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A review by frasersimons
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
3.0
While completely competent, I felt like this had similar issues to reading Franzen; meaning the seams were showing too much. Dance puppets, dance! It is also, as a modern classic, in dialogue with other contemporary books about these same issues, and for me, at a prose level, this falls short. It’s accessible and crisp, but that’s about it.
It illustrates the dehumanization of the caste system at a pivotal time in its history, refusing to look away from atrocities that the government commits, but it’s also entirely prediction le as a plot because of this thesis. From the onset you know exactly what will become of most everybody, especially with heavy-handed foreshadowing.
The character work, overall, is great, though. But again, like Franzen, it all just feels a bit too orchestrated for me. I came to hear the music, not see the maestro.
It illustrates the dehumanization of the caste system at a pivotal time in its history, refusing to look away from atrocities that the government commits, but it’s also entirely prediction le as a plot because of this thesis. From the onset you know exactly what will become of most everybody, especially with heavy-handed foreshadowing.
The character work, overall, is great, though. But again, like Franzen, it all just feels a bit too orchestrated for me. I came to hear the music, not see the maestro.