Rating: 
Summary: A Fine Balance Indeed
Review: What do you get when you combine the character development of a Dickens' novel with the suffering and oppression of a modern day society? 'A Fine Balance' is just such a combination. From the first chapter, the reader is drawn to the characters that Mistry so elegantly paints and shapes for us. The misery and small successes of their day to day lives are described in such great detail, that by the end of the novel, the reader feels many of the same emotions as the characters. Mistry has created a cast in such a manner that we all can share in the heartache of living in India during the turbulent 1970s. This is an unknown gem that should be read by all.
Rating:
Summary: A Fine Book
Review: I couldn't put this book down, though I did have to pause often to let the horror of some scenes sink in, as well as to laugh here and there. Now I know exactly what "forced sterilization" means. When I went to India a few years ago, I felt so ashamed each time I walked past a beggar, but Mistry has given me a clearer understanding of them as real people with humanity, and I thank him for writing this stunning tale.
Rating:
Summary: pure extremes
Review: Pure pleasure, joy, sadness and tragedy. Experience beauty and pain in one the most heart wrenching and hopeful stories told.Do not pass this book by. Do not pass this book by.
Rating:
Summary: still my favourite
Review: It was a couple of years ago, I had figured this book would last through a few days at the cottage and than through my hospital stay with my daughter. Read by candle light and along side mosquitos, and within a couple days I was running back into the city for a new book. To this day it's still my favourite. As a canadian who has lived abroad in developing country it got my attention in so many ways. It gives us a chance to see this "sweat shop" and understand and support it, it allowed us to respect a man without legs being pulled by his nephew , not as lazy people with no life but as strong people with much character, we are shown another type of prejudice (cast system, those that eat with hands vs forks) that didn't involve white vs darker shades. As for the ending, that was the icing on the cake to say the least! We northern neighbours appreciate this and often joke that our southern pals can't handle anything but happy endings! We think the happy endings are unbelievable. Thanks for a great book by an indo canadian author.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Books
Review: When everybody who had read the book said "It is a MUST", I was suspicious. Since none of them had ever been to India (or Pakistan for that matter, where I come from) I suspected the reader's exisiting ideas of India as "exotic" playing a major part in the praise of the book. I was wrong! The humanity of this book extends beyond any boundaries. Mistry's prose is absolutely unpretentious, his story: vivid. I had to stop reading it every few minutes, almost scared of reading about the next tragedy awaiting these so human characters. Mistry doesn't just tell a story, he puts a question mark next to one's entire existence. He makes us ALL feel part of a broader whole, the broader patchwork of oppression and resistence. And where in all this does the reader sit? One simply can not just read this book and be content: "Oh wow, what an "Indian" story"? (Although, for me it is not just a story about India but the entire South Asia). I hereby also join in the legions of those who have recommended this book to nearly everyone who reads books. I give it ten out of ten.
Rating:
Summary: In all respects, a terrific work.
Review: _A Fine Balance_ is one of the most cinematic novels I've come across, but in its current state (and this is a compliment), it would make poor fodder for a Hollywood adaptation. While too huge for the screen, the book fits its 700-odd pages wonderfully. Mistry has written a broad story, and has employed an amazing perceptive ability to draw very rich, very real characters. He's also quite instructive: the book teaches about Indian politics, ethnic rivalries, civil corruption, and human resiliance, but it does its work all within the context of the novel's story and people. _A Fine Balance_ was recommended to me, and I've been doing my best to pass the favor onto anyone who'll listen!
Rating:
Summary: I adored this novel
Review: To anyone who says the novel (that is, a vehicle for telling a compelling story about characters you care about, in moving language) is dead: read this book. A welcome antidote to anomic nouvelle fiction. A wonderful way to learn about India. I couldn't put it down (except when so overwhelmed by the impending final tragedy that I had to wait a few days until I was ready for it).
Rating:
Summary: A Fine Book
Review: What perhaps I enjoyed most was the "fleshing out", bringing to life for me, of all the stories, all the details of the lives I could see etched in the thousands and thousands of faces I saw when I travelled through India, but never got to know.
Rating: 
Summary: please give me a helpful vote for my ego...
Review: While I read through this long book pretty quickly because it is clearly written, and it is good in terms of letting you visualize the scenes and characters, I found it to be too preachy and steinbecky. Some bad things happen, then some more bad things happen, then some bad people do bad things to good people, followed by worse things, horrible violent things, and a horrible thing. In between, some minor bad things happen, but there is a bit of humour here and there, plus some touching moments and the boy and the woman and the two tailors develop a friendship that seems a little too cartoony for me. There are interesting quirks throughout, I found Beggarmaster to be one of the best characters in the novel, and the landowners in the tailors' villiage to be the most one-dimensional. Mistry overwrote this book. When I see his collection of short stories from Firozha Baag, I realize that he is capable of creating much better pieces than this almost propaganda-like tradgedy. I give it 4 stars because of its ability to read and its genuine sympathy for human suffering. But that's generous.
Rating:
Summary: Best novel by an Indian author since "Midnight's Children"
Review: (Or anyone else, for that matter) This novel has become an instant favorite of mine. Over the last year I've read many works by modern Indian authors and this one blew me away. It is amazing to me that it did not win the Booker Prize. There is a most pleasing contrast with Rushdie, Seth, Roy, and to a lesser extent Chandra. Those authors for the most part have written of life outside the lower and lower middle classes of modern India. This book puts you right in the center of the life lived by hundreds of millions in people in India. I am not from Idia, but have visited the country, and in many ways "A Fine Balance" is about the India I wish I had been able to see. The story ranges from horrifying to hilarious. This book touched me deeply, and I recommend it very highly.
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