A Fine Balance Indeed! 5 Stars for A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry breaths exquisite balance through the theme of hope and despair. This balance is understood through direct lines like: “There is always hope – hope enough to balance our despair. Or we would be lost.” Set in India in the 1970s, among a state of emergency and caste injustice, Mistry throws four strangers together in search of an independence and happiness they find in each other. It is a sad story, but not a story without hope.

The idea that a widow, a student and two tailors find beauty and grace in each other in the midst of destruction is underlined with optimism.  These four characters are so well-crafted and developed even the minor flaws seem destructive to a possible friendship between the four. The situation seems impossible and yet it is. Their story is loaded with great writing leaving imagery that stays with you forever.

“The bulge of humans hanging out off the doorway distended perilously, like a soap bubble at its limit.”
Or
“The bulldozers finished flattening the rows of flimsy shacks and tackled the high-rental ones, reversing and crunching into the brick walls.”

Its not just the imagery that makes Mistry’s writing superb; It’s a plethora of ingredients. The symbolism of the quilt the widow, Dina sews from different pieces of cloth highlight the changes, but as a whole quilt these four people are forever sewn together. The dynamic characters created and the changes they go through and the choices they make because of them at the end reveal well-rounded thought out characters thrown between choice and destiny. For example, Om’s (one of the tailors) anger defined him in so many ways, giving way to disastrous ends, but in the end to a deeper more important humanity.

The dialogue did much in developing these characters. Dina’s sharp tongue often made me smile, especially understanding the soft heart that lied beneath it. Om’s anger often pained me, because beneath it he like his father only wanted respect. Ishvar, his uncle, holding onto the little they had left in each other often infuriated me with his compliant stubbornness, but in the end, I understood his need to expand and protect his family no matter the cost. Maneck, the student, buried in a deep sadness of his own surprised me the most with his outcome.  All four of these characters will stay with me a long time.

I can see myself reading this book again, and I highly recommend it to everyone I know. It was recommended to me with the comment, “I’ve never read a book that I began falling in love with the writer because of the writing.”

I knew I had to read this book, and now I understand the comment. I will be reading more of Mistry’s books.