Welcome to Litsy!

I loved this book. One, Roy is an exceptional writer, poetic without being overly dramatic, fierce with vulnerability. Two, a memoir about a mother with whom one has a complicated relationship and history and the grief of her passing is complex, defiant, and loving. Wonderful read.

What an amazing memoir. I loved this

Roy has a complicated relationship with especially her mother, but also her father. A lot of the memoir focuses on this through the ages.

But she also spent time on her school years, film making career and relationships, and as a book lover how much winning the Booker Prize back in 1997 changed her life for ever.

I know it‘s early but I hope to this on next year‘s Women‘s Prize for Nonfiction.

#NonfictionNovember #NFN #TodayILearned

I had no idea that the above was done, not just in India, but at all

I must admit that as someone who has showed up to an event with Roy and had my book signed by her, I love that she enjoys meeting her readers

What a way to describe your mother

I was at an event with Roy a few weeks ago, and this was one of the scenes they talked about. Had us all laughing

Just picked this book up from the library and am going to drop everything to read it right now.

It‘s about Muslim women in India questioning the patriarchy and caste system.

Should I look up all the cultural words I didn‘t know or just assume I‘ll learn from context?

#selfguidedcourseinwomenandgenderstudies

Mrs Roy taught me how to think, then raged against my thoughts. She taught me to be free and raged against my freedom. She taught me to write and resented the author I became.

15-8 Sep 25 (audiobook)
Fascinating memoir about the far from ordinary life of Arundhati Roy.
I read God of Small Things twenty-something years ago and did very much enjoy it, as I do many novels set in India. But I knew very little about its author. Her life quite fascinated me: her relationship with her mother, far from conventional attitude towards marriage, relationships and love, and her activism.
Beautifully written.

This was less tough than I imagined it to be - possibly because the author is very matter-of-fact about her mother‘s behaviour and how it affected her.

There‘s also less about ‘Mrs Roy‘, as Arundhati calls her, than I expected. There‘s more in the first half, during the author‘s childhood, clearly, but the author also talks about her political work, writing her fiction books and non-fiction essays and winning the Booker. All fascinating stuff!