A book that reads like a poem, how rare is that. Yet this book achieves just that. It the story of a fractured family in India and like all unhappy families that are unique in their unhappiness, this one is also special. Through flashbacks and fastforwards, the book reveals why the people are unhappy. The language is lyrical, poetic and flows like a river of words. The twins; Rahel and Estha are connected beyond ordinary understanding and are Me rather than We. The twins' grandmother; Blind Mammachi is an abused widow of her overbearing husband and her lopsided son Chacko. Baby Kochamma, grandaunt of the twins is a symbol of desperate unrequited and finally bitter love. The twins' mother ; Ammu the is a divorcee and a woman who has is untamed wilderness and is the root cause of the family's undoing. Whether or not the style will be your cup of tea, the characters are what makes this story come alive and finally in the way the words wash over you, you will be caught up in the stream and unable to let go till you come around full circle and start again.