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ekmoore11 's review for:
A Fine Balance
by Rohinton Mistry
This book is not for the faint of heart. To begin with, it's ginormous. Six-hundred pages as a paperback with tiny print. That alone is intimidating. Add onto it the fact that it deals with grotesque subjects like parasites, torture, rape, animal killing, mutilation, amputation, castration, poverty, murder etc. and you have a book that really takes some fortitude to read. And on top of that, it's a very tragic story...one that happens to be based on realities of a country suffering from extreme levels of poverty and corruption. The helplessness the reader feels in seeing the plight of the four protagonists is heartwrenching.
Every description I read describes Mistry as an Indian Dickens. And while it's true he covers the problems of the country quite well, I think he lacks the humor and lightness that Dickens often managed to somehow include.
I advise anyone picking up this novel to proceed with caution. It's beautifully written and tells many fascinating stories, but it took me a full week to get through just because I regularly needed breaks before starting up again.
I've never read anything quite like this, and I don't know that I will ever read anything that comes close in my lifetime. It's a truly incredible read, and if not for how rotten I felt at the end of it I might have added it to my favorites shelf. As it is, I'm sure it's a book I'll be thinking about for years to come.
Every description I read describes Mistry as an Indian Dickens. And while it's true he covers the problems of the country quite well, I think he lacks the humor and lightness that Dickens often managed to somehow include.
I advise anyone picking up this novel to proceed with caution. It's beautifully written and tells many fascinating stories, but it took me a full week to get through just because I regularly needed breaks before starting up again.
I've never read anything quite like this, and I don't know that I will ever read anything that comes close in my lifetime. It's a truly incredible read, and if not for how rotten I felt at the end of it I might have added it to my favorites shelf. As it is, I'm sure it's a book I'll be thinking about for years to come.