A Fine Balance

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book about Indian society
Review: This book offers a realistic and impartial look at the harsh realities faced by the lower castes of India. By highlighting the personalities of two poor tailors who come to the big city in a desperate search for survival, it effectively personalizes the struggles of lower segments of Indian society. I often encounter numersous stories in newspapers concerning the misfortunes and evils which befall such unfortunates. The killing fields of Bihar serve as a perfect example of this. However, the strength of this book is that it personalizes two such characters and thus makes their suffering more real to us. The book covers one year of the emergency which was declared by Indhira Gandhi ('75-'76). Five disparate main characters find themselves forced to trust and rely upon one another in order to survive. The two poor tailors, a middle aged widow trying to maintain her indepencence, a young college student and a philosopher-like criminal called Beggarmaster, who winds up playing a critical role in the survival of the group, are all inexorably drawn together in the apartment of the widow. The tailors suffer through most of the dificulties imposed by the emergencey. Their temporary settlement is torn down, they're dragged off to an enforced work colony, and they're forced to attend a public lecture of Indira Ghandi among other trials and tribulations. I felt that this book sucsessfully portrayed the wide spectrum of characters which constitute Indian society. I felt a growing identification with the main characters and thus their sufferings had a strong emotional impact. The younger of the two tailors is still a teenage boy, he yearns to break free from his social and economic limitations and to freely express all his youthful energy and ambitions. He befriends the young college student and the two share a mutual influence upon one another. But the most memorable character of the book is the Begarmaster who controls the lives of a large segment of the beggar community of the city. Though apparently a criminal, he actually incorporates noble and philosophical ideals into his otherwise horrible and ugly business which capatalizes upon the mutilation and suffering of others. I've lived in India for eight years and I have travelled to several different parts of the country. Thus I'v developed a familiarity with it. But even I gained a new perspective on India from this book. ---Leonard

Rating:
Summary: an unforgettable experience I
Review: I had almost forgotten how it felt to become immersed in a work of fiction. So little of quality is written today that I have sworn off modern=day novels and become a strict nom=fiction fan. Then someone recommended A Fine Balance.It is a work that transports you to another place and time and civilization. The writer taps the emotions of the reader and makes it impossible not to feel intensely for the characters. Several times,I had to close the book and give myself a reprieve..as the anguish of the characters overwhelmed me."A Fine Balance" informs,educates,and touches...and until I read it,I believed that the art of the novel was dead. Thank you Mr. Mistry for your talent,your heart and for an unforgettable experience. EA

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Summary: It tests how human you are......
Review: Four people in an Indian Metropolis...their coming together...staying together....and seperating....a simple plot....it confirms my belief that the greatest truths are the simplest...and need no clever devices or gimmickry.......nothing about this book is "contrived"....whatever happens...can happen...and does happen. A Fine Balance is a test of how human you are....if it doesnt change your life...it will certainly change the way you look at life...I dont know of a single other book about which I can say that.

Rating:
Summary: One of life's better books
Review: Like the recent reader from New York, I cannot understand why this gem of a book is not better known. I enjoyed A Suitable Boy and loved A God Of Small Things, but neither of them left me with such a sensation of having actually been at all the scenes described, and having actually known the principal characters. Only Keri Hulme's Bone People had me as utterly engrossed as this book and I found the characters hanging around in my head for literally months afterwards. Read this book and be filled with respect for its author. Rohinton Mistry must be a fabulous person !

Rating:
Summary: A hidden masterpiece
Review: My question is, Why isn't Mistry a superstar like Vikram Seth? A FINE BALANCE is as brilliant as A SUITABLE BOY, and in fact more economically written -- not one page could have been cut. Yet I learned about the book only here on Amazon; here in the States, Mistry does not have the kind of popular appreciation that Seth has. Perhaps the lack of a central love story makes A FINE BALANCE harder to sell to a wide audience.

Rating:
Summary: Truly tragic
Review: Well told story of what life with bad karma is all about. It was hard not to notice Mr. Mistry's disdain for India's majority Hindu population. It seemed that the Parsee characters were saints and the Hindu characters, apart from our heroes, were demons.

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Summary: A guide to India's poverty
Review: Probably, I have not read enough in this world, but this book is all that a beginner needs to know about India's poverty. Its a trgedy of epic proportions that enlightens readers into the gruesome side of the Indira Gandhi led Emergency Rule in th 70s. However, not everything is dark about this novel. Written in a simple, non-glossaried style, Mistry weaves a tale that highlights the invincible human spirit that remains optimistic against all odds. Don't read it if you are not willing to understand what poverty and hardship is all about.

Rating:
Summary: I felt I had travelled to a differnet world! Loved this book
Review: This book was chosen by our book group and I loved every minute of reading this book. I found myself so caught up in the characters I could hardly put it down.The descriptions were so vivid I could see, smell & feel the words, as if I had actually been there and walked "the fine Balance" between hope and dispair with the characters!

Rating:
Summary: A devastatingly good novel.
Review: Mistry masterfully dissects the growing pains associated with a burgeoning nation, while chronicling the lives of four wonderfully created characters whose lives will forever and innocently be affected by the powers - that - be. This novel will demonstrate to the reader the responsibility that well-to-do nations must be accountable to.

Rating:
Summary: A humbling experience
Review: This certainly rates as one of the best books I've read. I felt as if I knew the characters in person, and never found myself thinking of the author. One feels as if one is in the book with them. A brilliant portrayal of life, and a humbling experience for the reader.

If you enjoy this book, track down a copy of Ved Mehta's auto-biography as well. This is a great read; a story of a man blinded from a very early age. Inspirational.