“The Ministry of Utmost Happiness” by Arundhati Roy

This book was an unusual choice for me. The author had previously won a prize for her last book, but I hadn’t read that before picking up this one. The choice was entirely motivated by the fact that a friend of mine (who is from Bangladesh) had read this book, thought it was alright, and wrote about it on his blog.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness always seemed to be lacking something. It starts with the story of Anjum, a Hijra (someone who belongs to a third gender) who moves into a graveyard. From there it goes to Tilo and the various men who have loved her throughout her life, and then finally to the two Miss Jebeens. The first buried in a cemetery, the second found on a street corner.

The most compelling part of the book is probably the way these different storylines are woven together. Life in contemporary India and the impact of conflict is woven through these people’s lives, and in the way the characters intersect. But it doesn’t quite go far enough with it. For example, all of the sections are written in third person, except for a couple chapters from Tilo’s landlord, which are in first person. As far as I can tell, there’s no real reason for the difference. His story could have been told in third person as well, which bothers me. Usually there’s a reason for differences in narration.

The writing style in general is decent, but I wouldn’t say it was distinctive. If you imagine an author writing about India and trying perhaps a little too hard to make grandiose statements about life, then you’ve pretty much nailed this one. It isn’t a bad writing style, it just seems so… typical. It isn’t really unique in any sense. It’s a style more suited for pulling quotes from than really reading.

The general meaning of the book wasn’t quite clear. It ends with Miss Jebeen the Second being raised by a rag-tag group of people, giving them hope for the future. All of the other characters had gone through such hardships though, there is not really any other indication about it. Miss Jebeen v2 also is never developed as a character. All we know about her has come second hand through a letter from her original mother. Not exactly the most compelling for her as a character of hope.

Also, maybe I missed it, but what is the Ministry of Utmost Happiness? There is a chapter entitled that towards the end of the book, but happiness is always something that the characters have to make themselves rather than anyone giving it to them. It only comes once Anjum makes a home for them all to live within the graveyard, bringing together the dead and the living. But as far as I could tell there was no “ministry” involved in any sense. Am I being obtuse or what?

Since Roy did win a prize for The God of Small Things, that book might be more coherent. There are good pieces of this work, they are just buried within a sea of confusion. I do hope that she writes more, since she clearly is good at telling stories, they just appear to be lost in translation (note: this book wasn’t translated, I checked).