Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance (New York: Vintage International, Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, Inc., 1995; (Vintage International, 1997), 603 pages.
Also available on Kindle and Nook.
(NOVEL)
Reviewed by Chuck Dayton
This novel is set in an un-named large city in India in 1975. The backdrop for this story is the Indian Emergency of 1975 during which a suspension of elections and civil liberties by the Indian government caused hardship for the poor in particular. Through a series of tragic events, an uncle and his nephew flee the persecution of their native village in the hills of India to pursue a career as tailors in the big city. Survival is dicey at best. Food is scarce, there is no housing for lower caste workers in the city, and the slums are the only alternative to not living on the street. Vivid descriptions of life in the slums and the treatment of the tenants there form a very interesting (if somewhat depressing) narrative.
This is also a story of relationships among people of the same economic plight. The tailors end up working for a poor single woman in the city. She also takes in a boarder who is in school to help make her monthly rent payment. The two tailors, the boarder, and the woman all end up living in the same very small space to save money and keep out of the way of the authorities who are committing all kinds of atrocities on the poor of the city.
The relationships of the main characters form the basis for a very heart warming story. Their relationship moves from distrust to friendship to real love in the face of overwhelming odds.
This is a great book if you like a long narrative. Sue read this book for our long plane flights to Israel and Rome last spring, and I picked it up when she finished. It is a little known book, but was highly recommended by Prairie Lights book store in Iowa City, Iowa, which makes a business of keeping close tabs on little known books with very good quality writing. Both Sue and I highly recommend this book.
