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albatrossonhalfpointe 's review for:
A Fine Balance
by Rohinton Mistry
"Set in India in the mid-1970s, A Fine Balance is a richly textured novel which sweeps the reader up into its special world. Large in scope, the narrative focuses on four unlikely people who come together in a flat in the city soon after the government declares a "State of Internal Emergency." Through days of bleakness and hope, their lives become entwined in circumstances no one could have foreseen.
There is Dina Dalal, a widow who makes a difficult living as a seamstress, determined not to remarry or rely on her brother's charity; Maneck Kohlah, a student from a hill-station near the Himalayas, uprooted from home by his parents' wish to send him to college in the city; and Ishvar and his nephew Omprakesh, tailors by trade, who, fleeing caste violence, leave their village in the interior to find employment. The narrative reaches back in time to follow the stories of these four people - the lives they began with, the places they left behind."
This is easily the most depressing book I have ever read. It was good; extremely well-told, but unbelievably depressing. The extreme poverty, and the extreme corruption that makes it essentially impossible for anyone to change their station in life are just... unreal. Except that they're not, and that's the worst thing about it. Despite being fiction, the book is definitely rooted in historical fact, and we're not talking about several hundred years ago. It all takes place within the last century, and much of it still happens today. And that's nothing short of horrifying. I just don't even know what else to say about this book. It had some truly beautiful moments, but because the book itself is so long, it starts to become very difficult to continue, because you eventually realize that even when everything finally seems to be going OK, it's only a matter of time before some new tragedy strikes. No one should have this much misfortune in one life, and yet... It's awful. It's really awful. Even though, in the end, three of the four characters have, in effect, found their resting place, depressing as it is, and maintain their friendship and even good spirits, to some extent, you're still left with this intense depression, and a real understanding of why the fourth, having seen all this, takes his own life, despite having endured basically no hardships, when compared to the others. I simply don't know what else to say about this book. Nothing I say will convey the depth of it properly.
There is Dina Dalal, a widow who makes a difficult living as a seamstress, determined not to remarry or rely on her brother's charity; Maneck Kohlah, a student from a hill-station near the Himalayas, uprooted from home by his parents' wish to send him to college in the city; and Ishvar and his nephew Omprakesh, tailors by trade, who, fleeing caste violence, leave their village in the interior to find employment. The narrative reaches back in time to follow the stories of these four people - the lives they began with, the places they left behind."
This is easily the most depressing book I have ever read. It was good; extremely well-told, but unbelievably depressing. The extreme poverty, and the extreme corruption that makes it essentially impossible for anyone to change their station in life are just... unreal. Except that they're not, and that's the worst thing about it. Despite being fiction, the book is definitely rooted in historical fact, and we're not talking about several hundred years ago. It all takes place within the last century, and much of it still happens today. And that's nothing short of horrifying. I just don't even know what else to say about this book. It had some truly beautiful moments, but because the book itself is so long, it starts to become very difficult to continue, because you eventually realize that even when everything finally seems to be going OK, it's only a matter of time before some new tragedy strikes. No one should have this much misfortune in one life, and yet... It's awful. It's really awful. Even though, in the end, three of the four characters have, in effect, found their resting place, depressing as it is, and maintain their friendship and even good spirits, to some extent, you're still left with this intense depression, and a real understanding of why the fourth, having seen all this, takes his own life, despite having endured basically no hardships, when compared to the others. I simply don't know what else to say about this book. Nothing I say will convey the depth of it properly.