"The God of Small Things" received stellar reviews in major American newspapers such as "The New York Times" (a "dazzling first novel," "extraordinary", "at once so morally strenuous and so imaginatively supple") and the "Los Angeles Times" ("a novel of poignancy and considerable sweep"), and in Canadian publications such as the "Toronto Star" ("a lush, magical novel"). It was one of the five best books of 1997 according to "Time". 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" called the context "profoundly depressing". 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.