Try free for 30 days

  • The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

  • By: Arundhati Roy
  • Narrated by: Arundhati Roy
  • Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (147 ratings)

1 credit a month to use on any title, yours to keep (you’ll use your first credit on this title).
Stream or download thousands of included titles.
Access to exclusive deals and discounts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness cover art

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

By: Arundhati Roy
Narrated by: Arundhati Roy
Try for $0.00

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $33.99

Buy Now for $33.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, written and read by Arundhati Roy.

An intimate author-read recording of the richly moving new novel - the first since the author's Booker-Prize winning, internationally celebrated debut, The God of Small Things, went on to become a beloved best seller and enduring classic.

Arundhati's voice transports us across a subcontinent on a journey of many years in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. It takes us deep into the lives of its gloriously rendered characters, each of them in search of a place of safety - in search of meaning, and of love.

In a graveyard outside the walls of Old Delhi, a resident unrolls a threadbare Persian carpet. On a concrete sidewalk, a baby suddenly appears, just after midnight. In a snowy valley, a bereaved father writes a letter to his five-year-old daughter about the people who came to her funeral. In a second-floor apartment, a lone woman chain-smokes as she reads through her old notebooks. At the Jannat Guest House, two people who have known each other all their lives sleep with their arms wrapped around each other, as though they have just met.

A braided narrative of astonishing force and originality, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is at once a love story and a provocation - a novel as inventive as it is emotionally engaging. It is told with a whisper, in a shout, through joyous tears and sometimes with a bitter laugh. Its heroes, both present and departed, have been broken by the world we live in - and then mended by love. For this reason, they will never surrender.

How to tell a shattered story?

By slowly becoming everybody.

No.

By slowly becoming everything.

Humane and sensuous, beautifully narrated by the author herself, this extraordinary audiobook demonstrates the miracle of Arundhati Roy's storytelling gifts.

©2017 Arundhati Roy (P)2017 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    70
  • 4 Stars
    33
  • 3 Stars
    25
  • 2 Stars
    12
  • 1 Stars
    7
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    67
  • 4 Stars
    24
  • 3 Stars
    18
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    7
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    63
  • 4 Stars
    31
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

At times brilliant, at others boring

A wonderful beginning and very interesting commentary on the past and current Indian political landscapes were, for me, dulled by some of the literary choices in the middle of the book. The last part was again satisfying though.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Hard work but worth it

As was my experience of India many years ago . This book is complex ,unruly, paradox abounds. It encompasses corruption and poverty . Progress and antiquity. Rationality and the world of spirits. The book defies classic literary constructs. It's structure is embedded in stories. Seeming to meander yet moving forward and backwards steadily .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

authors shouldn't read their books!

monotonous tone and lack of plot made this difficult and uninteresting. pity. interesting premise

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Minute detail. Overall masterpiece.

Not a book for the feint hearted, the story takes the minutiae of individual life stories and weaves them together to create an enormous portrait. It interweaves each character into each other’s life and bring a globally human understanding to a way of life, religion, war and what we think of as ‘terrorism’ while remaining impartial and observational. No walk in the park, this. Nevertheless, insights and characters that will remain with you long after you finish the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • KM
  • 20-08-2017

Literary Masterpiece.

Master story teller who takes you into the heart of the entire experience.
The narration by the author is completely authentic and is emotionally spellbinding.
Her writing is in the same league as Harper Lee and JK Rowling.
Well worth the 20 year wait for her second novel.
An excellent read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Lyn
  • 31-07-2017

Beautiful words

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Sorry ; I can't finish it, so many characters and the story told in a monotone confusing style.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

not finished

Would you listen to another book narrated by Arundhati Roy?

yes

If this book were a film would you go see it?

yes

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Roy is a spinner of tales.

So tragically graphic and historically rich. Arundhati's voice is one of my favourites. So soothing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing book

I lived the story. Epic. The author read it perfectly. I saw it all in my mind. Highly recommended.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Impossible to access

I loved 'The God of Small Things' and made 'Happiness' my first download on Audible. I can't get past the first 2 minutes of the text. The author is reading it very slowly, and the accent slows the pace of the reading down. I'm not going to be able to push play on the next sixteen hours - which is a shame, because the prose is beautifully poetic. I think I'll read the book instead.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

astonishing return

I will be listening to the wonderful novel again straight away so that I can embed more fully the story, the characters, and the poetry of Arundati Roy"s second novel. Just wonderful. Complex and deeply pertinent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.