The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017

By: Arundhati Roy

Narrated by: Arundhati Roy

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, written and read by Arundhati Roy.

FROM THE BOOKER PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR OF THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017

NOMINATED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION

LONGLISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE 2018

THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE and THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

'A sprawling kaleidoscopic fable' Guardian, Books of the Year

'Roy's second novel proves as remarkable as her first' Financial Times

'A great tempest of a novel... which will leave you awed by the heat of its anger and the depth of its compassion' Washington Post

'A dazzling return to form' Independent

'Intricately layered and passionate, a work of extraordinary intricacy and grace' Prospect

'A masterpiece. Roy joins Dickens, Naipaul, García Márquez, and Rushdie in her abiding compassion, storytelling magic, and piquant wit. An entrancing, imaginative, and wrenching epic' Booklist starred review

'At magic hour; when the sun has gone but the light has not, armies of flying foxes unhinge themselves from the Banyan trees in the old graveyard and drift across the city like smoke...'

So begins The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Arundhati Roy's incredible follow-up to The God of Small Things. We meet Anjum, who used to be Aftab, who runs a guest-house in an Old Delhi graveyard and gathers around her the lost, the broken and the cast out. We meet Tilo, an architect, who although she is loved by three men, lives in a 'country of her own skin' . When Tilo claims an abandoned baby as her own, her destiny and that of Anjum become entangled as a tale that sweeps across the years and a teeming continent takes flight...

Critic reviews

She is back with a heavyweight state-of-the-nation story that has been ten years in the making

Roy's second novel proves as remarkable as her first

A great tempest of a novel... which will leave you awed by the heat of its anger and the depth of its compassion

A humane, engaged near-fairy tale that soon turns dark - full of characters and their meetings, accidental and orchestrated alike to find, yes, that utmost happiness of which the title speaks

An author worth waiting two decades for

Ambitious, original, and haunting. A novel [that] fuses tenderness and brutality, mythic resonance and the stuff of headlines . . .essential to Roy's vision of a bewilderingly beautiful, contradictory, and broken world

A masterpiece. Roy joins Dickens, Naipaul, García Márquez, and Rushdie in her abiding compassion, storytelling magic, and piquant wit. A tale of suffering, sacrifice and transcendence-an entrancing, imaginative, and wrenching epic (Donna Seaman)

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness confirms Roy's status as a writer of delicate human dramas that also touch on some of the largest questions of the day. It is the novel as intimate epic. Expect to see it on every prize shortlist this year

Heartfelt, poetic, intimate, laced with ironic humour...The intensity of Roy's writing - the sheer amount she cares about these people - compels you to concentrate...This is the novel one hoped Arundhati Roy would write about India

Teems with human drama, contains a vivid cast of characters and offers an evocative, searing portrait of modern India

Indescribable

Felt deeply appreciative to have the opportunity to listen to the book narrated by Arundhati Roy. Powerful testimony of life and love and war. Felt like i lived it. cannot describe how i felt transfixed page after page of narration.

Brilliant

I loved this book. Arundhati Roy reads it beautifully and her writing sparkles and her anger at human behaviour and aspects of India is supercharged.

Great in every way!

Amazing writer for singular stories through a beloved India. High level of language so for non native you may enjoy to have the written version with you, depending on your level. I loved the book with all its nuances and details. Very recommended.

Hauntingly poetic. Tragically beautiful.

As with her first novel, God of Small Things, I was spellbound. Being able to listen to Arundhati's beautiful writing read in her own soft, accented voice was the cherry on the top. The storytelling for this novel couldn't get more authentic. I felt honoured to be listening to this masterful weaver of words.

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.

Good but could be great

As usual Arundhati Roy's writing is wonderful but the unfortunately, the story doesnt do it service. The story lacks coherence at points and there isnt a clear line narration line