A Fine Balance

No other piece of writing in recent memory had captivated me and controlled my emotions as much as Mistry's The Fine Balance. It is a tragic tale of intense struggle, oppression, poverty and tyranny through the experiences of four main characters from three different socio-economic backgrounds. Starting off in the mid 1940's the novel traces the stories of these characters, for four decades until 1984. Mistry's characters are so well developed that anybody who has spent some time living in India, can easily empathize with them. With those characters evolving in the backdrop of young and fragile socio-economic-political structures, it becomes a very compelling read. Mistry takes the reader through a roller coaster ride with far more and far greater descents than ascents. Although the general theme of the story is one of struggle and despair, Mistry crafts beautiful moments showcasing great human resolve in the face of adversity. His narrative is always gripping and meticulous. Amidst all the tragedies and shocking violence, Mistry shines through his portrayal of love, friendship, brotherhood and tenacity of the human mind. The characters seem so close and their struggles so real. But at times, his description of human atrocities were very disturbing that reading as 23 year old in 2015, it was hard for me to believe that people were treated with such cruelty during those days. This led me to learn more about the India after Independence especially during the years of Emergency under Ms Indira Gandhi. To add a bit more about Mistry, I think it is an incredible piece of work written about Indian lives after Independence. The characters are from different social strata during a very turbulent time in Indian history. The way he has developed them from all their background, childhood, ambitions, struggles etc is absolutely fantastic. In my opinion, only a man with great knowledge of history, Indian societies, great writing and a big heart can pull out an exquisite piece of fiction such as this. And with this work, Rohinton Mistry has proved he is such a man

I finished this book a couple of days ago but have been unable to sit and write about it until now. I have to say that I could not put it down; I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I was fascinated by its cast of characters. The setting of the scene, the descriptions of the cities and the villages was detailed and mesmerizing, and I learned a great deal about life in India during the "Emergency" during which the people suffered under Indira Ghandi's apparently inept attempts to bring some sort of order to an incredibly poor and overpopulated country with a corrupt system of government and an antiquated, cruel caste system. The atempted "cure" almost destroyed a nation that was already torn apart. The four main characters, Dina, the strong willed, hardened widow, Maneck, the sheltered young student who comes to live with her, Ishvar and Om, the tailors fleeing the horrible caste system of their village and hoping to build a new life, are well drawn and sympathetic. The array of supporting characters reveal a great deal about the best and worst that mankind is capable of: Beggars, innocents, con men, landlords, thugs, gangsters and revolutionaries. In the end, no one is perfect, and each person (and even animal!) must do his or her best to survive in a world that is seldom fair, often cruel, and never predictable. These people somehow go through their tumultuous lives with grace and courage, always seeking something to hope for, some reason to go on surviving, some future that is better than the dismal present. I could see the strength of the people and thought that Mistry did a wonderful job portraying a nation's anguish through the characters he created. Having said all that, and having enjoyed reading it as much as I did, I have to say that I was ultimately disappointed by this novel. It seemed like there was little redemption, or hope, for anyone and that every single bad thing that could happen to a poor person in India happened to these 4 characters personally. It was just too much, and in the end, the suffering inflicted on them was just too heavy handed for me as a reader to accept. There were also far too many incredible coincidences that seemed too often contrived. The writing was clean and well done, and the setting of the tale was incredibly well drawn. It just seemed as if Mistry were trying too hard to explain the beauty and pain that is his India. In seeking the balance between hope and despair, he found only despair. Characters either survived, or were destroyed, each in their own way, but the ending was totally unsatisfying for me and I felt that it weakened all that had gone before. That is ultimately why I have had such a hard time writing about this book. I wish I could have been able to say more that was positive about a novel that I sincerely enjoyed reading and about a work that is obviously well-received. Perhaps I am like the reader in the Balzac quote at the start of the book and I am blaming the author for my own "insensitivity, accusing him of wild exaggeration and flights of fancy." All is probably true, and I can tell that Mistry feels very deeply about his subject, but it seems to me that fiction should illuminate the truth in such a way as to make it seem more real, while at the same time illustrating the basic truths of existence. To merely drive the sad truth into the ground, without giving one's characters at least some feeble hope for redemption, seems like a sad and wasted effort.

Set in an unidentified Indian city by the sea during the mid-1970s, Mistry’s novel is a moving tale of a lonely widow, a paying boarder, and two tailors seeking work in the city. The story opens quietly and builds unhurriedly. The author takes his time in developing the story; be patient. The characters each struggle with their own misfortunes. Dina Dalal, a financially strapped Parsi widow in her early 40's, struggles to preserve her independence, resisting the pleas of her brother to live off his charity. To make ends meet, Dina takes in a boarder, then recruits and hires two tailors to sew dresses for an export company. The boarder, Maneck, is the privileged son of a former school chum who has come to the city from his beloved mountain village for schooling. The Hindu tailors, Ishvar and Om, are refugees from caste violence. Ishvar, in his 40's, has dedicated his life to being a father to his nephew Om, the son of Ishvar's murdered brother. The tailors live from hand to mouth, entirely at the mercy of the social upheavals of the day. The novel is set during the Emergency in the mid-1970s, a time when the Prime Minister suspends the constitution in order to hold on to power following a scandal. It is a period marked by political unrest and human rights violations, including widespread corruption, detention, horrendous injustices, torture and forced sterilization. Although Indira Gandhi is never named (she is simply referred to as the "prime minister"), she is an ominous presence. Under these circumstances, Dina's apartment becomes a sanctuary for the tailors. The four strangers start sharing their stories, then meals, then living space, until the apartment is transformed into a home for the four that is as close as family. In addition to the four protagonists, the author introduces a series of marginal characters so vibrant they threaten to upstage everyone else: the legless beggar Shankar who gets around on a small wooden platform with wheels, the hair collector Rajaram, the beggarmaster, even an unnamed woman drying her only sari. A Fine Balance explores the effects of the state of emergency on the lives of ordinary people in India. A Fine Balance is a masterpiece—one of the best books I have ever read. It is a compelling read that transports you from one country to another. The author brings the sounds, colors, and images of his world to life. This is a very powerful book that draws you in, sweeps you along, and is over far too soon. It reminded me of the value of family and friendship. It is a book that is hauntingly beautiful; it will stir your emotions, highlighting the fine line that exists between hope and despair.

One of the best books I've ever read. I was thinking whether I should title it a Masterpiece. The ~700 pages book covers the life of four young characters that are driven to live together in a bustling Indian city due to economic constraints and became close friends against all odds. The novel presents horrifying times and events in the history and culture of India, such as the miserable oppressed life of Indian low-casts, the violence against Muslims during the civil riots, the hostile activities taken against baggers and poor people and so forth. The author does a phenomenal job in outlining so many events and sub-stories in such an interesting and engaging way. And though the realities are very harsh, a string of hope and acceptance and even satisfaction goes along the book, as the characters, struggling hard to survive this small and harsh life, are so happy with the least they can get from life, until a new evil wave arrives and drives them into another horrific event. And even when you think that their lives are totally destroyed, they come out of the ashes and find the way to survive and even laugh. The author did a fantastic job in portraying the characters and events in such a lively and authentic way, to the point that you feel as though you were present right there and you could easily imagine the occurrences. You can feel the author's sentiment to his heroes as he portrays them in such a warm and lively way. There are many sub-characters that show through the book, all of them are deep and we'll crafted. Few of them are pure evils. But many others show that the character's classification could vary among people and on different occasions and time. One could be a demon for some and pursue terrible actions and yet he is the rescuing angel for others. At the bottom line there are so many simple and fair souls that struggle to make a living and to have the basic necessities to move from one day to the next.

Read this book based on a recommendation of a friend. There's a lot going on here, and I find it very difficult to rate it as a result. I ultimately settled on 3 stars because I wasn't disappointed to have read it, but was ultimately disappointed in the novel. The book's synopsis accurately describes the events, but what was overwhelming about the story was the sheer multitude of tragic events that befall the characters. It isn't that these events were overly depressing that caused much of a problem for me,more that they were so relentless that they reached a point of absurdity. As a reader, the author eventually broke me with this level of absurdity, the story rapidly approaching a comedy in all senses of the term. In addition, the sheer convenience of all of these pieces coming together and all of the events transpiring the way they did absolutely stretched the limits of plausibility. At it's core, there's an extremely interesting story in the pages of this book. Lots of great introspective thoughts provoked on the role of government in society as well as a great history lesson on the difficulties presented by the caste system which even bear some fruit on our more modern setting. The aforementioned problems really dragged this down. Finally, this was always going to be a very difficult book to end. With all of the tragedy in the story, what could possibly be the final tragedy that ties the whole thing up? How the author chose to end the novel, in my opinion, did not fit with the characters as they've been presented in the book to that point. It seemed to me to be another contrived and tidy invention by the author to call the book to a close, rather than a natural progression of the characters as you've known them to that point.

A absolutely fantastic “historical Fiction “ of the lives of people in the “City by the Sea” on the West Coast of the subcontinent. . Published well over 25 years ago and written about 1975 during Indira Gandhi’s self made “Emergency”. Four protagonist and a wonderful ensemble of characters, bring a truly human story about a shameful time in the subcontinents history. Filled with misery , cruelty and struggle with hope unrewarded. Caste violence,forced sterilization ,work labor camps all the horrors of the “emergency” . Hope, friendship & even some empathy and even love cannot compare with the struggles of their lives . We lose track of our protagonists until the year 1984 the Epilogue of the novel (The year the historical villain of the novel is assassinated) we see what hope without hope can do. Wonderfully written, heart wrenching the city by the sea and the other characters will be with you for years. . A fine balance can never be found . Condition of book: It did fall apart in two days .That’s on me. Dealing with a third-party seller. I included a picture .I wasn’t going to send back a book that was only $5. It was supposed to be in very good condition.. I was able to read it , In pieces I wouldn’t use them if I could avoid it.

A FINE STORY Somewhere in the middle of A FINE BALANCE Rohanton Mistry reveals the meaning of his title: it refers to the balance, in life, between hope and despair. At the point where this revelation comes, I felt that the story was a long way from achieving this balance--there was far more despair happening, and precious little hope. By the novel's end, however, a balance of sorts is reached. The story centers on four main characters: Dina, a widowed seamstress struggling to live independent of her family; Maneck, a college student who rents a room in her house; and Omprakash (Om) and Ishvar, nephew and uncle respectively, who come to work for Dina as tailors. The canvas Mistry paints their stories on is vast, much bigger than four individual lives: like so many novels coming out of India in recent years, it begins with India's independence from Great Britain and subsequent Partition, and goes as far as the 1980s. Along the way numerous characters, from beggars to Brahmins, make appearances, and each has a rich life story to which the reader is privy. The picture that emerges is almost Candide-like in its portrayal of relentlessly difficult lives played out against a backdrop of gruesome violence, prejudice and oppression. Far and away the most intense of these stories is that of Om and Ishvar, descendants of the untouchable castes who, due to the sacrifices and ingenuity of their families, have climbed, against all odds, up the rickety caste ladder. For defying an ancient and cruel tradition, they and their families become the victims of almost unspeakable horrors. When Dina hires the tailors to sew in her small apartment, she tries to maintain professional distance in order to keep them in line as employees. As she gets to know their life stories, though, she softens, and eventually assumes the role of Om's mother and Ishvar's close friend. Maneck, her boarder and son of a childhood friend, also becomes like a son to her, as well as like a brother to Om. These four eventually live like a family in the fullest sense of the word. By focusing on a few individuals with a supporting cast of thousands, Mistry has produced a story as big as the Maharrabata. His writing style is flawless, elegant without being pretentious. He describes huge events, like a funeral procession for a popular legless beggar, with all the grandeur they're due, and subtler details, like Dina's inner conflicts, with unerring precision. This was a book I couldn't put down, yet never wanted to finish. It haunted my days while I read it, altered my perspective on my own life, and broadened my worldview. It's become one of the few books whose vision I'll carry around for the rest of my life. Dina is, perhaps unwillingly, the moral compass of the book: though she resists getting close to the others, she possesses an unfailing integrity that, at every step, prevents her from behaving with anything less than righteousness and generosity. Dina's life may disappoint her, but she accepts it with grace. Ishvar and Om, too, accept their circumstances with improbable grace, and through it all continue to love and care for one another. Only Maneck, whose life is easily the most privileged of the four, buckles under pressure. The ways in which these characters respond to their lives and each other provides the book with a moral of sorts. Mistry's proscription for achieving the balance between hope and despair is, without question, human connection. Salvation, he seems to be saying, lies in human loyalty, commitment and a willingness to care for one another. If one made an accounting of the good and bad events that occur in A FINE BALANCE, the despair side of the scale would undoubtedly weigh most heavily--but human connection is so powerful that its mere occurrence gives the other side so much weight that the scale comes to rest in a state of equilibrium. CODA: January 2017. Two months ago I re-read this book, and it was an ecstatic reading experience even the second time.

The best of the pre-classic Oprah Book Club selections, this brilliantly bleak story of sadness and triumph (and more sadness) in the City by the Sea (Bombay) is a must read. Omprakesh and his uncle, Ishvar, two poor out of work tailors, first meet Maneck, a student on his way to his new lodging place with his mother's friend, on a train. They arrive at the home of widow Dina, Om and Ishvar's new employer and Maneck's new landlord. Although initially, Dina is repulsed by the lower caste tailors, serving their tea in low quality cups reserved just for them as you might do for a stray dog, after a string of very unfortunate occurrences, she welcomes them into her heart and home. Meanwhile, Maneck, attends school while trying to please his store-owner parents, who live in the country, and deals with his own set of unfortunate events at his school. Because businesses are not allowed in flats, the sewing must be hidden from the ever-vigilant landlord, who has the ability and the desire to take it away if he can prove that she's breaking the rules. Due to the country's political situation, Om and Ishvar are picked up by the authorities and end up living in a squatter's camp for a period of time. How they came to be tailors (their family caste job being tanners) is revealed and later, they return to their hometown to find a wife for Om, where the worst of the worst comes to pass for the two men. Woven in to the best part of the story, the ever-changing relationship between the tailors, Maneck, and especially, Dina, are the stories of how she came to be a widow, her relationship with her brother, the tailors' encounters with others during their stay in the squatter's camp, and her continual battle to retain the flat and the tailors as her employees. Things are eventually tied together in unique yet believable ways - a fantastic novel.