Fraternal boy/girl twins, Estha and Rahel, are living in a small village in India when their cousin Sophie Mol comes to visit. Sophie starts the book off with a bang (or a splash) by drowning in the river that runs by Estha and Rahel's village. The rest of the book deals with how Estha and Rahel grow up while dealing with the death of their cousin. What's so postcolonial about that? Hint: Sophie's half-English—a major red flag.
There are a few ways Roy inserts a critique of Western imperialism into her novel, from the way Baby Kochamma shows off her Shakespeare to the twins' obsession with The Sound of Music. Why might this desire for Western culture be a bad thing and a good thing in the novel?
Even though this story is set after the caste system was outlawed in India, the book shows clear signs of how the caste system continues to operate. How does the caste system connect to colonialist attitudes in the book?