Tuesday, September 04, 2007

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

Started: 8/28/07
Finished: 9/4/07
Year: 1995
Pages: 603
Genre: Literature
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: booksfree.com, one of the 1001 books to read
Blurb: "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."
Opinion: It's a strong story but the ending fell very flat for me. It would have been an A if the ending was better.

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