The God of Small Things received stellar reviews in major American

newspapers such as The New York Times which called it a "dazzling

first novel", "extraordinary", "at once so morally strenuous and so
imaginatively supple" and the Los Angeles Times called it "a novel of
poignancy and considerable sweep”. Time named it one of the best
books of the year. In his review of the novel, John Updike, the famous
American novelist said about its language that ‘A novel of real
ambition must invent its own language, and this one does…”
Critical response in the United Kingdom was less positive, and the
awarding of the Booker Prize caused controversy; Carmen Callil, a
1996 Booker Prize judge, called the novel "execrable", and The
Guardian described the contest as "profoundly depressing”. However,
William Dalrymple said about the novel that “The joy of God of Small
Things is that it appeals equally to the head and to the heart. It is
clever and complex, yet it makes one laugh, and finally, moves one to
tears. A masterpiece, utterly exceptional.”
In India, the book was criticised especially for its unrestrained
description of sexuality by E. K. Nayanar, then Chief Minister of
Roy's home state Kerala, where she had to answer charges of
obscenity.The book has since been translated into Malayalam by
Priya A. S., under the title Kunju Karyangalude Odeythampuran. On
the other hand authors like Rajgopal Nidamboor has said, “The God
of Small Things has it all: the echoes, calls and the cries of the
Earth. But most importantly, an intellectual daring. This…is not just
an extraordinary novel , but an uncoiling spring of human foreboding
and inevitability. It is quite simply unbeatable.”
Some critics have pointed out that the reader reviews of this book on
bookseller websites are so extremely opposed at times that it is
difficult to imagine readers are saying this about the same book.
In 2014, the novel was ranked in The Telegraph as one of the 10 all-
time greatest Asian novels.On 5 November 2019, the BBC News
listed The God of Small Things on its list of the 100 most influential
novels. Emma Lee-Potter of The Independent listed it as one of the
12 best Indian novels.
In 2022, the novel was included on the "Big Jubilee Read" list of 70
books by Commonwealth authors, selected to celebrate the Platinum
Jubilee of Elizabeth II