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lena842's review
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
atran122's review
4.25
What a journey. I loved reading about each character's backstory and how they all ultimately became entwined.
The ending honestly kind of destroyed me.
The ending honestly kind of destroyed me.
novabird's review
5.0
A part of me experienced a primordial fear while reading the understated horrors that abound in, A Fine Balance. It must be an ingrained fear, like the way birds fear snakes even before ever having encountered one. Not only because of the representation of the circumstances of Third World dire poverty, but also because of the stifling Indian atmosphere that feels claustrophobic, like a pressing of the needy bulk of humanity in on my puny Canadian individualism, it writes fear across my skin. This is an existential fear that reminds me of, “The Woman in the Dunes.” The idea of being trapped, not being able to escape one’s environment, and it is the entrapment in a social environment and not a physical that more so causes a fearful tension within me.
If, A Fine Balance, were likened to a Greek myth it would be that of Sisyphus. For all eternity struggling up a steep hill, pushing a crushingly heavy stone ahead of oneself, only to have it roll back down to the bottom again, and again endless repetition of this labour. In, A Fine Balance, this is no small obstacle – it is instead a huge societal barrier, what are the burdens that are imposed on us and which do we take up more willingly and lightly? In, A Fine Balance, the distressing idea of endless suffering/imprisonment through labour offers a counter weight to this concept of suffering.
The counter-weight is found in when one chooses to not suffer alone and instead accepts the patches of joy, compassion, friendship, and pieces them together into a quilt of memories that help sustain through the inevitable cyclic return of suffering.
Mistry at first deliberately obscures the politics of India by keeping it firmly in the background where it is only presented through a very disinterested primary character, Dina Dalal. As Dina moves forward in personal growth, Mistry expands the impact that the political has on society, and then finds a resting spot between the individual and society and achieves the balanced acceptance of the ‘everyday-ness,’ of living. There is nothing neither karmic or defeatist about this settling; it becomes a grand statement about the acceptance of whatever human condition we find ourselves in and making the best of it.
Mistry provides a masterful portrait of India with a tightly focused lens.
If, A Fine Balance, were likened to a Greek myth it would be that of Sisyphus. For all eternity struggling up a steep hill, pushing a crushingly heavy stone ahead of oneself, only to have it roll back down to the bottom again, and again endless repetition of this labour. In, A Fine Balance, this is no small obstacle – it is instead a huge societal barrier, what are the burdens that are imposed on us and which do we take up more willingly and lightly? In, A Fine Balance, the distressing idea of endless suffering/imprisonment through labour offers a counter weight to this concept of suffering.
The counter-weight is found in when one chooses to not suffer alone and instead accepts the patches of joy, compassion, friendship, and pieces them together into a quilt of memories that help sustain through the inevitable cyclic return of suffering.
Spoiler
Maneck chose to suffer alone and this was too much of a burden for him and so he decided to end his lifeMistry at first deliberately obscures the politics of India by keeping it firmly in the background where it is only presented through a very disinterested primary character, Dina Dalal. As Dina moves forward in personal growth, Mistry expands the impact that the political has on society, and then finds a resting spot between the individual and society and achieves the balanced acceptance of the ‘everyday-ness,’ of living. There is nothing neither karmic or defeatist about this settling; it becomes a grand statement about the acceptance of whatever human condition we find ourselves in and making the best of it.
Mistry provides a masterful portrait of India with a tightly focused lens.
jess_mango's review
5.0
A Fine Balance is an excellent read about the poor and lower caste of India in 1975. The epic tale follows the lives of the 4 main characters: a student, 2 tailors, and a widow. Each of them are struggling to survive and maintain some level of happiness in their lives despite the turmoil going on in the city around them. The novel is beautifully written and very thought provoking. This book made me consider the way society treats and thinks about the homeless and urban poor.
Highly recommended!
Highly recommended!
lindsayaunderwood's review
5.0
Took me a while to finish this 600 pager, but it was mostly due to traveling and being busy. Amazing story and great characters. One of the best books I've read in recent memory.
abbywebb's review against another edition
3.0
After reading [b:A Fine Balance|5211|A Fine Balance|Rohinton Mistry|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165518291s/5211.jpg|865827] one thing is for sure: [a:Rohinton Mistry|3539|Rohinton Mistry|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1238081582p2/3539.jpg] has a talent for story-telling. In this story of four characters set in India in 1975, Mistry describes the trials and tribulations experienced by each character. Even reoccurring sub-characters shared their enduring life stories of growing up and living in India during troubled times.
Although the story-telling and heart-wrenching depictions of the characters was formidable, the novel did not seem to come together for me. It was a long book (710 pages in my paperback version) with many details, most of which could have been spared without altering the story. The storyline did not seem to emerge at any point, leaving the reader to question the goal of the novel.
In all fairness to Mistry, he is an excellent writer, imagining characters for the reader that may well have existed during the time period. By no means was this a "happy" novel, as it showed the characters during times of poverty, eviction, rape, murders, torture, imprisonment and kidnapping, political oppression, and so on. As a reader, I felt such sorrow for the characters, as though they were real beings.
Although I did not find a plot in the novel, Mistry delivered by providing a few twists in his story, especially in the last 2 or 3 chapters. This made reading the last 200 pages or so more captivating than the previous 500. I admit that I was disappointed by the ending, feeling that the author could have developed the scene and characters a smidgen more before ending the book. Perhaps he ran out of pages.
Although the story-telling and heart-wrenching depictions of the characters was formidable, the novel did not seem to come together for me. It was a long book (710 pages in my paperback version) with many details, most of which could have been spared without altering the story. The storyline did not seem to emerge at any point, leaving the reader to question the goal of the novel.
In all fairness to Mistry, he is an excellent writer, imagining characters for the reader that may well have existed during the time period. By no means was this a "happy" novel, as it showed the characters during times of poverty, eviction, rape, murders, torture, imprisonment and kidnapping, political oppression, and so on. As a reader, I felt such sorrow for the characters, as though they were real beings.
Although I did not find a plot in the novel, Mistry delivered by providing a few twists in his story, especially in the last 2 or 3 chapters. This made reading the last 200 pages or so more captivating than the previous 500. I admit that I was disappointed by the ending, feeling that the author could have developed the scene and characters a smidgen more before ending the book. Perhaps he ran out of pages.
a_l_deleon's review
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
Took me awhile in between my busy life to read through this, but, A Fine Balance gives us a glimpse into the recent history that has shaped India and the spirit in which the people endured, survived, and learned to disentangle themselves from the decades of oppression at the hands of "tradition" , religion, and government despite the costs of doing so. I highly recommend taking some time to read this.
klparmley's review against another edition
3.0
Not the book to read when your government is full of crooks and there is no safety net. I was as depressed as Maneck when I finished.