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A Fine Balance
A Fine Balance
Author: Rohinton Mistry
A portrait of India featuring four characters. Two are tailors who are forcibly sterilized, one is a student who emigrates, and the fourth is a widowed seamstress who decides to hang on. A tale of cruelty, political thuggery and despair by an Indian from Toronto, author of Such a Long Journey.
ISBN: 150396
Publication Date: 1996
Pages: 603
Rating:
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0 stars, based on 0 rating
Publisher: Vintage International
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback, Audio Cassette, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed A Fine Balance on + 22 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 7
I have to say, even as brutal as this book is it rarely leaves my mind. It is an amzing look at life in India and makes me so grateful for where I was born. It is a very descriptive and huanting story. One of the top 10 books I've read
TarynC avatar reviewed A Fine Balance on + 213 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
This book was very well written and extremely powerful. It was also very depressing and sad. It was about a time in India that I knew very little about. The characters and descriptions came to life for me and I was unable to forget them long after I finished the book. If you are looking for a "feel good" book with a happy ending look elsewhere. Our book club read this last year and we all agreed that it was an awesome book but certainly not "fun". It had an impact on us all.
reviewed A Fine Balance on
Helpful Score: 6
Writing is clear, story flows well, carefully crafted dialog gives reader a wonderfully nuanced view of personal relationships between Indians from very different caste backgrounds. Mistry's prose certainly gives a sense of India as a struggling developing nation with lots of historical baggage. This vivid narrative transports us and we have an initial sense of wonder.

Mistry begins an intriguing story; however, for me the story drags, and then flounders under 600 plus pages. My general lack of interest in the characters fate made it hard to pull through the larger story. Oprah books seem to like the dark, struggling to overcome adversity themes which work best if you're invested in the main characters. A classic India story in the making.

Unlike Oprah, "A Fine Balance" did not strike the fine balance where I would generally recommend it for most readers. I would mainly recommend this story for the more patient reader of character driven novels, or someone with a clear interest in India, or in class division.
animlgrl avatar reviewed A Fine Balance on + 84 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
Was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did...the cover information didn't make it sound that great, but read it because it is on the Oprah list. Was glad I did...opened my eyes to the things that go on in third world countries.
reviewed A Fine Balance on + 9 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Beautifully written and very depressing. Would not read it again.
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reviewed A Fine Balance on + 28 more book reviews
Great Book! Could not put it down.
jareylee avatar reviewed A Fine Balance on + 25 more book reviews
Author's lyrical writing style, beautiful phrasing creates rich human characters. Lots of characters to get to know, so get a list from Wikipedia or similar and tick each off as he or she is introduced. Then, listen to each tell her / his story. It / they all come together in a cycle of storytelling. No wasted characters, no wasted storylines. A hit with my book discussion group, though some found some of the situations gut-wrenching, disturbing.
reviewed A Fine Balance on + 5 more book reviews
I enjoyed how Mistry goes back into time to depict each character's life...and directs each individual's path to meet up with the other characters of the story. True, this is not the typical "uplifting" book, but there are some very good values he expounds upon; sometimes, life throws these twists and turns into one's life and he shows how one can deal with it. There are thrilling moments, and then the more detailed passages that needs some attention in order to put it all together. Very well written.
reviewed A Fine Balance on + 9 more book reviews
I enjoyed this very much.
I like books like Michenor's Alaska & Hawaii, Memoirs of a Geisha, etc - novels that are interesting and also give me a window into other cultures. This book falls into that category.
Bernie avatar reviewed A Fine Balance on
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 1975. The place is an unnamed city by the sea. The government has just declared a State of Emergency, in whose upheavals four strangers--a spirited widow, a young student uprooted from his idyllic hill station, and two tailors who have fled the caste violence of their native village--will be thrust together, forced to share one cramped apartment and an uncertain future.
dragonflies avatar reviewed A Fine Balance on + 66 more book reviews
One of the best books I have ever read. ONe of the best discussions my book club has ever had.


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