Shape of the Beast, The (PB)

As an Indian, I have witnessed the growing popularity of architect turned writer Arundhati Roy, who has penned this book 'The Shape of the Beast'. I will assume that most people are familiar with her, as she has been on the Indian as well as International landscape for quite a while.

Readers will reminisce her as the recipient of the Booker Prize for 'The God of Small Things' which is now published in nearly 32 languages, and as an actress who played the role of a small village girl in the award-winning movie 'Massey Sahib'. She also has tried writing scripts for films too for some time.

This latest book covers 14 major conversations with Arundhati Roy on political as well as social issues. In her interviews collected between 2001 and 2008, she fiercely covers events such as the Godhra riots, the adivasis in Chattisgarh, and the military operations in troubled areas such as Kashmir, Manipur, and Nagaland.

She also deeply introspects on the emergence of corporate and state power, the global war on terror, about people displaced by dams, the rapidly emerging industry industrial sector in India, and many fundamental questions on subjects like democracy and non violent protest.

Many in the media portray her as a 'female Rushdie'. I feel glad that there are writers in India who have the courage to get into a field like social as well as political issues through their writings.

I personally feel that Arundhati Roy is unique because she is deeply involved on a personal level about politics and society. Though many identify her as a social and political activist, yet she would like to be known as a writer only, which reflects their high stature in Indian as well as international society.

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