A Fine Balance

This was a purchase as a gift for a friend. I told him in the accompanying message that it was one of the best books I had ever read. The vivid writing brings to life the India of the '70's under Indira Gandhi; the human tragedies that spilled out from her State of Emergency are recounted in all their horror and yet with dry humour and biting satire. The everyday corruption and greed that characterises Indian life is also laid bare. But it is not just a political pamphlet; the author writes warmly about his characters so that we can feel sympathy even for the bailiff or the beggar-master. It is not a book for the faint-hearted, but it is a book with a big heart.

This thick book (with very small font) has been sitting on my bookshelf for ages and I've avoided picking it up but decided that the time had come.From the first few pages I felt that I was in the world in which the characters inhabited. I know little about 1970s Indian politics but that didn't matter. Social changes played as an important background but the narrative focused on the effects felt by the individuals rather than the high level shifts in the world. This worked really well and made the book about the characters.India itself is a huge character in the story and its portrayal is well rounded - we see good, bad and much in between.. The colours and smells range from beautiful to horrific and there is a deep understanding of Indian culture with specific reference to the caste system.Time moves back and forward as we move between the main characters, exploring their connections to each other and their progression through life.From a promising start, I found that the story started to drag from about half way through. The book was too long and I found it tedious to finish, taking me far longer than it should have done. I know that life is hard but it would have been good to show the occasional glint of sunshine through all the black clouds.Worth book to read and I can see why it is highly rated. I'm glad I read it but I won't be reading any other books by this author.

Recommended reading for everyone from upper middle class families who don't understand what the fuss about the Emergency in India was, how deluded our statements of not caring about politics sound from their privileged ivory towers. Recommended reading for everyone who wants to be able to empathize better - who only look at the impact of Demonetization on GDP, or of the Emergency on elections, purely because we are fortunate enough to not experience the visceral impact on our lives. For everyone who believes they are who they are purely because of themselves - if you ever need a reminder of 'bad things happen to good people', this is it.By empathy, I loved how the characters attitude to each other changes the more they find out about their backgrounds and the more time they spend together, like the proverbial pieces of a quilt stitching together. The four primary characters are terrifically created, but so are all the auxillary ones. We all know a Nusswan, an Inspector Kesar, a BeggarMaster, Mr. Kohlah and so on...The epilogue and the last few chapters of this book are amongst the saddest work in prose you will ever read without being intentionally tear-jerky. The matter-of-fact writing style plays a vital role in this, that which reminds us to the normality of the events, the every-dayness which we are insulated from in our bubbles. The book does start off with : 'But rest assured: This tragedy is not a fiction. All is True.'It's a bit of a crying shame that Rohinton Mistry isn't as well known in India as some of his contemporaries in Indian literature world such as Arundhati Roy, Jhumpa Lahiri, Vikram Seth et al. Is it purely because of a lack of marketplace-savvy? Nevertheless, that there are three more works of his to be savoured is perhaps the balance to the agonizing denouement of this masterpiece

I found this book absolutely brilliant, the way it was written and the information it gave into the lives of the low caste people in India in the times of many political changes. It was not a history book yet it gave me so much information that I didn't know so it was informative albeit shocking in places. The story is based on the lives of several people from different places and they meet and affect each others outcome in life. There were two low caste tailors who have tried to improve themselves having changed their destiny from having been born into a section of the community that dealt with skinning animal carcasses and making use of all of the parts to retraining as tailors. Their family job was a dirty, smelly job that was looked upon as being one of the lowest status jobs. The two tailors lives intermingle with several others, some they meet on the streets ect. and these people have also had lives that crossed with others and the whole image comes to a very good end, one that cannot be described in advance as its all very surprising. Its a long book so not one for a weekends read, but it is very good. The only complaint I could offer was that there were numerous indian words used in their desriptive form and it would have been helpful to have a glossary at the end. Most words you could guess and it didn't affect the story one little bit.

this book is a classic of what indian life is for the poor. and those struggling to better themselves. it sweeps you along till you know every one in person. when they cry you cry. you laugh with them feel all their emotions. magnificent try it soon