Arundhati Roy is an Indian writer and public intellectual best known for her Booker prize winning novel The God of Small Things. In 2017, she published her second novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (which I have previously reviewed).
I eagerly looked forward to reading Roy’s recently published memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me (Scribner 2025). Though it is ostensibly about her contentious relationship with her mother, Mary Roy, the book is really about Roy’s own development as a writer and a thinker. It will particularly appeal to those who are already familiar with Roy’s novels, especially The God of Small Things. Many of the sections describing Roy’s family background and childhood clearly have parallels to that novel.
The memoir also details the evolution of Roy’s political views. Many of these will also be familiar to those who have read her non-fiction (or indeed The Ministry of Utmost Happiness which includes topics such as the Kashmir conflict, rising Hindutva, and Dalit assertion against upper-caste violence).
Some other reviewers have criticized the memoir for focusing too much on politics. In their opinion, the strongest sections are those that revolve around Roy’s relationship with her mother. However, Roy is an intensely political writer and I believe that it is impossible to understand her works without appreciating her political commitments–if not necessarily agreeing with them. Continue reading Review: Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy