The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

A Novel

De: Arundhati Roy

Narrado por: Arundhati Roy

A richly moving new novel - the first since the author's Booker Prize-winning, internationally celebrated debut, The God of Small Things, went on to become a beloved best seller and an enduring classic.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness transports us across a subcontinent on a journey of many years. It takes us deep into the lives of its gloriously rendered characters, each of them in search of a place of safety - in search of meaning and of love.

In a graveyard outside the walls of Old Delhi, a resident unrolls a threadbare Persian carpet. On a concrete sidewalk, a baby suddenly appears just after midnight. In a snowy valley, a bereaved father writes a letter to his five-year-old daughter about the people who came to her funeral. In a second-floor apartment, a lone woman chain-smokes as she reads through her old notebooks. At the Jannat Guest House, two people who have known each other all their lives sleep with their arms wrapped around each other, as though they have just met.

A braided narrative of astonishing force and originality, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is at once a love story and a provocation - a novel as inventive as it is emotionally engaging. It is told with a whisper, in a shout, through joyous tears, and sometimes with a bitter laugh. Its heroes, both present and departed, have been broken by the world we live in - and then mended by love. For this reason they will never surrender.

How to tell a shattered story?

By slowly becoming everybody.

No.

By slowly becoming everything.

Humane and sensuous, beautifully told, this extraordinary novel demonstrates the miracle of Arundhati Roy's storytelling gifts.

©2017 Arundhati Roy (P)2017 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"If Arundhati Roy's lyrical prose, melodic voice, and lilting accents aren't enough, the stories of Anjum, Tilottama, and a cast of society's misbegotten - interwoven with India's social and political growing pains - will keep listeners captivated.... Roy's impeccable diction makes this dense and challenging saga accessible and unforgettable." ( AudioFile)

A story as complex and as diverse as India

Arundhati Roy’s masterpiece is a fantastic lyrical treat of stories within stories. The wide range of characters remain with you as they experience humanity in both horrific and glorious ways. The complexity of Kashmir is always present. So are other questions - cast, LGBT, poverty, power, ideology. Roy invites you to live life on the edges and on the margins of a changing India.

Simply stunning!

An intricate yet tender insight into India’s Kashmir conflict that breaks up in a web of sub-stories illustrating the country’s ill-management of cast, religion, and gender minorities. Beautiful and rich story with the right doses of drama, history, and romance. Highly recommend it!

it's power to open hearts to let in her world.

it is poetry in the form of a novel. compassion in the form of words.

Narration not great for non-Indian listeners!

I love Arundhati Roy's writing, but this novel is very complex with many characters and for a western ear, it is really hard to hear the difference in characters. This book does need a native Indian narrator, but perhaps someone whose skill is in narration and could do a clearer job with defining the characters. I made it through half the book, but found I was dreading trying to listen to the other half. I think, like some others, I will get the kindle version and finish it that way.

Stunning, important!

An incredible, gorgeous, skillfully crafted, highly informed, artful modern work that celebrates those who are underrepresented and often considered disposable by the machinations of capitalism and empire. Highly recommended! Intense, and dynamic not a lightweight escape. Especially riveting for anyone with a connection to India, Yoga, etc. and especially important in this dangerously anti-Muslim global atmosphere we are in. It was amazing to hear it read by Arundhati, a beautiful way to experience the book.

a master storyteller

evocative, powerful, brave and fierce. Roy is a truth teller and has the courage that many lack, especially world leaders.

fantastic novel

she weaves a poignant story of the LBGTQ in old delhi india before the world became aware of LGBTQ

Deep

Author’s pronunciation of certain words and names ylike ‘ rifled’ , ‘Jahanara’ ‘Khadija’ .. minor matters but rather irritating..

A masterpiece & a social justice narrative

I have waited so long for this book. The author is a genius as we we all know, her writing is superb, and to listen to her reading it is an added treat for the reader.

What is a bit challenging in this novel is the almost report-like telling about the horrific, Nazi-like intimidation, violence and murder perpetrated by Indians in Kashmir, that seem as if they are not a novel but really a description of true events that must go to a criminal court for prosecution.

On the one hand I wish this had been written as a novel and that this endless, horrific attempt to destroy a people was present but not for so much of the novel as we understand it the first time, the second time and no need in a novel to bring that theme over and over and over. On the other, I understand why she wrote it this way though; once you've been witness to, and tried as an activist to stop such monstrous treatment of people, as Miss Roy has, and you want everyone in the world to become a witness to it, so that they can all object to the nightmare that India is imposing on Kashmiri people.

Miss Roy is a genius author and a dedicated social justice warrior. She remains one of my heroes and role model

An Epic novel

This is really three novels in one. She is a masterful writer and she read her book beautifully.