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Summary: Beautiful, Heartbreaking .....
Review: Great book. Opens your eyes to the social injustices that exist in the caste system existing in India. The characters are so well defined and none of them are good or bad, all of them are a shade of grey .... the beggarmaster, Ibrahim the rent collector, Ishvar, Om, Maneck to name a few characters. Would recommend this book to anyone .... not a easy read makes you think.
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Summary: Wonder in the everyday.
Review: In "A Fine Balance", Mistry takes us into the heart of India of the mid seventies. The often times painful but nonetheless revealing story centers around the lives of four protagonists each with a very different discourse from the next. They find themselves thrown together in the same city apartment: Dinabhai, a widow who refuses to remarry and fights to earn a meagre living as a seamstress; two tailors, Ishvar and Omprakash, uncle and nephew, who have come to the city in the hope of finding work; and a student, Maneck Kohlah, from a village situated at the foothills of the Himalayas. Maneck's father has sent his son to a city school and that is where the story gets complicated. In a series of events, we are thrust ever so casually into the labyrinth that Indian society is - that order with chaos. Having returned from a trip to India recently, it was clear to see that I was missing tons of nuance that I might have understood better had I read this book prior to my trip. Placing myself in the middle of the discourse of this book - to me, as text, it reveals the complexity of human relations and the deep and crushing effects of corruption. For those in positions of power, if you will not listen to facts, then learn from fiction. See the effects of your corruption - be it in India and beyond. A wonderful read. I recommend it to all who seek to effect a greater understanding of India, Asia and the world around them.
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Summary: A Fine Balance Between Hope and Despair
Review: This is a very complex book. When trying to repeat the events of the storyline back to myself, I found that I was leaving many things out. It is filled with philanthropists, tyrants, murderers, good-hearted souls, and the most cynical and twisted characters I have ever come about. After all said and done, it ends in tragedy. After all that Dina Dalal, Maneck Kolah, and Ishvar and Omprakash Darji have suffered, they discover that their lives have been nothing more than a paradox, in the sense that they have failed to accomplish what they - strived for their entire lives. Or is it a tragedy? Somehow, the four main characters' lives are intertwined, like the quilt of time. However, this quilt finished beautifully. It lacks the odd shapes that do not fit together and the materials that just do not match, as Maneck had described life. It is true, that they all faced many injustices, but in the end, were they all unhappy? Some were, some weren't. The important thing was that at one point or another, they were all there for each other. And that is what counts in life. No matter how bad things get, if you have someone to lean on, you won't fall down. I found that this novel lacked a steady plot line. Instead, this novel is simply a stream of small obstacles, as one chapter is called. Maybe this is just the style of Mistry's writing. He wrote the novel beautifully, I was so wrapped up in the text. However, individuals considering this novel should be aware that it needs to be interpreted at a higher degree of thinking. At first, I was terribly upset with the ending. But the more I thought about it, the more I understood why things worked out the way they did. And sometimes, that's just the way life goes. It is not always fair. It came as a surprise, some of the things these characters ended up encountering as their final destination. Some were predictable. However, all in all, the author leaves you amazed with his tale of how awful one's life can really be. And just when you think that they have suffered enough, another snowball is thrown in their faces. But these characters don't feel what we would feel if we were put in their positions. The people they love forever surround them, and these characters know the meaning of being there when it counts. That is really the moral of the story, to be there for your loved ones, for your family, no matter what. The characters that survived were the ones who had family. Not even a strong sense of family, but just some one to care. That is what helps us get through the sticky situations in life.
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Summary: An exceptional experience
Review: I was absolutely knocked out by this book. It continues with me long after I finished it. Fragments of text will drift into my mind as I go about my daily activities. I read this book along with cyber-reading mates for an Internet book club, and the conversations that bounced from it are awesome. Mistry has written a raging, angry novel. There ARE darkly funny episodes (like the funeral procession of a beggar). This is a book which has plunged me into a quest to read more and more about this most fascinating of places. Be prepared for an engrossing read. It is not a polemic, yet is potent with symbolism and meaning. The characters and plotting drive the novel. Yet we learn more about India than the longest text might enable. I was swept along and with the 4 main characters, and many of the minor ones. The writing is never trite or contrived. It is literary, yet direct and uncomplicated. Masterful. Thoroughly recommended.
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Summary: India's Tolstoy
Review: During my recent trip to India, I was told that this book was the best work of fiction about India, bar none. Since I haven't read every work of fiction about India, I can't make that judgment, but I can say it is sobering, emotionally difficult to take, eye-opening, extraordinary, moving, funny, sad, and unforgettable, the same adjectives I would use to describe India itself. I was touched by the sweetness and humanity of the characters I met in this work, and was horrified by the brutalities perpetrated by Indira Gandhi's Emergency as well as by India's awful caste system. Also, the strength of the tradition of arranged marriages surprised me. From what I read recently in the news of Indian women being brutalized by their disappointed husbands who find they haven't acquired an efficient enough slave or a rich enough dowry, this practice continues unabated. In any case, for anyone wanting to feel what life can be like in India for the vast millions of "have nots" who struggle to survive, I highly recommend this wide-ranging and masterfully written epic work.
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Summary: Buy This Book!
Review: This book will make you laugh, show you true despair, and then break your heart. Read the other reviews for more in-depth analyses. Trust me. I read a lot. I know quite a bit about good literature. This is one of the most moving books I have ever read. It drags you into the heart of Indian culture and then won't release its grip.
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Summary: A heartrending India saga
Review: I discovered Rohinton Mistry from a french tourist who came to visit India through my company. After having read this remarkably touching book I realised how fortunate i am to have a comfortable life for myself. The story starts with Dina Dalal who faces the death of her husband at a very young age. In the Indian society it is a curse to be a widow. How this young beautiful widow face that death is very inspiring. Her mental strength is amazing especially in a city described so similar to Mumbai,( the city of the rich, poor and the poorest of poor). She decides to make a living on her own by tailoring. She hired two tailor Om and Ishwar. To make life little cushy she gets in a paying guest Manek. How the world of these 4 people webs together is the book. Like most of the indian women Dina is a little apprehensive about everything she decides in life. Like giving space for the tailors to live or letting them take a little liberty in her house. Maneks makes it all look so simple and in the end Dina gives in to the tailors and they become a family. They then decide to get OM married. The story takes a tearful turn from here..... read on. You will never regret having bought this book. A few facts about the details in the book are..... The life of the poor in India.... you got to see it to believe it. The natures call..... the first time ever described in any book i have read.......... This is a regular sight one would witness if you travel by train in Mumbai. There are so many beggarmaster in India.... the reason why begging is so common in this beautiful country. The humaneness of the poor is so touching.... The cruelty of the law makers towards the poor is frustrating. The humor of OM and Manek is the only reason to smile in the book. There is so much more this book can teach us about life and living.... Rohinton Mistry has put a lot questions in my mind. Is this book a biography???? Did you witness all that you wrote????. Why did Manek walk away from the beggars???? That was the most hurting part of the book. For the first time I cried reading a book. Finally, thankyou for a beautiful insight to the emergancy period of India.
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Summary: Mistry's best work yet
Review: This novel will truly touch your heart; it's realistic characters and the struggles they go through are described with such insight and depth, that you will feel the emotions they are going through. I could not stop reading the book the second I started. It's amazing the way Mistry creates a story where four people's lives are linked so intricately, and each character in the novel, minor or major, has their own heart-breaking story. I have to admit, the novel did have moments where it was just too depressing, but it really makes you think about life with another perspective. I really enjoyed this novel, and am sure anyone else who reads this will appreciate Mistry's incredible work as well.
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Summary: An amazing book that I recommend to everyone!
Review: You have only to read all the other reviews to understand that this is a great book - I still feel I have to make my voice heard, too. It's been a while since I read this book, and since then it has been read by a number of my family and friends. I want to share it with everyone, because it is, quite simply, one of the best books I have ever encountered. The fantastic balance of humour and love in this sad, sad world is one of the most outstanding things in the book, I think. Apart from that, the descriptions and characters are so vividly real, it's almost like watching a very, very well-made movie as you read. And you can't put it down. And you'll laugh and you'll cry. Get a hold of it, and start reading!!!
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Summary: An Epic Worthy of India
Review: I first read this amazing novel for a Post-Colonial studies class that I was taking, and my first thought at seeing it was "How am I ever going to finish this thing?" Well, once I started reading it, I discovered that finishing it fast enough was not going to be a problem--I swept through it nearly as fast as I could read. It is a massive novel in all respects, with a broad range of characters and experiences covered here, making it an epic on the scale of Hugo and Dickens. No character is incidental, throw-away, or static, and complex as the relationships between them might be, they are also painfully human and revealing. The book is also a fascinating, colorful quilt that reflects the amazing diversity of Indian society, and the problems that it poses to forward progress. The only quibble that readers might have with the book is questioning whether it really does maintain the fine balance between hope and despair that is its constant theme; others to whom I have recommended it have told me that they found it too depressing. I, myself, ultimately found that it was uplifting. Even when the times are worse than most of us can possibly imagine, the characters persevere, because they recognize that the most important things we have in life are other people. And as long as they have each other to depend on, they will continue to survive, somehow.
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