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A Fine Balance
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A Fine Balance
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1 journaler for this copy...
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I've been wanting to read this book for several years. My sister-in-law just finished it and recommended it, and I've just finished several other books set in India which I loved. I'm moving it higher on my TBR pile. (Left: author Rohinton Mistry)
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A Fine Balance begins in 1975, as 46 year old Ishvar Darji and his seventeen year old nephew, Omprakash, are on their way to the home of entrepreneur "Auntie" Dina Dalal, where they hope to find work as tailors. The two have been living in the unnamed city by the sea (Bombay) for six months, having left their home village following the caste* murder of Omprakash's family. The Prime Minister -- as she is called throughout the novel -- is Indira Gandhi, and it is the period of the notorious State of Emergency**, a time of political corruption and state-sponsored violence against India's poor.En route to Dina Dalal's, Om and Ishvar meet a student by the name of Maneck Kolah. (Maneck's father, Farokh, lost his family fortune during the partition of India, then rebuilt his life running a small shop in an Indian hill-station***. Maneck has been sent to college in the city in the hope he may better the family's prospects.) By coincidence, Maneck is also on his way to Dina's home, where he hopes to take up residence as a lodger. The tale of these four characters -- Dina, Maneck, Ishvar and Om -- in many ways describes the history of India in the mid-20th century, a heartbreaking story of government irresponsibility, unimaginable poverty, inter-caste and ethnic violence and the gradual breakdown of civil society. A Fine Balance provides a political and historical education, and -- somewhat miraculously -- simultaneously captures the reader in a gripping, funny story about characters facing emotional and domestic struggles even those of us living in the northern hemisphere may share. What an amazing novel! Easily the best that I've read this year. A Fine Balance was awarded a number of prizes, including the Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction. It was also shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Irish Times International Fiction Prize. (Photo: migrant workers in Bombay, 1995) * The Indian caste system is one of the world's longest surviving social hierarchies. The system was derived from a Hindu legend in which the main groupings, or varnas, emerged from a primordial being. From the mouth came the Brahmans -- the priests and teachers. From the arms came the Kshatriyas -- the rulers, soldiers and aristocrats. From the thighs came the Vaisyas -- merchants and traders, and from the feet came the Sudras -- labourers. Each varna in turn contains hundreds of hereditary castes and subcastes. A fifth group describes the people who are said to be achuta, or "untouchable" -- people considered too impure, too polluted, to rank as worthy beings. Their lives are defined by prejudice, particularly in the rural areas where nearly three-quarters of India's people live. (See The Caste System at pezarkar.com.) ** In June 1975 then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was found guilty of electoral corruption. She rejected calls to resign as President, and instead appealed to the courts, where she was ultimately found guilty of dishonest election practices, excessive election expenditure, and using government machinery and officials for party purposes. When opponents threatened to start a campaign of civil disobedience to protest her refusal to resign, Gandhi declared a State of Emergency, claiming there was a plot to disrupt democracy. The BBC provides a helpful summary of the mid-1970s Indian election scandal here. *** Hill stations were summer retreats created during the British occupation of India to permit British military and government families to escape the heat of Indian cities by retreating to the mountains. |
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Released on Thursday, December 09, 2004 at about 11:00:00 AM BX time (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) at 1138 Melville Street - 12th floor kitchen in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada.RELEASE NOTES: I'll be leaving this book on the table in the 12th floor kitchen at 1138 Melville on Thursday morning. Having just picked up a second copy at today's United Way fundraiser, I thought I should keep this one moving. Merry Christmas and happy reading to whomever ends up with this copy! |
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