most Americans, I remember clearly the date September,, I recall where I was standing when I first heard about the attack on the Twin Towers, My first child, a son, was almost eight months old at the time, My first reaction was fear later, sorrow and grief set in, In my mind ran the thought that life as I knew it would never be the same again.
My son would grow up in a world dominated by the unknown and the constant threat of danger.
How could I possibly protect him from such uncertainties Then I paused to reflect further and feelings of intense guilt erupted.
The bubble of security I had been living in was burst, It struck me that the fear I was experiencing was one that millions of others across the globe are forced to live with on a daily basis.
How lucky had I been How presumptuous to assume that my family should be exempt from the horrors and injustices of the world Well, admittedly and quite thankfully, we remain in a state of relative bliss, but a greater awareness has grown.
I know that at any time, I could find myself standing in the shoes of another much less fortunate.
I will not take for granted my rights and protections,
So, I digress a bit, This book, A Fine Balance, has nothing to do with the terrorist attacks of/, What this book accomplished, however, was similar to that which happened to me following that tragic event, I was once again placed figuratively in the shoes of another human being, actually in the shoes of several individuals that faced indignities, discrimination, and monstrous hardships on a regular basis.
Rohinton Mistry spins a stunning and heartbreaking tale of four individuals whose lives intersect for one year durings India, under the rule of Indira Gandhi.
It was a time of great political upheaval resulting in the Emergency of, Human rights were suppressed, mass sterilization was enforced, the slums were destroyed, and the jails were full of Gandhis opponents.
How this emergency affects these four as well as a number of secondary characters is nothing short of abominable.
Dina, a widow struggling to make ends meet independent of her domineering brother, has been struck with diminishing vision.
She is in need of two assistants to help with her tailoring business if she is to succeed.
Ishvar and his nephew Om, a pair with a sad background story of their own, are skilled in sewing and jump at the opportunity to work under Dinas supervision.
Maneck is a young college student that feels as if he has been cast aside by his parents and turned out from his relatively comfortable existence in his hometown by the mountains.
Dina needs additional income and Maneck is distressed by the conditions at the youth hostel, A simple solution for both situations is found when Maneck moves into her home as a temporary boarder.
We learn the stories of each, what their lives have been prior to their encounters with one another.
Ishvar and Om are descendants of a lower caste, How this affects their relationship with both Dina and Maneck is one of the most touching portions of this novel.
This is where I was able to grasp snatches of hope among the ruins of so much despair.
A proofreader on a train ride has a chance meeting with Maneck and makes a statement that will continuously echo in this young students mind, as well as the readers, for the duration of the novel: "You see, you cannot draw lines and compartments, and refuse to budge beyond them.
Sometimes you have to use your failures as steppingstones to success, You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair, In the end, its all a question of balance, " While reading of one tragedy heaped upon another, one more story of wretchedness and loss, you will start questioning this balance as Maneck often did.
What is Mistry trying to tell us Is it possible to always find this balance Cannot the scales be tipped so much against some individuals that the balance can never be achieved And yet, there are characters in this book that despite all adversity, continue to hold onto a dream of a better future.
Some accept their lot and others refuse to do so, abandoning all faith, "If time were a bolt of cloth, I would cut out all the bad parts, Snip out the scary nights and stitch together the good parts, to make time bearable, Then I could wear it like a coat, always live happily, "
This is a difficult book to review in the sense that I cannot pinpoint any single emotion to convey.
Yes, it was depressing at times, But sometimes, too, I laughed and held onto a very fine strand of hope, At one point I stopped and mulled over whether so much bad could really exist in the life of any one person.
Maybe the author was exaggerating surely he has a trick up his sleeve, But then I considered the time, the place, the fact that this wasnt happening in my little cocoon but elsewhere in the world.
Maybe, just maybe, Mistrys characters represent an entire body of people that were mistreated and victimized during a time when rights were stripped and awful injustices were the order of the day.
I embraced it as a warning of what can happen when power is abused, when persons forget about the humanity in everyone, and when we fail to acknowledge our own role in helping to balance the scale.
If you havent already read this remarkable novel, I urge you to do so, It will surely leave a lasting impression, I also encourage you to pair it or follow it with a lighthearted read in order to soothe your spirit!
"People forget how vulnerable they are despite their shirts and shoes and briefcases, how this hungry and cruel world could strip them, put them in the same position as my beggars.
" Because it wasn't an unputdownable, holdyouinitsthrall pageturner, this novel took me weeks to finish,
My only real issue was that I loved the writing WAY more than the actual story,
And whats not to like about Mistry's beautifullycrafted prose I drooled over his penmanship and revelled in his wordplay.
Like Rushdie and Shakespeare, he intermingles pathos with humour,
The story, though, didnt grab me by the ears and snog me,
Which is why it drops one star, With a compassionate realism and narrative sweep that recall the work of Charles Dickens, this magnificent novel captures all the cruelty and corruption, dignity and heroism, of India.
The time is, The place is an unnamed city by the sea, The government has just declared a State of Emergency, in whose upheavals four strangersa spirited widow, a young student uprooted from his idyllic hill station, and two tailors who have fled the caste violence of their native villagewill be thrust together, forced to share one cramped apartment and an uncertain future.
As the characters move from distrust to friendship and from friendship to love, A Fine Balance creates an enduring panorama of the human spirit in an inhuman state.
One of my favourite books, I am happy to have my copy signed by Rohinton Mistry, This story takes us to the streets of Bombay in the's, A story that intertwines the life of four people during a time of political unrest, It casts a very descriptive view of life in India at that time, Amazing!!!!
Phenomenal!!!
Amazing!!!!
Phenomenal!!!!
TOO HARD NOT TO SHARE SOMETHING even for a reviewretiree,.
There are a million things I loved about this book,
I chewed and sipped slowly, pausing to ponder little moments:
“He speaks to trees and rocks, and pats them like they were his dogs”.
I relate to aging ownership with nature,
My tree in our front yard amp I have been growing old together foryears, Our trunks are both thicker, Our leaves more brittle Our love amp stories with deeper roots,
Changes in nature can contribute to our health, . . physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually,
With the fires burning here in California, . . I was sensitive to the greed that was sacrificing Indias natural beauty,
I felt sadness for an older geezer
ha, around my age, when Mr, Kohlah watched helplessly as workers were asphalting his beloved birthplace in the mountains,
Luxury hotels were not only changing the mountains some people were happy about the business possibilities which is understandable, but my heart broke for how these buildings were changing one aging man.
“His senses were being assaulted by invasion, The noxious exhaust from lorries was searing his nostrils”,
From environmental changes comes other changes, . . a ripple effect: a suffering relationship with ones wife, or son, or friends, familyfriends,
We see how political and environmental change directly affects balance in our daily lives, The concerns and frustrations showed up very personally,
Ok TRYING to keep this short, .
Dina Dalal, Ishvar, Om, and Maneck thedominant characters, were each struggling with their own misfortunes, we fall achingly in love with them.
. .
while the country was experiencing political unrest: corruption, injustice, human rights violation, forced sterilization, poverty, and oppression.
Yet many foreigners traveled to India in thes to seek the truth,
I was in India during the mids, too,
I remember the injustice but this book gave me a deeper understanding as to why!!!! It also was heartbreaking sad!!!
At age, I wasnt thinking about the Prime Minister suspending the constitution in order to hold on to power.
I wasnt thinking about scandals and the Emergency,
I was just trying to survive myself,
“Since the Emergency began, my ulcers began,
Who hasnt related a health issue to an emotional trauma
This novel filled in many holes of understanding while also giving me the opportunity to tap into old memories.
I hitchhiked on top of those lorries with rain pouring/followed by the hot sun,
I became friends with a woman from Goa, I remember her struggles amp strengths, Her hope and hopelessness.
She was a certified medical doctor who wasnt allowed to practice until her father gave permission after marriage.
. .
Throughout this novel we have many opportunities to explore symbolic thoughts about balance, power, serenity, acceptance, forgiveness, pain, and compassion thats bruised the world of inner peace.
Character development
storytelling details and depiction of the human heart doesnt get much better than Mistry,
This is the type of novel that you wish to have a table discussion with a group.
. . pull out the dust and cobwebs tucked in from every corner, . . to chat, examine, and express with others whove read it,
Mistry crafts his universe brilliantly, . . his prose of connectedness can be felt across oceans,
Im sure its been said before but I also need to say it,
this novel is an achievement of extraordinary depth pain and beauty,
“There is always hope hope enough to balance our despair, Or we would be lost”,
HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!! Liking this book makes no sense, Not only are its characters subjected to like, the bleakest set of circumstances ever, but then those circumstances are presented to the reader with such an alarming degree of authorial detachment that you almost have to wonder whether Mistry himselffed up with the unending series of hardships his characters are required to enduredidnt just raise his arms in the air and say, “Oh, fuck it.
” And yet I could not tear myself away from this train wreck,
A Fine Balance presents neither a balanced nor a very fine account of a group of four Indian residents during the lates.
These folks, heralding from different castes and backgrounds, are tossed together by their individually perturbing situations to forge an unlikely bondnot unlike the bond formed among the cast members of Big Brother or The Real World except that in this case, the glamorous hot tub around which the characters congregate is replaced by a broken propane stove and a rusty tap from which water can be drawn only occasionally.
For those not brushed up on their political history, the lates saw India under the rule of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who, though largely considered one of Indias greatest prime ministers on account of her centralizing policies the constitutionality of which, I suppose, could be debated, was certainly not among those in the authors favor.
Throughout the story, Mistrys characters are continually being caught in Gandhis crossfire even while remaining mostly oblivious to the political climate surrounding them.
We get the distinct impression that Mistry is trying really hard to keep his own opinions from interfering with the story, but it is pretty obvious dudes got some serious bitterness issues to work out.
Anyway, this book is not without its flaws, A few characters bump into each other under repeatedly, under no plausible pretext other than pure coincidence, and this coincidence occurs frequently enough, especially toward the end of the novel, that the reader has to remind himself that this is India were talking about here, right The one with a population density of a thousand people per square mile Mistry makes us feel like this might be an sitelinkIndia under glass, where the characters are tiny steel balls and Mistry is controlling the flippers.
This book is good, though, For all its doom and gloom, I still see the hope in its pages, Three of its characters are clothing tailors, and one of the repeated themes is something about how life is like the patchwork of a quilt, the good parts and the bad parts being sewn togetherbut if one were to try to remove the bad parts, hed only end up with holes in his life.
I suppose youd have to think positively when you share a crapper withother villagers.
.