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A Fine Balance

by Rohinton Mistry

A Fine Balance Cover

Staff Pick

For a while it seemed that novels set in India were all the rage. My favorite is A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. His massive tome ranges across the vast chasms of that giant subcontinent, all from the cramped apartment of Dina Dalal. Through her eyes, along with those of her two impoverished tailors and her bright if unambitious nephew, we are provided a glimpse into every corner of Indian society. Mistry describes the absurdities and petty prejudices held by many Indians in a way that would make Flannery O'Connor or Carson McCullers proud.
Recommended by John, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

With a compassionate realism and narrative sweep that recall the work of Charles Dickens, this magnificent novel captures all the cruelty and corruption, dignity and heroism, of India. The time is 1975. The place is an unnamed city by the sea. The government has just declared a State of Emergency, in whose upheavals four strangers--a spirited widow, a young student uprooted from his idyllic hill station, and two tailors who have fled the caste violence of their native village--will be thrust together, forced to share one cramped apartment and an uncertain future.

As the characters move from distrust to friendship and from friendship to love, A Fine Balance creates an enduring panorama of the human spirit in an inhuman state.

Review:

"Astonishing. . . . A rich and varied spectacle, full of wisdom and laughter and the touches of the unexpectedly familiar through which literature illuminates life." --Wall Street Journal

"A serious and important work . . . the product of high intelligence and passionate conviction." --New York Review of Books

"Monumental. . . . Few have caught the real sorrow and inexplicable strength of India, the unaccountable crookedness and sweetness, as well as Mistry." --Pico Iyer, Time

"Those who continue to harp on the decline of the novel . . . ought to consider Rohinton Mistry. He needs no infusion of magic realism to vivify the real. The real world, through his eyes, is magical." --The New York Times

About the Author

Rohinton Mistry was born in Bombay and now lives near Toronto. His first novel, Such a Long Journey, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and received, among other awards, the Governor General's Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book of the Year. A Fine Balance is his second novel, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Fiction, the Giller Prize, and the Commonwealth Writers Prize as well as a Booker Prize finalist. Mistry is also the author of Swimming Lessons, a collection of short stories.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 5 comments:
Tanya Lily Ford, August 26, 2009 (view all comments by Tanya Lily Ford)
This is one of those books that will stay with you long after you have closed it, stored it in the shelf and taken another book. It is the juxtaposition that is difficult to comprehend, the hopelessness of it all and yet the timid contentment in the companionship of others that is so difficult to reconcile in this day in age. The characters take blow after blow that life dishes out and as the pages become harder to turn and your heart becomes heavy with the pain, despair, regret that is felt by the characters you come to realize that this book is not going to have a happy ending that we have become so accustomed to, no twist that will make it all better. You realize that this book is a tribute to those that live a hard life, the events are not sugar coated for those with weak stomachs or whose rose colored glasses are fixed firmly on the bridge of their nose. It tells the story of thousands of anonymous lives who victory is a firm grasp of this living plane and the comfort of companionship. And for this I say thanks. A mesmerizing read.
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avid book reader, March 21, 2009 (view all comments by avid book reader)
This book is my favorite of all time. I would recommend it to everyone! It is a must read!
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(6 of 11 readers found this comment helpful)
tayyabajkhan, March 26, 2008 (view all comments by tayyabajkhan)
I was recommended to read this book by a total stranger I encountered in a public library. The American lady said to me, 'If you enjoy literature then you've got to read "A Fine Balance". I wish I could thank the lady for helping me select one of the greatest book I've ever read in a long time. I not only enjoyed the book, I loved it, and literally cried and laughed with the characters, for the fact that these characters were not imaginary, but they exist in a real world, maybe with different names.
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(9 of 16 readers found this comment helpful)
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Product Details

ISBN:
9781400030651
Author:
Mistry, Rohinton
Publisher:
Vintage Books USA
Location:
New York
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
India
Subject:
City and town life
Subject:
Historical fiction
Subject:
Apartment houses
Subject:
Domestic fiction
Subject:
FICTION / Literary
Edition Description:
Paperback
Series:
Oprah's Book Club (Paperback)
Series Volume:
59
Publication Date:
November 2001
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
624
Dimensions:
7.96x5.24x1.36 in. 1.00 lbs.

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