A Fine Balance

Rating:
Summary: A Disappointing Sequel
Review: I read Mistry's "Such a long journey" with unabashed admiration for his prose and beautiful depiction of Parsi life in Bombay. It was both poignant and hilarious. I couldn't wait for his next novel. Well, I should have been kept waiting longer, since "A Fine Balance" was a real disappointment. To me, it seems as though Mistry strayed from description of a lifestyle he was very familiar with to one that he probably read about during his life in Bombay. There is a certain amount of proseletyzing in this novel that I find abhorrent.I also find it very un-Mistry like. There are very strong threads of sympathy for the poor and the minorities in this book, laudable in themselves, but as a prop for a novel, rather unconvincing. Gone is the devastating Mistry insight into characters and their idiosyncracies; gone is the Steinbeckian depiction of Parsi life; gone is the vivid recollection of boyhood whim and fancy. To be replaced by depiction of unfamiliar lives and characters. I am sorry, but if Mistrywanted to pen a moralistic tome, he might have been better off visiting those shantytowns and writing a travelog.

Rating:
Summary: A Dark Epic
Review: This a well-written and tragic novel about the oppression of poverty. It is a tale of the failings of modern India, and a cyncical but true commentary on how governments that claim to be doing good for the poor crush those who they aim to help.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best novels I've ever read
Review: I've just finished reading A Fine Balance for the second time in order to lead a book club discussion,and I found that once again this novel left me breathless, totally transported, and awestruck at the sheer resilience of the human spirit. It takes a great talent to craft such memorable characters, to allow us to live in their shoes, to write with such clarity and honesty about human suffering. This is simply one of the best novels I have ever read! Don't miss it.

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing, compelling, heartbreaking
Review: A Fine Balance is, hands down, one of the best books I've ever read--and I read a lot! The cast of characters is Dickensian, the sweep of the narrative expansive. But the heart of this book is in the details, which are brilliantly wrought and which carry the reader straight into this seething, beautiful, and devastating world. I couldn't put this book down, and when I was finished, I just wanted to go back and start again. Mistry's "fine balance," between hope and despair, is portrayed with such an aching humanity; it brings brilliantly to life all those news reports from distant and difficult places that we see all the time on TV. This is a great and important book: It will not only keep you utterly engrossed from start to finish, but it will also enlarge your humanity.

Rating:
Summary: devastating
Review: As an India afficionado, i must tell you that this is just about the best book with an Indian background I've ever read.
It's written in staightforward, yet eloquent language, and gets into the Indian "issues" without shoving them down our thoats so that the reader becomes aware of the problems in this country while staying focused on the characters.
The four main characters are all delightful in their own ways, and I felt acutely their hopes and dreams, and suffered with them.
The climax was so devastating I found myself screaming no - no - no - and still it manages to have a happy ending. A must.

Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable! Reading this book is an incredible experience
Review: i wasn't sure what to expect when i picked this book up, but once i did, i could not put it down. no matter where i read it, i was swept away, oblivious to my surroundings. this is an incredible story w/ characters that will come to mean so much to you. u will never look at the poor in india the same ever again. this book truly shows you that you can break a man, but you can't break his spirit. people need to know about this book, perhaps Oprah should use it in her book club :) i think it's about time she read a book by a south asian author. this is a great one to start with.

Rating:
Summary: Enthralling read!
Review: This is probably the best book I read in 1999. It is a wonderfully woven tale of 4 people who come together for 1 year, and the effect their lives have on each other. The ending is also excellent - something I find many books lack - although saddening. I couldn't put this book down!

Rating:
Summary: compare to Tolstoy
Review: Probably the finest novel in English published in the 1990s. A pickup "family" of four strangers weathers Bombay in the 1970s as best it can.

Rating:
Summary: A Fine Balance
Review: Our book club read this book and while it was in my hands I felt I was living in India. The author captured me! An interesting look at a disturbing time and a window into the souls of those who live so differently from us.

Rating:
Summary: A sobering story about life in India in 1975
Review: I had no idea such misery and political corruption existed in India as late as 1975. A friend of mine from Sri Lanka confirmed the daily life portrayal is indeed accurate. This book reveals the cruelty inherent in the caste system at that time, the complete political corruption at all levels from local to national, and the meager daily existence for the Indian people. Among all this, however, a sense of community is cultivated between unlikely compatriots, and the socio-political strata is broken by human friendship and compassion.