*SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE ENTIRE BOOK*

[Tanvi]

A lot of people couldn't digest it. Your thoughts?

[Richard]

having not read it yet, thanks for the spoiler

[Furqan]

I was more disturbed by the sexual abuse of Estha by the man at the theater. At least, the brother-sister incest was consensual and I think it was a perfect ending.

[Barbarac]

I was one of those that couldn't digest it. The book was very beautifully written, but the end just completely ruined it for me. My mom, sister and brother read it too, and hated it. For some reason for years they've been convinced I recommended it to them, and they hate me for it. But of course, I couldn't have, since I have such strong feelings against it.

[Labib]

"The book was very beautifully written"

Curious, why give it one star only then?

[Wastrel]

I thought the incest was done very beautifully, and seemed inevitable. Not particularly healthy, of course, but it seemed just to be recognising the injuries from their childhood.

[Labib]

I don't see why one need to get physical to get over some past injury of sort - unless she meant to imply they always shared some form of bond transcending the platonic level (though, from my memory, it was nothing of that sort earlier).
While I am against incest, I wouldn't have minded it in a book if it was handled and developed well; in this case though, I will have to say it wasn't.

[Barbarac]

Bookworm wrote: ""The book was very beautifully written"

Curious, why give it one star only then?"

Well, I love to read about different cultures, specially Asian. I thought the author did a great job describing India and all that is Indian. I really saw the colors, and felt the humidity. But nothing seemed to happen, it was long and boring, and then disturbing. If not for the ending, I would have probably given it 3 stars, at least.

[Wastrel]

Bookworm wrote: "I don't see why one need to get physical to get over some past injury of sort - unless she meant to imply they always shared some form of bond transcending the platonic level (though, from my memor..."

Well, it's said all along that they have an immense connexion - that they're two halves of one. When they are divided, they live two lives of emptiness, unable to live fully without the other half. So they, er... unite. It's a wound closing up.
On a psychological rather than symbolic level, you could say that their childhood experiences have left them deeply traumatised and unable to deal intimately with the world - for each, the other signifies all that was good in the world, in their childhood, that they have now lost. The urge to bond with the outside world, including sexually, has been turned inward, to each other. It's like they're living in a bubble that nobody else is part of. Why is this expressed sexually? I think each has a great desire for intimacy, but cannot connect to anyone but the other. It's not a rare thing for sex to be used in place of intimacy.

That's how I saw it, anyway. I thought it was handled very well - I thought it was inevitable, and would have felt cheated if it hadn't happened (cheated, or perhaps upset on their behalf, since I thought it was the best thing that could happen for them at that stage).

[Tanvi]

Sandyboy wrote: "having not read it yet, thanks for the spoiler"

Oh! Sorry, but if you haven't read it, how come you are following this page?

[Tanvi]

Furqan wrote: "I was more disturbed by the sexual abuse of Estha by the man at the theater. At least, the brother-sister incest was consensual and I think it was a perfect ending."

:) I know. The Invisible Orange sort-of stuck to Estha's hand forever. It was saddening.

[Tanvi]

Wastrel wrote: "Bookworm wrote: "I don't see why one need to get physical to get over some past injury of sort - unless she meant to imply they always shared some form of bond transcending the platonic level (thou..."

:) Ah... Very well put Wastrel. I too agree with the fact that Estha and Rahel were two parts of a whole and symbolised all that was innocent, symbolised their childhood for each other.

Further, I would also say that the sex wasn't in any way a celebration, nor did it come about as a pleasure. In fact, it was a sharing of their deep-set grief, the grief of losing the man they loved, a sharing of Estha's agony to testify against that very man, the loss of their mother and ultimately the tremendous pain of separation. I think the sex was only a wordless way of saying 'I know what you've been through.' :)

I agree that a lot of people share wonderful relationships with their siblings and sex seems unacceptable. It sort-of corrupts the relation. But we must take into account that Estha and Rahel were not really brother and sister, atleast not the coventional ones. They were 'He and She', 'We and Us'. :)

[dely]

The sex scene wasn't explicit; it was painted in a soft way, very delicate. I wouldn't neither call it "sex" but union.
Perhaps it also means that in love there shouldn't be laws: a touchable is free to love an untouchable and siblings are free to love each other. But I also think that that of Rahel and Estha wasn't love (as love is understood normally) but rather an act of understanding, a feeling lost if separated or, like Tanvi said, a sort of "I know what you have been through".
It didn't disturbed me because I didn't consider it a "normal" sex relation, it is something more deep.

[Hermione]

Furqan wrote: "I was more disturbed by the sexual abuse of Estha by the man at the theater. At least, the brother-sister incest was consensual and I think it was a perfect ending."

I agree with your comments.

[Hermione]

dely wrote: "The sex scene wasn't explicit; it was painted in a soft way, very delicate. I wouldn't neither call it "sex" but union.
Perhaps it also means that in love there shouldn't be laws: a touchable is fr..."

I like your writing. When I made a similar comment at university my lecturer did not understand me.

[Tanvi]

dely wrote: "The sex scene wasn't explicit; it was painted in a soft way, very delicate. I wouldn't neither call it "sex" but union.
Perhaps it also means that in love there shouldn't be laws: a touchable is fr..."

:)

[Gayathri]

dely wrote: "The sex scene wasn't explicit; it was painted in a soft way, very delicate. I wouldn't neither call it "sex" but union.
Perhaps it also means that in love there shouldn't be laws: a touchable is fr..."

Well said, Dely..

[Marianne]

Wastrel wrote: "Bookworm wrote: "I don't see why one need to get physical to get over some past injury of sort - unless she meant to imply they always shared some form of bond transcending the platonic level (thou..."

Wastrel, you put it very well, thank you for putting into words what I was feeling when I read this beautiful book.

[Marianne]

Barbarac wrote: Well, I love to read about different cultures, specially Asian. I thought the author did a ..."

"Nothing seemed to happen"? Well, you do need to get right to the end to understand the significance of all those seemingly "nothing" things, but then they become parts of the enormous whole. On my second and third reading I cried from almost the beginning as I knew then the significance of things like Estha not talking.

[Aishwarya]

Sandyboy wrote: "having not read it yet, thanks for the spoiler"

Marianne wrote: "Barbarac wrote: Well, I love to read about different cultures, specially Asian. I thought the author did a ..."

"Nothing seemed to happen"? Well, you do need to get right to the end to understand..."

Sandyboy wrote: "having not read it yet, thanks for the spoiler"
it need you to think out of the box to digest it.....its in the face nd amazingly wrote wit realism

[Val]

Wastrel put it very well and dely made an important point, I think.
Incest is a cultural taboo in most societies, but inter-caste sex is a strong cultural taboo in the society depicted. We are 'supposed' to be shocked by the incest, but then realise that we are reacting to a cultural taboo in the same way as those who condemned Estha and Rahel's mother did.

[Pliny]

As expressed by many here I too feel the sex scene has the significance of the outward expression of interdependence they shared..The agonies of their childhood and the torments they recieved from everyone around were all welled up to explode at such a moment..I could not even think of anything wrong considering the intimacy of that moment the writer depicts.

[[deleted user]]

I don't think whatever they did was wrong - yes, it was strange but all they had suffered in their childhood and all those bottled up, tortured feelings were I guess, enough to make them do what they did.

[Rahul]

The story is essentially is about people who broke the love laws, and the consequences that they faced. Perhaps the twins were the only ones who never broke any love laws - and it is inevitable that they broke it at the end. And it would have been insane if Estha's partner in the love-law breaking crime was some one other than Rahel. It just had to be so.

[Susie]

Tanvi wrote: "Sandyboy wrote: "having not read it yet, thanks for the spoiler"

Oh! Sorry, but if you haven't read it, how come you are following this page?"

The heading says "brother-sister sex"on the list of recent updates on the homepage. You already ruined it for people.

[Chingot]

Can you please modify the title at least. I was not gonna read this page but when I saw the title I had the idea already of what's gonna happen. Without even reading the content of this page it is already a spoiler. :(

[Becca]

Wait a minute. Why was the incest inevitable? There are surely other ways to deal with emotional trauma and to find intimacy in a "brotherly love" way. And incest is taboo for a much stronger reason than an inter-caste social taboo - both for family structure and breeding reasons beyond any religious etc concerns. I just can't relate to the "would have felt cheated if it hadn't happened view point.

[Mary]

The whole book is littered with social taboos. And when the ending came, I was hardly surprised. And I think that it was what made it so remarkable for me. It made my hair stand on both ends, the mere thought. But I think that is exactly what Roy wants to tell her readers. We all have our own coping mechanisms, and it just so happened that the twins' mechanisms are not accepted or viewed as normal by the society. And who are we to judge, when we are mere spectators? It is one of the most thought-provoking books I have read, even until 5 years later that I have read it, it still gives me chills. But in a good way.

[Susie]

Ofra wrote: "There was absolutely no sex between the twins , there was only a deep bond. This book is one of the best books I have ever read..."

Your comment is just untrue. I think you just wish there was no brother-sister sex.

[Sandeep]

Although ending involves incest and was a little depressing but it was not for the sake of pleasure it was out of years long guilt and grief because i think that it is what the author wanted to show...that they had nothing left even not each other until they culminates into one another.

[[deleted user]]

Ofra wrote: "There was absolutely no sex between the twins , there was only a deep bond. This book is one of the best books I have ever read..."

You can call it what you want, but sex remains sex.

[Don]

I think some Westerners are really isolated from the realities of life in developing countries (90% of the world), especially the lives of people in India.

Often times when people travel to India physically or through the arts e.g. books, film, dance) they seek the Disney World experience of the cultural beauty, food, clothing, architecture, smiling faces, snake charmers, mystics or some form of spiritual enlightenment.

But in reality growing up or even just traveling in India one inevitably faces the full range of the best, worst, simple, complex, and controversial aspects of the human experience.

Much if the story telling traditions in India ( and even Western cultures) captures, shares and teaches the listener/readers about these experiences by work of mouth, dance, and recently though literature and film

Arundhati Roy's masterful story telling captures a glimpse and awakening the readers to these realities of the human experience though the eyes of the children.

It is only when one gain awareness of these realities either though direct experience or indirectly though the of arts, that one can work towards making a positive change in life, which especially in Indian tradition is what story telling is all about.

[Summer]

Yet no matter what the faults MAY be of this book, I will NEVER forget it as long as I live.

[Andrea]

I kind of didn't understand the last chapter of the book..

[Maheen]

They didn't have to have sex in order to bond! surely a brother and sister can express their love and care for each other in alot of other ways.

[Susie]

Of course they had sex to bond.

[cameron]

I also consider this book to be in the top ten of everything I've ever read. As more Booker lists were authored by Indian writers I have come to love the cultural differences written about and have stopped super-imposing my Western experiences over them. The freak out over incest is amusing here. It is, after all, not some Dueling Banjoes scene but a beautifully written, and yes, lushly portrayed story. As it's already been summarized so much I can only say it's written so well I could see the characters and settings clearly in my head. "Too depressing" seems an odd reason not to like a book.

[Tracey]

One of these days I will read it for a second time.

[Atul]

I tried to read it like 3-4 times, but every time I quit after reading first 9 to 10 pages.

[Sharmila]

I completed it with lot of difficulty and hated it !!!

[dely]

Sharmila wrote: "I completed it with lot of difficulty and hated it !!!"

So why 3 stars?

[Ece]

Furqan wrote: "I was more disturbed by the sexual abuse of Estha by the man at the theater. At least, the brother-sister incest was consensual and I think it was a perfect ending."

Hermione wrote: "Furqan wrote: "I was more disturbed by the sexual abuse of Estha by the man at the theater. At least, the brother-sister incest was consensual and I think it was a perfect ending."

I agree with yo..."

I agree with you, too. Additionally i couldn't grasp the exact connection of this with the whole story. Something's missing, i think.

[Gholam]

Loved it.....there could not be a better ending.

[Nakul]

Wastrel wrote: "Bookworm wrote: "I don't see why one need to get physical to get over some past injury of sort - unless she meant to imply they always shared some form of bond transcending the platonic level (thou..."

Beautifully put!!!

[Neeru]

I don't think that incest was inevitable. Surely, there are other ways to deal with what happened with Rahel and Estha. However, I would say that incest was delicately put. More as a union and less like sex.

[Camaleoncito]

It was an amazing book, a heartrending book, but the incest at the end seriously ruined it for me. I saw it foreshadowed several times, but I kept hoping I was just reading too much into the text. I know it was consensual, but it hit too close to home for me. I hated that she used the same words and described the incest with the same vocabulary, as though it were a transgression of the Love Laws akin to the tragically unjust circumstances of Ammu and Velutha's love. That felt like a punch to the stomach of an incest survivor.
I agree that the incest scene was handled delicately, and probably about as tastefully as any incest scene can be handled. And I think reading certain commenters' descriptions of it on this thread was helpful in making me less upset, in trying to understand the twins' unresolved trauma as leading them to that act. But still, the moment I read that scene, my premature gushing of love for this book was stopped short. I hate hate hate the forbidden-sibling-love trope and anything resembling it, and I hate that it was the "resolution" we got for the relationship between the twins, that their first step toward some semblance of "healing" was to have sex. I adored this book, but I guess even Tasteful Incest Scenes are more than I can bring myself to accept.

[Sahithi]

Tanvi wrote: "A lot of people couldn't digest it. Your thoughts?"
well.. i just accepted it for what it was and honestly it did disturb me but it was written very beautifully. it did not seem erotic at all.. ( referring to the ending )

[Jonathan]

Spoiler alert - don't bother. Turgid.

[Rahul.g.a]

Tanvi wrote: "A lot of people couldn't digest it. Your thoughts?"

This book was difficult to understand.

[Riddhi]

I think the book is very honest and very Indian. The best thing about the book is the subtlety with which the book is written and the incidents described.