A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club)

If you have ever wondered how the caste system perpetuates its horrors on the lower castes and untouchables in India, here's your chance. Winner of the Mann Booker Prize, you know the writing is wonderful, the stories completely clasping your soul as you get more involved with the characters' lives, hopes, wounds, deaths. As there are already over 1,000 reviews, I won't reveal much here. This...more

If you have ever wondered how the caste system perpetuates its horrors on the lower castes and untouchables in India, here's your chance. Winner of the Mann Booker Prize, you know the writing is wonderful, the stories completely clasping your soul as you get more involved with the characters' lives, hopes, wounds, deaths. As there are already over 1,000 reviews, I won't reveal much here. This may be in the top three books I've ever read, one that has changed my view of the world and even my imagination. You will never be the same if you read this. Even the picture of the balanced girl on the cover makes me gasp in horror, knowing what it is, and in what spirit she stands there so finely balanced. The book is all about imbalance with a population (though we only meet a few, remember) trying to push against the tide of a thoroughly unbalanced society. And you know India is not the only place where such trial of spirit exist. You know it goes on, so many places on earth, maybe even next door to you, in some way. Thank you, Lona, for giving me this book, this understanding we will share always.   hide

Absolutely draining journey through your full range of emotions. When he isn't smashing your heart to bits Rohinton Mistry is making you believe the world will all be sorted out soon. The character development is superb, the development of the setting is complete in its detail and the story line shifts make sure yoou maintain continuity. This is a heavy book. Not to put anyone off, but at the end...more

Absolutely draining journey through your full range of emotions. When he isn't smashing your heart to bits Rohinton Mistry is making you believe the world will all be sorted out soon. The character development is superb, the development of the setting is complete in its detail and the story line shifts make sure yoou maintain continuity. This is a heavy book. Not to put anyone off, but at the end of it you know you've read something that someone worked very hard to refine into the quality work it turned out to be.   hide

This book is incredible. Very long, but very readable. It tells the life stories of a handful of characters based in India, and although it is quite graphic and sad most of the time, it is incredibly enlightening once you reflect on the interactions ...between the characters, despite their situations. It is a touching book that helps you understand your own everyday actions as much as it shows...more

This book is incredible. Very long, but very readable. It tells the life stories of a handful of characters based in India, and although it is quite graphic and sad most of the time, it is incredibly enlightening once you reflect on the interactions ...between the characters, despite their situations. It is a touching book that helps you understand your own everyday actions as much as it shows just how connected we all are, no matter if you live in India or Canada or wherever. It also demonstrates the importance of trying to understand and empathize with a person before judging them. An incredible book and I highly recommend it.   hide

Wow, The absolute best book I have ever read. Amazing how little we know about life elsewhere in the world as we go along our merry ways, oblivious to the torture and pain other humans must endure. Humbling. I would have to vote this, out of the hundreds of books that I have read and enjoyed, as the number 1. This is a story that everyone in the western world should read. It will give many a new...more

Wow, The absolute best book I have ever read. Amazing how little we know about life elsewhere in the world as we go along our merry ways, oblivious to the torture and pain other humans must endure. Humbling. I would have to vote this, out of the hundreds of books that I have read and enjoyed, as the number 1. This is a story that everyone in the western world should read. It will give many a new perspective on the lives and deaths of our fellow human beings that have had the misfortune to be born and raised in a culture and country so unlike ours....it's like a different world. Yet, it hits home to a "Canadian" because we have all met people, work with people and love and care for people that have had to endure the sort of day to day routine in their own country. Inspirational, educational, punch in the gut, sort of reading.   hide

What a heartbreaking and beautiful story! It starts off winning you to the characters...their lives are all pretty depressing, but it's interesting. It takes a while, though, for the heart of the book to really start to show through. Somewhere in the middle of the 600 pages, you suddenly start to really love and root for these characters...as their life together becomes so sweet, you feel...more

What a heartbreaking and beautiful story! It starts off winning you to the characters...their lives are all pretty depressing, but it's interesting. It takes a while, though, for the heart of the book to really start to show through. Somewhere in the middle of the 600 pages, you suddenly start to really love and root for these characters...as their life together becomes so sweet, you feel so optimistic that things, though still hard, will really be better for them. The last 60 pages unravel that hope completely. It's the saddest ending to a book that I think I've ever read...and the most depressed I've been since The Kite Runner (the one scene) and Where the Red Fern Grows, from when I was a child. It's so sad that I almost feel bad recommending it, that another reader would go through the same heartbreak. And yet, it is still fantastic story, beautifully written, and the fact that the sadness does touch you so deeply must mean something about how good it is. I loved it, but it was devastating. I'll try to hold on to a few of the happier truths of this tale - the kindness of strangers, how far some people will go for their friends, doing the right thing even at a personal cost.   hide

kind of amazees

Refusing to become an unpaid servant in her brother’s household, widow Dina Dalal takes in a student boarder and hires two pariah tailors to do piecework in her simple tenement flat. These four unlikely characters together form a household unit, dependent on each other for sustenance and support. A tale of urban slum life in Mrs. Gandhi’s India of the 1970s, where everything can be fixed...more

Refusing to become an unpaid servant in her brother’s household, widow Dina Dalal takes in a student boarder and hires two pariah tailors to do piecework in her simple tenement flat. These four unlikely characters together form a household unit, dependent on each other for sustenance and support. A tale of urban slum life in Mrs. Gandhi’s India of the 1970s, where everything can be fixed – for a price – and where being in the right place at the wrong time can have disastrous consequences. A comparable book with a similar theme is The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.   hide

This is probably my favourite book of all time. It's the story of four people who come together in a random way. It gives the backgrounds to each of these people (who live separately for much of their lives) and how they reach the point of meeting and coming together. Set in India, it gives sad look at how people struggled with poverty and abuse and try to reach "a fine balance" between...more

This is probably my favourite book of all time. It's the story of four people who come together in a random way. It gives the backgrounds to each of these people (who live separately for much of their lives) and how they reach the point of meeting and coming together. Set in India, it gives sad look at how people struggled with poverty and abuse and try to reach "a fine balance" between happiness and despair. Love this book! :)   hide

This book is set in 1970's India. It has the most intriguing characters--- reminiscent of John Steinbeck's everyday characters. I have TOO many books. I am trying to give away books to people I love. This book, though, is one I cannot bear to part with---I won't even loan it to anyone for fear it will not return. It is probably the longest and most literary...more

This book is set in 1970's India. It has the most intriguing characters--- reminiscent of John Steinbeck's everyday characters. I have TOO many books. I am trying to give away books to people I love. This book, though, is one I cannot bear to part with---I won't even loan it to anyone for fear it will not return. It is probably the longest and most literary work I have read (except those I had to read because they were assigned in a class). I spent one entire summer reading it. It should be used in college or high school classrooms for students to study characterization and themes. What a wonderful book!   hide