Full of angst, hopelessness, pain, sorrow, loss and grief. Probably the bleakest novel to be written in the 21st century. And the saddest part of it all, is that it's all real and true. ( )

Truly brilliant, feeling a little bit like a throwback to “classic” novel forms, and very well written by Rohinton Mistry. Put simply, it tells the story of a widowed tailor and three men who come into her life: a student sent to the city to go to college who rooms with her, and a lower-caste uncle and his nephew she employs. It’s set during 1970’s India and the country’s period of “Emergency” under Indira Gandhi, and has sociopolitical commentary about the rampant corruption, suspension of civil liberties, and cruelty of the forced sterilization program. In telling the backstories for the characters, it goes back to the Independence and Partition of India, as well as the religious violence that ensued. The two tailors who come to work for the widow, for example, have had their families murdered in barbarous ways.

I loved the way Mistry brought these characters into the story in layers, telling their backstories after we’ve already seen glimpses of them and formed first impressions. In seeing their own struggles with life afterwards, we feel greater understanding and empathy, and get the powerful realization that this is how it is with the people in real life, that despite how they may be rubbing us the wrong way, they each have their own story and demons they’re wrestling with.

There is a lot of grit to this novel, as the characters struggle with poverty and the unspeakable violence they witness. There is also a great deal of cynicism expressed in human nature and the political process. While it may be weighty in places, Mistry offsets this with fantastic bits of humor in the dialogue, which feels natural and alive. It’s the story of the struggle of good people in the face of these things, and indeed, the title, as expressed by one character, is in the need to “maintain a fine balance between hope and despair.” I’m not sure I completely bought the ending, but it certainly doesn’t fall into the trap of sentimentality, and is powerful.

Quotes:
On God:
“I prefer to think that God is a giant quiltmaker. With an infinite variety of designs. And the quilt is grown so big and confusing, the pattern is impossible to see, the squares and diamonds and triangles don’t fit well together anymore, it’s all become meaningless. So He has abandoned it.”

Later, on this same quilt, and its various pieces connected to personal events, and symbolic of life:
“That’s the rule to remember, the whole quilt is much more important than any single square.”

On life:
“After all, our lives are but a sequence of accidents – a clanking chain of chance events. A string of choices, casual or deliberate, which add up to that one big calamity we call life.”
And later:
“In fact, that is the central theme of my life story – loss. But isn’t it the same with all life stories. Loss is essential. Loss is part and parcel of that necessary calamity called life.”

On memories:
“Memories were permanent. Sorrowful ones remained sad even with the passing of time, yet happy ones could never be re-created – not with the same joy. Remembering bred its own peculiar sorrow. It seemed so unfair: that time should render both sadness and happiness into a source of pain.”

On politicians, my doesn’t this sound familiar:
“…I knew the blather and bluster favoured by professional politicians. My modus operandi was simple. I made up three lists: Candidate’s Accomplishments (real and imaginary), Accusations Against Opponent (including rumours, allegations, innuendoes, and lies), and Empty Promises (the more improbable the better). Then it was merely a matter of taking various combinations of items from the three lists, throwing in some bombast, tossing in a few local references, and there it was – a brand-new speech.” ( )

Set in India in the 1970's, A Fine Balance is an epic tale of four people - a widow, a student, and two tailors - who end up sharing a very small flat during a very difficult political time period. What makes this book so compelling is that by the end you feel that you completely know these four people . . .and you are hoping beyond hope for the best for them every step of the way.

This book was truly right up my alley. Books set in India just fascinate me in general. It is a society so different from our own, and I'm fascinated by the caste system, the religions, the economic despair, and just the totally different culture than our own. A Fine Balance is also very dark. I experienced the gamut of emotion throughout the book as I fell in love with each character, but the characters must contend with challenges that are almost beyond the American imagination. There is that faint hope as you see how the spirit contends with just the hardest of situations, but it's just more realistic than most books.

That being said, I feel very sad that it is over (all 600 pages) because I felt like I knew these characters so well that I just wanted to continue to read about them until there was nothing left to tell. Just fantastic storytelling and character development. ( )

Book Club

Esta obra maestra cuenta la vida de cuatro personas en la India de los años setenta que, forzadas por la necesidad, aprenden a mantener un equilibrio perfecto entre la esperanza y la desesperación.

Estamos en 1975, en una ciudad india junto al mar. El gobierno acaba de declarar el estado de emergencia, y dada la escasez de vivienda cuatro personas se ven obligadas a compartir un pequeño apartamento. Forman un cuarteto especial: Dina, una costurera de cuarenta años viuda desde hace veinte y decidida a no volverse a casar. Maneck, que dejó su pueblo de montaña obligado por sus padres a abandonar el hogar para estudiar en la ciudad. El optimista Ishvar y su sobrino Omprakash, dos sastres que han huido de la terrible violencia de castas que existe en su pequeña aldea de origen.

Unidos solo por el hilo impersonal de la necesidad común, estos cuatro personajes ven cómo sus vidas se entretejen de manera inexplicable e inseparable.La confianza, el humor y el afecto, que crecen gradualmente entre ellos, se convierten en un baluarte contra los rigores y las maquinaciones de la vida diaria, manteniéndolos unidos tanto para lo bueno como para lo malo.

Excellent novel set in 1970s India, when Indira Gandhi was being very strict, about some poor people that keep going through hard times. Sometimes difficult to read but very moving. ( )