Mother Mary Comes to Me, Arundhati Roy

A lot of books you see on the Best Of lists don’t live up to the hype, but this one really, really does. What a remarkable woman, what a remarkable life. Both Arundhati Roy and her mother. And how skillyfully she recounts their complicated personalities and interactions. When I read Azadi a few months ago I marvelled at her talent for directness, both in speaking very concretely about shattering violence, and also for the very pronounced sense of a unique voice, speaking to you, personally. Having read this, I’ll add also her ability to quickly sketch a person’s various facets with such memorable specificity. It’s a really wonderful book. I’m told the audiobook is especially fantastic, and I almost regret that I did the ebook instead, except that it was such a pleasure to wake up in the middle of the night and quietly sneak into this other world for awhile.