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A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club) By Rohinton Mistry ( Vintage )
Release Date: 2001-11-30
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List Price: $15.95
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Product Description
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.
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.
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 A Fine Balance ( jharris206 )
This was a great story. I took it as my main book on a two week vacation. I thought it would take me about that long to read it, because it is a large book. I got so involved with the characters, that I couldn't tear myself away. There are no incidental characters. I love the way the author weaves each person into the story so that when you meet them later they have evolved into an indispensable part. There was so much going on, that when I was asked what it was about, I had a hard time trying to retell it. There was just so much! If there was one thing I would change, it would be the ending. It caught me totally off guard and I am still trying to figure out WHY?
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Compelling read - don't let its length put you off
A long book, and certainly not "light" reading, it's a book where the characters really get under your skin. I found myself reading this book with my breakfast before I went to work to find out what would happen. I was sorely disappointed by the characters' sad endings, but the humor and ultimate grace and humanity showed by the characters give some hope. It reminds us all of the unfathomable circumstances that many people's lives contain, and not just in faraway countries. Hightly recommended.
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 HelCris
Good reading althought, as others reviews state, too much suffering, excessive tragedies, and when you think it is over, Mistry finds something even worse for his characters. It looks like the is NO balance afterwards, not even a "fine" balance. It's all too sad.
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Devastating and Brilliant: Worth 600+ pages and more
I have never encountered a book so moving as Mistry's A Fine Balance. Following the story of Ishvar and Om, I found myself so invested in what was happening to them - the injustice of India's government is infuriating, and the ways in which the overcoming of an obstacle only leads to another is simultaneously depressing and motivational, due to the resilience of each character.
A Fine Balance is not a light read, but once you begin, you will not be able to stop. Mistry maintains a balance between revealing the utter desperation of the homeless and the ways in which each character finds value in life, despite every force working against it.
I was moved by this book as if I were watching a movie, laughing out loud and crying to myself during the ups and downs of the plot.
The beauty of the book is in the conclusion, as Mistry does not employ any shallow devices to wrap things up in order to make the reader feel redeemed after the devastation. It is realistic, sad, and fulfilling all at once. I left questioning whether or not I would be able to live my life with the same optimism were I in the same situation.
This book will force you to view your life through a different lens, and you will be better off for reading it.
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A fine book!
One of the best books I've read in a very long time. The characters will stay with you for years.
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