. We also meet the Punjabi Sikh, Amrik Singh, who is a sadistic government agent and, briefly, the Telugu woman Revathy: a forest-dwelling Maoist who will become disillusioned by her own cause. I assume that the specificity of these ethnicities is to underline that India is no one monolithic culture (or religion), and this particular cast of characters allows for an examination of every issue that Roy has been writing about for the past twenty years. And based on this overview of the Indian political situation alone, it's easy to see what propels Roy to the “hysterics” her detractors have accused her of: Kashmir sits uneasily between India and Pakistan – two nuclear powers – and is claimed by each, leading to routine attacks and counterattacks; creeping global Islamophobia has justified the Indian government's attacks on its own Muslim population; a pivotal scene takes place during the 2002 Gujarat riots and Roy doesn't shy away from pointing out that the current Prime Minister of India (Narendra Modi, though unnamed in the book, and officially cleared of any wrongdoing) was at the time a local official known as “The Butcher of Gujarat”. From one character lamenting local soft drinks being put out of business by Coca-Cola to a farmer imagining what the view would be from his family's fields after the erection of a hydroelectric dam made a lake of their valley, it would seem that everything I've found through Googling Roy has made it into this book. Which just might make this more important to her than it is to me; more personal than universal. But still important.

These days in Kashmir, you can be killed for surviving.

As Tilo hints in that quote above, nothing much happens in this book, but everything happens in it. I was interested in all that I learned, but it doesn't really hang together as a novel. It's a valuable artefact, but the matter-of-fact stories of rape and murder and torture didn't move me. So ambivalent about this one. Still important. ...more

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

Jul 05, 2017 Jules rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, first-reads, giveaway-wins

As much as I wanted to love The Ministry of Utmost Happiness it just wasn’t for me.

It started off great and I was completely engrossed in the story of Aftab, but then I’m not really sure what happened. I feel like I took a wrong turn along the path and was unable to find my way back. I can’t really tell you where I ended up, but it definitely led to a state of confusion and desire to get back to the beginning somehow. At times I felt like someone had spiked my green tea with something much more ...more

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

Jun 27, 2017 Ashish rated it really liked it

First thing first, full disclaimer, I love The God of Small Things and consider it as one of my favourite novels of all time. I have been following Arundhati Roy's literary and socio-political career and while I agree with a lot of her views, her approach and intensity seem far too extreme at times to me. Having said that, the beauty of her prose is par excellence and some of the best writing by an Indian author that one could hope to read.
It has been twenty years since her last book of fiction First thing first, full disclaimer, I love The God of Small Things and consider it as one of my favourite novels of all time. I have been following Arundhati Roy's literary and socio-political career and while I agree with a lot of her views, her approach and intensity seem far too extreme at times to me. Having said that, the beauty of her prose is par excellence and some of the best writing by an Indian author that one could hope to read.
It has been twenty years since her last book of fiction and I had been eagerly looking forward to getting my hands on the book and to read it. She has still got the charm and allure that drips from her writing although the subject matter is much more caustic. She cannot help but have her political opinions colour her writing which sometimes tends to get overwhelming and lop-sided.

Nonetheless, the book is very well written and lyrical, top-notch stuff which makes you really invested in the story and ensures that you don't stop reading. I loved the characters that she has created. Special mention to the first 50 pages of the book, they really were a treat to read where we are introduced to the coterie of characters whose lives dominate most of the start and end of the book. It slows down in the middle, loses some of its steam and seems complacent as the author takes a more pedagogical tone, instructing us of the political and historical injustices of the setting, albeit relatively one-sided. She does use some of her characters to provide a semblance of balance to the overview as they present the other side of the coin, but the overall sentiment is predominantly those which are congruent with the author's much vocal views. A more balanced narrative would have been more desirable and would not put off as many readers as this did.

In the end, it does take guts to stick to ones' guns and not give in, making sure that she writes what she means and that she doesn't take the easy way out by writing a novel which would manage to not piss off or even please the other side. It is especially highly relevant in the current socio-political atmosphere that we are living in, and Roy certainly isn't making any friends with the publishing of this book. However, I still wish it were a bit less one-sided, making this book even more accessible to a greater population as the writing is beautiful and it does shine a light on some of the ground realities of India which one should never manage to overlook.
...more

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

Jun 24, 2017 Banushka rated it really liked it · review of another edition

küçük şeylerin tanrısı hâlâ favorim, önce onu söyleyeyim. arasan geçen bunca yılda arundhati roy'un sosyal aktivistliği bu romana bolca yansımış.
içi içe geçen hikayeler, translar, aşıklar, müslümanlar, hindular, sihler, kaçırılan çocuklar, öldürülen çocuklar, hiç bitmeyen habire tarafı değişen savaşlar...
topraksız köylüler, taşeron işçiler, kayıp anneleri, katil polis ve askerler... yandaş medya, aptallaşan halk...
o kadar tanıdık, o kadar acı verici ki her sayfada alıntı yapacak bir şey vardı n ...more

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

Jun 15, 2017 Shruti Rao rated it it was amazing

I suppose this is an unpopular opinion, given the major reviews I've read so far. Shit was dope yo.

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Apr 12, 2017 Hannah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, to-review, adult, 2017

Arundhati Roy has come to save us all. Her fiction tells a truth like no other--its basis in the imaginary allows Roy to stare unrelentingly into the eyes of some of the most uncomfortable, inconvenient problems facing India (and the world) today. Her spectacularly spun, songlike, strange tale weaves together the unloved, the unwanted, the forgotten into a tapestry held together by understanding, empathy, and love. Roy reminds us, as we read THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS, that all of us are i ...more

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

Jul 07, 2017 Doug rated it liked it

3.5 This is now the second highly anticipated, long in coming, novel this year that has turned out to be something of a disappointment (the first being Jennifer Egan's 'Manhattan Beach'). The book ISN'T terrible, and much of it is quite lovely and astonishing; in particular the first 100 pages about the hijra (transgender) Anjum, and the last 150 ... it's those 200 pages in between with which I have a problem.

The story is purposefully disjointed (Roy's assertion it is a 'shattered story', used ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Jun 13, 2017 Raksha Bhat rated it it was amazing

Shelves: owned

I read ‘The Ministry of Utmost Happiness’ like a perseverative reader determined to understand the intent of Roy’s words. What clearly stood out for me was the fact that there is no middle ground when it comes to having an opinion on this second work of fiction of hers written after two decades. You either like or dislike.

There are very few writers who go beyond prose or poetry, between heights and depths of life and living. A lot here depends on the reader’s intellect and interest on many issu I read ‘The Ministry of Utmost Happiness’ like a perseverative reader determined to understand the intent of Roy’s words. What clearly stood out for me was the fact that there is no middle ground when it comes to having an opinion on this second work of fiction of hers written after two decades. You either like or dislike.

There are very few writers who go beyond prose or poetry, between heights and depths of life and living. A lot here depends on the reader’s intellect and interest on many issues and events that have shaped today’s India, so if somebody reading the book does not feel connected I rather not blame the writing. Of course the plot lacks linearity and is greatly influenced by her viewpoints which can be interpreted in a hundred different ways. The incidental mentions of the you-know-who people leaves us with a chuckle, not for the humour but for our own lack of concern and action.

I am impressed by the distinctiveness of this book for two reasons. Firstly the theme is absolutely haphazard, like scattered pieces of a very difficult jigsaw puzzle which can never be solved or fixed. The characters and events are like tiny motes of stardust in the same sky, connected nevertheless. Every issue of political, social and more so everyday significance talked about directly or indirectly oozes out a strange kind of individuality parallel to the author's thinking.

Secondly the idea that nothing should bring down or berate anybody’s or anything’s existence; no species, no nationality, no gender, no caste, no status, no education, no belief, no religion, no occupation, no upbringing, no law of the land, no establishment or no other human, that by itself was thought provoking and impressed me greatly.

Her description on many issues, particularly the part on martyrdom has left me transmogrified. We live in a world that makes us as well as breaks us. The breaking is what we end up focusing on. One thing’s for sure. Call it anti national. Call it dissident. Call it wail. Call it bestseller. Call it exceptional. Call it much awaited. It really does not make a difference. Call it ‘The Ministry of Utmost Happiness’ and read it, that’s all that matters. ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
500 Great Books B...: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness - Arundhati Roy - Brina	1	9	Jul 12, 2017 11:43AM
Apologies for the really stupid question but...	1	19	Jul 07, 2017 02:10AM

About Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy is an Indian writer who is also 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...

Genres

Fiction

213 users

Cultural > India

68 users

Contemporary

28 users

Literary Fiction

28 users

See top shelves…

Books by Arundhati Roy

Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers

More…

Share This Book

+ Share on your website

Trivia About The Ministry of U...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from The Ministry of U...

“She knew he’d be back. No matter how elaborate its charade, she recognized loneliness when she saw it. She sensed that in some strange tangential way, he needed her shade as much as she needed his. And she had learned from experience that Need was a warehouse that could accommodate a considerable amount of cruelty.” — 14 likes

“Who can know from the word goodbye what kind of parting is in store for us.” — 9 likes

More quotes…

title link	preview: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
avg rating	preview: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness Goodreads rating: 3.63 (2218 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32388712-the-ministry-of-utmost-happiness?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1490606297l/32388712.jpg[/img][/url] [url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32388712-the-ministry-of-utmost-happiness?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy[/url]

See a Problem?

Preview — The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Win a Copy of This Book

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Popular Answered Questions

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

About Arundhati Roy

Genres

Books by Arundhati Roy

Share This Book

Share on your website

Trivia About The Ministry of U...

Quotes from The Ministry of U...

See a Problem?

Preview — The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Win a Copy of This Book

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Popular Answered Questions

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

About Arundhati Roy

Genres

Books by Arundhati Roy

Share This Book

Share on your website

Trivia About The Ministry of U...

Quotes from The Ministry of U...

new topic
Discuss This Book