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The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (first published in 2017 by Hamish Hamilton)
20 years after winning the Booker Prize for The God of Small Things, Indian writer Arundhati Roy returns with another densely layered, challenging and ultimately very satisfying novel.
The novel builds thematically on the intervening decades in which Roy has been an outspoken social activist in her home country.
Two female protagonists are our anchor in a whirlpool of politics, relationships and social upheaval; but many other important and cameo characters drift or blast their way into the story, each bringing another layer of narrative and meaning.
Anjum lives in the cemetery, creating a haven around her for outcasts and friends who pass through. She is our guide through the first half of the novel, and her warmth and generosity shine through as we learn of the rejection she has faced as a transgender woman.
The second half of the novel belongs to Tilo, caught up in political turmoil and unable to look away from the horrors she is faced with.
How the two women come to meet and affect each other’s lives is a hook the reader seeks throughout but will only truly find in the latter pages of the novel.
Using a variety of narrative languages such as song lyrics, poetry, letters and even military memoranda, Roy switches voices and perspectives effortlessly, leaving the reader somewhat breathless as she drives ever deeper into the complexities of a story that feels as if it can never entirely be unravelled.
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