A Fine Balance

by

Paperback, 603 pages

English language

Published March 19, 1997 by Vintage International.

ISBN:
9780679776451
OCLC Number:
1034663894

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4 stars (1 review)

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.

~from the back cover

26 editions

reviewed A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

Review of 'A Fine Balance' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I first read this book 17 years ago, just before my first trip to India, hoping to get some insight into the the country. Nothing would really prepare me for that place, but it was a powerful book to read, and will remain one of my favourites.

I re-read it on my third visit. My memory is pretty bad, so I didn't remember much of the plot before I started to re-read it, but it came back to me slowly with each memorable line. The writing is fantastic. However I had completely forgotten how funny but also horrendously depressing it was. (And with that ending, I really have no idea why it's still a "favourite".)

Subjects

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  • FIC000000
  • FIC
  • Fiction - General
  • India
  • 20th century
  • English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
  • Indic Literature
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  • Fiction