A Fine Balance

Author: Rohinton Mistry

Stock information

General Fields

  • : 27.99 AUD
  • : 9780571230587
  • : Faber
  • : Faber Paperback
  • :
  • : 0.473
  • : December 2006
  • : 198mm X 129mm
  • :
  • : 27.99
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  • :
  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Rohinton Mistry
  • : Paperback
  • : 2
  • : 624
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Barcode 9780571230587
9780571230587

Description

In mid-1970s urban India - a chaos of wretchedness on the streets and slogans in the offices - a chain of circumstances tosses four varied individuals together in one small flat. Stubbornly independent Dina, widowed early, takes in Maneck, the college-aged son of a more prosperous childhood friend and, more reluctantly, Ishvar and Om, uncle and nephew tailors fleeing low-caste origins and astonishing hardships. The reader first learns the characters' separate, compelling histories of brief joys and abiding sorrows, then watches as barriers of class, suspicion, and politeness are gradually dissolved. Even more affecting than Mistry's depictions of squalor and grotesque injustice is his study of friendships emerging unexpectedly, naturally. The novel's coda is cruel and heart-wrenching but deeply honest.

Promotion info

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry is a subtle and compelling narrative about four unlikely characters brought together in just the kind of unforeseeable circumstances that mid-1970s India was capable of producing.

Reviews

"'One of India's finest living novelists.' Observer"