A Fine Balance is Rohinton Mistry's eagerly awaited second novel and follows his critically acclaimed Such a Long Journey, the book that won three prestigious literary awards in 1991.
Set in India in the mid-1970s, A Fine Balance is a richly textured novel which sweeps the reader up into its special world. Large in scope, the narrative focuses on four unlikely people who come together in a flat in the city soon after the government declares a "State of Internal Emergency." Through days of bleakness and hope, their lives become entwined in circumstances no one could have foreseen.
There is Dina Dalal, a widow who makes a difficult living as a seamstress, determined not to remarry or rely on her brother's charity; Maneck Kohlah, a student from a hillstation near the Himalays, uprooted from home by his parents' wish to send him to college in the city; and Ishvar and his nephew, Omprakash, tailors by trade, who fleeing caste violence, leave their village in the interiour to find employment. The narrative reaches back in time to follow the stories of these four people - the lives they began with, the places they left behind.
This stunning portrayal of a country undergoing change is alive with enduring images; a shopkeeper gazing out over a landscape, once-beloved, now transformed by the smoke of squatters' cooking fires; a helicopter bomarding a political rally with rose petals while the Prime Minister's son floats past in a hot-air balloon; men and women being transported in open trucks to a sterilization clinic; four people tenderly piecing together their history in the squares of a quilt.
Mistry gives us an unforgettable community of characters, among them; Nusswan, a successful businessman and Dina's tyrannical yet well-meaning older brother; Rajaram, the hair-collector, who befriends the two tailors; Beggarmaster, who wheels and deals in human lives; the Potency Peddler, who hawks his wares on market day; Shanti, the young woman who inhabits Omprakash's most heated fantasies; Mr. Valmik, a proofreader who weeps copiously due to an allergy to printing ink; Farokh Kohlah, Maneck's melancholy father, marooned in the past, less and less able to accept the world as it must be.
Mistry brilliantly evokes the novel's several locales, creating scenes of startling brutality as well as moments which inhabit the gentler, more intimate realm of people's lives. Written with compassion, humour and insight into the subtleties of character, the novel explores the abiding strength and fragility of the human spirit.
A Fine Balance confirms Rohinton Mistry's reputation as one of the most gifted fiction writers of today.
--jacket flap
You know those books that you are forced to read at school and when you get them you'd rather be reading something you want than reading something from school, but then the book turns out to be absolutly amazing and you can't put it down not even when you go on vacation. Well, those were one of those books.
These four unlikly characters take up residence in a poor, old flat. Dina, a newly-widow, tries to get through the poor economy by hiring two tailors and taking up a paying guest in her deceased husband's flat. The two tailors, Om and Ishvar, were looking for such jobs after a tragedy befell their family. Maneck was searching for a new home after his experience at a "rebellious" hostel. Each came to live at the flat. Trying to live through the ridiculous Emergency the government has set up, each finds comfort in the other characters living with them. This is certainly a story that will leave you breathless: an inspirational read.
The characters are unforgettable. With such a depressing and inspiring storyline, the characters are what kept me going. The character development was fantastic. I feel, after reading the book, that I know more about those characters than I will ever know about even myself. Rohinton Mistry created a world where he wanted government to act almost like a circus and without the characters he created, the world would seem a little dull.
A bit of a warning, though: the book is very grim. When I said depressing, I meant depressing. There is some humor in it, but the overall storyline will leave you in tears. I finished the book and I was crying so badly my friends thought there was something wrong with me. The reader will get to know the characters so well that they will begin to feel their pain and grief. There is no putting down this book. This book will change your opinion of the world. If you haven't read this novel, you are truly missing out on a lovely read.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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27 August, 2010:
Finished reading
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27 August, 2010:
Reviewed