Summary

The God of Small Things is a novel published by an Indian author, Arundhati Roy, in English in the mid-1990s. It is generally viewed as semi-autobiographical. It takes place in two time periods in the same small town in India, revolving between the "present" of 1993 and the summer of 1969. It revolves around the experiences of a pair of twins named Rahel and Estha.

Chapter 1 is titled "Paradise Pickles and Preserves." It is monsoon season in the town of Ayemenem, in India. Rahel has come to see Estha, her twin brother. When they were young Rahel and Estha were very close, even seeming to share each other’s memories. Rahel feels that in their past, they were one person. Now, they are separate beings, because it has been many years since they have seen one another. They are now thirty-one years old, the same...