Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
The book is extremely captivating. I just didn't want to stop reading. Heart wrenching and shocking on many occasion. Its also very eye opening for anyone who wants to experience what it was like to live in the newly independent India. My only qualm with the author is how he chose to end the book. Readers are left to fill the large holes at the end with their own imagination. I almost felt cheated and wanted to scream for answers. Nevertheless, a great book, as few books are able to force such strong emotions from the readers and this one definitely will hit you like a brick.
I loved the period description of India, and saw quite a bit of present-day India in the book. It started out well, and did a great job intertwining the lives of the characters, but I felt that it became a bit labored and then fizzled to an end on a pile of increasingly unlikely coincidences.
Yes, it's as depressing as everyone says, but it could have ended 75 pages earlier. At the end, it seems like the author was just trying as hard as he could to depress you... like that old Saturday Night Live sketch where the talk-show host went to any length to make his interview subjects cry.
Worth a read, but I'm just not as impressed as everyone else seems to be.
Yes, it's as depressing as everyone says, but it could have ended 75 pages earlier. At the end, it seems like the author was just trying as hard as he could to depress you... like that old Saturday Night Live sketch where the talk-show host went to any length to make his interview subjects cry.
Worth a read, but I'm just not as impressed as everyone else seems to be.
I loved this novel - and having finished it am very surprised at many reviews I saw that described it as unremittingly bleak and depressing. While the main characters' situations are indeed grim, they're drawn so lovingly, and are hardly the kinds of depraved figures so common in this literature (though those do populate the book as well).
This is an amazing and powerful novel. It opens a window into modern India, it takes a set of characters from mid twentieth century and follows them to the end of that century. It also shows us the changes in everyday life for Indians in that time, the turmoil, unrest and suffering. On a broader canvas it shows us religion in the modern world, want to understand modern indian faith this gives a powerful insight.
Story set in India of 3 sets of characters from different backgrounds, their backstories, and how they come together amid political turmoil in their country. Sad, bleak, but important story. Good read that makes you thankful for what you have.
This book was powerful and extremely well written. It was just too depressing for me...nothing but despair and hopelessness.
A wonderful story, the audio narration was also wonderful. It's hard to come to terms with the fact that my time with Maneck, Dina, Om and Ishvar has now come to an end. It already feels like this emptiness is sitting there.
I loved Family Matters but found A Fine Balance a bit disappointing. Mistry is a wonderful writer and A Fine Balance is very good as an indictment of society but it is also trauma porn. Not for me.
