This was a big "immersion" novel (India), strangely enjoyable, tragic. Here are some awesome accompanying pics from Flickr




I first started this book a couple of years ago but didn't keep up. I gave it a fresh read earlier this year, re-reading it from the beginning. It's still a difficult read (staggered chapters spread across weeks) but I finished the latter half in 5-6 days. 624 pages

This might be closest I get to experience India. It's a marvelous read in its details of Indian people, the culture, language, elocution, in the prism of unrest still present in 70s, in a country still very much troubled by social inequities (caste system)

I've tried to trend my recent reading habits and it seems to be about finding a point where the book gets really interesting. For "A Fine Balance", it took the halfway mark for me to really getting into it, around the chapters reuniting Maneck and Om. The novel is about four quite distinctive characters spending a year together in the strangest of circumstances. Dina's and Om's family's stories are heartbreaking. It's interesting how far the book goes to make us understand its protagonists (up to two generations back). Even if the story opens on Maneck making his way to his new lodging, I lost him as a main character with the way Mistry dives into generational details to tell the story of the four characters

Maneck does turn out to be the central character, imbued with innocence but in a way, too delicate for this world. The end was so shocking I had to re-read it a couple of times, it turns the reader back on a discussino about suicide, how one is not suppose to choose the ending because we do not get to choose our beginning either. But suicide is the most desperate attempt at finding some sense of control, in death. It is however more a tribute to the power of despair, able to vanquish the noblest of people

The title makes ripples of references throught the novel and denotes a universal life lesson, it's hard to strike a "fine balance" in all our affairs. Written beautifully, Mistry makes Dina, Ishvar, Om and Maleck's stories unforgettable. Sad. Very

Quotes
"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"
"[...] the secret to survival was to balance hope and despair, to embrance change"
"life does not guarantee happiness"
"Checkmate. And then the flames."
"But in the end, time is a noose around the neck, strangling slowly"
"Loss is a part and parcel of that necessary calamity called life"

The cover almost has shades of the India flag turn 90 degrees to the right. This was highly recommended by a friend, it was also a selection of Oprah's book club

Links
- reviews - A Fine Balance

Posted	Monday, February 13, 2006 @ 4:18:55 PM (1025 days ago)
Tags	book
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