[lLianneForbess]

Quite some time ago when I was working for a publishing house I happened to meet one of the well known writers (male) of India. He went to great lengths about how AR didnot receive the booker. Some of my colleagues and I questioned him about his opinion. His answers gave us a cl;earer picture about his reasons for disliking AR and her GOST--'How dare she get the prize when there were other Male writers like himself who have been ignored so far'.
The criticism that her novels are prnographic amazes me and I went back to the novel to see if there was anything I missed. No...there was nothing that struck me as being pornographic. The narrator's strong feelings for her twin brother which seems to cross borders at times...The mother's dalliance with the lower caste handyman...I guess all these are real issues of sexuality. But then the Indian psyche has always treated sex as a solely male prerogative. As for incest...I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours is a process of growing up in most hoseholds all over the world...even India is that incest?
If the book deserved the booker? Well did Salman Rushdi deserve it...I know quite a few well known scholars who regard him as a literary shyster. A prize is always relative. I personally regard the book as a fine work and she has a powerful gift for the language.