Product Description
Rohinton Mistry’s enthralling novel is at once a domestic drama and an intently observed portrait of present-day Bombay in all its vitality and corruption. At the age of seventy-nine, Nariman Vakeel, already suffering from Parkinson’s disease, breaks an ankle and finds himself wholly dependent on his family. His step-children, Coomy and Jal, have a spacious apartment (in the inaptly named Chateau Felicity), but are too squeamish and resentful to tend to his physical needs.
Nariman must now turn to his younger daughter, Roxana, her husband, Yezad, and their two sons, who share a small, crowded home. Their decision will test not only their material resources but, in surprising ways, all their tolerance, compassion, integrity, and faith. Sweeping and intimate, tragic and mirthful, Family Matters is a work of enormous emotional power.
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Amazon.com Review
Set during the 1990s in an overcrowded and politically corrupt Bombay, Rohinton Mistry's Family Matters depicts a family being torn apart by lies, love, and its unresolved demons of the past. Nariman Vakeel is an aging patriarch whose advancing Parkinson's disease and its related complications threaten to destroy his large Parsi family. When Nariman breaks his ankle and becomes bedridden, his two stepchildren turn his care over to their half-sister, Roxanne, who lives in a two-room flat with her husband and two sons. What follows is each character's reaction to this situation, from Roxanne's husband's struggle to provide for his family without neglecting his conscience to their sons' coming of age in an era of uncertainty. Expertly interspersed between these dilemmas are Nariman's tortured remembrances of a forbidden love and its inescapable consequences ("no matter where you go in the world, there is only one story: of youth, and loss, and yearning for redemption. So we tell the same story, over and over. Just the details are different"). Family Matters is a compelling, emotional, and persuasive testimony to the importance of memories in every family's history. In a poetic style rich with detail, Mistry creates a world where fate dances with free will, and the results are often more familiar than anyone would ever care to admit. --Gisele Toueg
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 Another amazing experience with Mistry
I LOVE Rohinton Mistry, ever since picking up A Fine Balance on an overseas trip. That novel, along with this one, gave me an insightful glimpse into the everyday workings of Indian people, families, and culture. Having spent two months in India, I was even more intrigued and enchanted.
Mistry writes with an eloquence that's unrivaled by most authors today. His prose is simple yet powerful in its delivery, and I find his character development to be among the best out there.
When I read this book, I was completely swept up into the lives of the people about whom he writes. Forget that there's hardly any action going on; I was completely enthralled and felt like these families were part of my own.
I didn't want this book to end, and wish there were more modern-day writers attempting to do what Mistry has accomplished.
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 Books are like friends... ( wingasworld )
Books are like friends.
You need to meet new friends during the proper time in your life.
Sometimes you are ready to greet a new friend and sometimes not.
The growth of a friendship depends on where you are in your life's journey.
The events in your life dictate whom you can relate to...
your circumstances often determine which people will "gel" with you.
You may have a wonderful book just waiting to make your acquaintance, but the timing is not right.
Read a book over and over, but there are only certain moments in your life when the book will "gel" and develop a relationship with your mind.
FAMILY MATTERS is a companion that spans the life journey from youth to old age. This story is ready to greet teenagers, young adults, middle aged and elderly alike.
This wonderful journey through the life of an extended Parsi family in Bombay during the mid 1990's is guaranteed to be a companion that will serve the reader well during many moments in one's life.
Rohinton Mistry has the talent of creating a bridge between cultures, drawing one into the intimate lives of a family that is just like all families... yet, offering the reader an opportunity to visit and breathe in the distinct heritage of this Indian family.
There are no great saints or sinners in this story.
The very core of this tale is the need for empathy... not to be confused with sympathy.
When we sympathize for another, we feel sorry for the individual, but remain separate. With empathy... we enter the person's very being. We feel what that individual is feeling and in doing so attain a step closer to enlightment.
Here is the backbone of this story in the author's words as told by the boisterous shop owner Mr. Kapur:
"Everyone underestimates their own life. Funny thing is, in the end, all our stories--your life, my life, old Husain's life, they're the same. In fact, no matter where you go in the world, there is only one important story: of youth, and loss, and yearning for redemption. So we tell the same story, over and over. Just the details are different" (p. 197).
The bottom line?
This novel is well worth your time. You may want to own two copies. One to keep and revisit, and another to pass on to your loved ones... because this is a book well worth sharing.
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The characters come alive
Mistry is a very talented author. About fifty pages into this book I found all the major characters believable. Mistry depicts their complexity by intermittently showing various sides of these individuals. His style is realistic and enjoyable to read. I was transported to Mumbai every time I picked up the book. In addition Mistry has the skill to show humor, human resilience, and happiness in people even at times of great stress.
If you enjoyed A Fine Balance (Mistry's best selling other book), you will not be disappointed by Family Matters. Mistry is one of the best Indian authors I have read despite not being as famous as Rushdie. I highly recommend Family Matters and of course A Fine Balance.
P.S. I am a stingy Amazon reviewer who infrequently gives books 5 stars. This one really deserved it.
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Touching Story ( gawia )
I enjoyed "Family Matters", and found it superior to "A Fine Balance" as a story. It was not overburdened with history and politics as was "A Fine Balance", therefore this book was a more natural, and less engineered read. The only problem I encountered with it was that I found the general turn toward the end a bit difficult to believe. It just seemed to come out of nowhere. I think that a little bit more character development might have remedied this apparent fault.
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 Not By Choice ( malitzj )
Was forced to read this book as it was a selection of a book group I am part of. Slow, awkward, and sigh-inducing. Gives book clubs a bad name.
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