
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
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Narrated by:
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Arundhati Roy
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By:
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Arundhati Roy
Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, written and read by Arundhati Roy.
An intimate author-read recording of the 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 enduring classic.
Arundhati's voice transports us across a subcontinent on a journey of many years in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. 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 narrated by the author herself, this extraordinary audiobook demonstrates the miracle of Arundhati Roy's storytelling gifts.
©2017 Arundhati Roy (P)2017 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Great in every way!
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Indescribable
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Brilliant
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beautifully written , a simple yet storming story
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Many lifetimes in one book...
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She threads her magic into every sentence and gives insight into India's multi-layered society. It is a wonderous tale (or many) that follows eccentric, marginalised characters and "ordinary" people in society who are pushed to extraordinary extremes in their lives in order to survive the prejudice, hardships and chaotic lawlessness. I found it an eye opener into the political and religious web that exists there and the occupied Kashmiri Valley. It is a disturbing reflection on human nature but her ability to transform even traumatic events into something close to poetry makes these tragic stories shared more bearable to hear, while at the same time emphasises the senseless of the dreadfulness. These left me wondering, not for the first time in my life, if the human race will ever actually succeed in getting along. Yet through all that, there are strong underlying stories that share our ability to love. Deeply.
I love Arundhati's subtle humour. Especially in the Jannat guest house created around Anjum's family graveyard. So many beautiful moments and characters, I often re-listened to sections just to fully appreciate her brilliance. Thank you Arundhati.
Hauntingly poetic. Tragically beautiful.
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Good but could be great
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