A Fine Balance
by Rohinton Mistrypublished
November 30th 2001
(first published 1995)
by Vintage
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binding
Paperback, 624 pages
literary awards
Scotiaback Giller Prize (1995); Booker Prize Nominee (1996); IMPAC Dublin Award Nominee (1997); Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction (1996)
isbn
140003065X
(isbn13: 9781400030651)
description
With a compassionate realism and narrative sweep that recall the work of Charles Dickens, this magnificent novel captures all the cruelty and corrupti...more
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avg 4.34
Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
anyone looking for a deep and complex read
I stayed up all night to finish this book, because the climax is simply unputdownable. I am hesitant to formally review it because it's one of those few books that can't be confined within the bounds of a critique or summary, and one that is so magnificent and moving that the idea of reviewing it makes me feel insolent already! So I'll just note what I feel about the book, and the kind of effect it's had on me.
It's grim. Very grim. There are moments of tragicomedy, of overjoyed glimpses ...more
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2 comments
Read in March, 2007
WOW. Beautiful. Haunting. Sad. Compelling. Interesting. Educational. This book covers the stories of four characters living in India during the mid-70s during a time in which Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declares a State of Emergency and in its name, countless human rights violations were committed. I am not sure I can say much that would do this book proper justice. It certainly had what I refer to as The Linger Factor. After I finished it, I sat thinking about it for awhile. When I woke up at ...more
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recommends it for:
anyone with a beating heart
This is one of my favorite books. It will absolutely gut you from beginning to end. The characters are complicated and sad but also lovable and deeply loved by one another. The suffering is so real; some succumb to it while others do not.
Umberto Eco always writes about how a good book's title should be as neutral and non-informative as possible. The reader decides what she is reading about and what it means. In this case, though, I disagree. The title is necesarily spot-on, saying it ...more
Umberto Eco always writes about how a good book's title should be as neutral and non-informative as possible. The reader decides what she is reading about and what it means. In this case, though, I disagree. The title is necesarily spot-on, saying it ...more
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1 comments
Read in October, 2003
Relentlessly cruel book. I don't normally define things as "depressing" (kind of facile) but this book slaughtered me. I'm still uncomfortable when I think about it. Which is not to say that I don't love it. Really powerful stuff. Unforgettable characters.
It's a great Indira Gandhi primer. Love that the language is detectably Indian English - that slightly awkward, wordy, archaic way of speaking/writing that many educated Indians have.
Big, sweeping, ambitious epic that succeeds...more
It's a great Indira Gandhi primer. Love that the language is detectably Indian English - that slightly awkward, wordy, archaic way of speaking/writing that many educated Indians have.
Big, sweeping, ambitious epic that succeeds...more
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Read in January, 2005
I don't know what to say really. Its a tough book I mean, I guess that goes hand in hand with this world being a tough, sad, generally unfair place. Sometimes I can't figure out how to store that all in my heart.
Favorite moments from the book:
"Maneck studied Beggarmaster's excessive chatter, his attmept to hide his heartache. Why did humans do that to their feelings? Whether it was anger love or sadness, they always tried to put something else forward in its place. And then t...more
Favorite moments from the book:
"Maneck studied Beggarmaster's excessive chatter, his attmept to hide his heartache. Why did humans do that to their feelings? Whether it was anger love or sadness, they always tried to put something else forward in its place. And then t...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommended to Elizabeth by:
Mr. Ellisrecommends it for: literature junkies; those interested in India's caste system
This book is a gift from my former teacher and mentor, which I received in the year he would begin teaching it in his high school AP/IB class. It is a dense work, and a challenging work, especially for sheltered suburban teens, and I understand why he needed to teach it.
Prior to reading this, I was relatively unfamiliar with India's caste system, beyond simply knowing that one exists. This beautifully written story explores three separate individuals from separate backgrounds, and shows how ...more
Prior to reading this, I was relatively unfamiliar with India's caste system, beyond simply knowing that one exists. This beautifully written story explores three separate individuals from separate backgrounds, and shows how ...more
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There is a bizarre novelty attached to the story in the absurdness of its characters and their enmeshed lives. Probably not the best treatise on the Emergency years in India, but Mistry does manage to prop it up as a great and bitter backdrop for his story which is primarily about the lives of four people and their fight - a believer, a cynic, a struggler and a fighter.
While Dina tries hard to let go of her past and struggles to find her place in the world, Maneck tries to salvage his past an...more
While Dina tries hard to let go of her past and struggles to find her place in the world, Maneck tries to salvage his past an...more
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Read in January, 2007
recommended to Savanna by:
Sarah McConnell and Sara Lozito
Unlike many of the Indian novels I have read, this book focuses on the Emergency years under Indira Gandhi. Mistry’s characters live through the terrifying campaigns of forced sterilization and “beautification” (slum destruction). But there is more to the novel than the abuses that occurred during the Emergency. Mistry takes the reader into the world of rural India in the 1960s and 70s where challenges to the caste system often resulted in beating, maiming, and sometimes death. He descr...more
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Read in April, 2005
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in June, 2007
This was a very good book. Mistry, often, left me to marvel at the sentence I had just read, and like most of the best authors, his writing has a genuine quality to it. It will require more of your concentration than a simple beach novel, as many of the themes are deep and dark indeed. If I wasn't going to India in a month (and hungry for intelligence thereof), I might've found it more difficult to plow through.
Dealing with four characters in India in the mid-70s, it reminded me more of D...more
Dealing with four characters in India in the mid-70s, it reminded me more of D...more
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I have been writing and revising this review in my mind the whole flipping eon it took for me to finish this book, and I still feel like I just do not know what to say. Welcome to 1984-esque dystopia slash historical fiction slash holocaust meets india slash omg am I really spoiled or did life just totally bite back then... I don't know much about India in the seventies but GEEEEEEEEEEEZ. While I was struggling through it (is this how people feel when I recommend books and say, yea it's distur...more
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5 comments
I have been writing and revising this review in my mind the whole flipping eon it took for me to finish this book, and I still feel like I just do not know what to say. Welcome to 1984-esque dystopia slash historical fiction slash holocaust meets india slash omg am I really spoiled or did life just totally bite back then... I don't know much about India in the seventies but GEEEEEEEEEEEZ. While I was struggling through it (is this how people feel when I recommend books and say, yea it's distur...more
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3 comments
Read in May, 2006
recommends it for:
not for those with heart ailments
the book was given to me by madhav, my indian friend of five years and still going. no introductions about the book, just that it's one book that i should read if i wanted to know more about india and the caste system and other things that matter. the story is set during indira gandhi's regime. it is teeming with layers of decades-old oppresion and discrimination, aggravated by a repressing political climate.
i never really thought a book could break one's heart. this one did. if there'...more
i never really thought a book could break one's heart. this one did. if there'...more
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I can appreciate a book that is a tragedy but usually there is an honesty to the characters that makes the tears worth while. They may have a fatal flaw that has caused the heart ache, but I can empathize with that flaw and enjoy the book.
This is not such a book. I found this depressing, with no redeeming characters or hopeful character traits. I have found that the few Oprah books I have read have had this same trait. They are about depressed women, in depressed circumstances, who do not...more
This is not such a book. I found this depressing, with no redeeming characters or hopeful character traits. I have found that the few Oprah books I have read have had this same trait. They are about depressed women, in depressed circumstances, who do not...more
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1 comments
Read in July, 2000
"(The secret to survival) is to maintain a balance between hope and despair".
This quote between two strangers on a train in 1975 India. This devastating novel chronicles the intersecting of four lives during Indira Ghandi's Emergency measures, which included mass sterilization,
work camps and slum demolitions, just to name a few.
This novel was a real eye-opener to the gross injustices against the poor and helpless during this time. If you have any interest in India or
the cast...more
This quote between two strangers on a train in 1975 India. This devastating novel chronicles the intersecting of four lives during Indira Ghandi's Emergency measures, which included mass sterilization,
work camps and slum demolitions, just to name a few.
This novel was a real eye-opener to the gross injustices against the poor and helpless during this time. If you have any interest in India or
the cast...more
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Read in June, 2002
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Read in April, 2003
A heartrending work. I learned a lot about India from this book -- everyday life in shanty towns, caste politics, the relations between professional beggars and the beggarmasters, etc. Four characters, from different parts of India and different walks of life, come together in a seaside city during the time of Indira Gandhi, become friends and fight to maintain lives of dignity and independence. About two thirds of the way through, I thought -- everybody seems so happy: I wonder if this is a set...more
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Read in November, 2008
I have read reviews where people loved this book. I feel...let's just say if he would have ended this book 3/4 of the way through it would have been much better. It was fine to read about the characters history, weaving in and out of each person's past and why they are where they are. But this book, who's title comes from "a fine balance between hope and misery" just pretty much wallows in the latter. It gets to the point where you become numb to the horrific events that happen to the ...more
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Read in October, 2007
Amazing in the sense that I was continually drawn to read more even though it contained nothing but misfortune for the innocent characters. Very moving, very sad. I am really motivated to learn more about the politics and turmoil of India at the time of the settiing of the book.
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Mistry is a great storyteller and an amazing writer. But I can only give this book three stars because I was really, really unhappy with the ending. Instead of maintaining “a fine balance between hope and despair,” this book shoved me firmly over the edge into despair.
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