A moving portrayal of the lives of four people who were caught up in the brutal, sweeping policies of 1970s India during the State of Emergency rule of Indira Gandhi.

Dina, a 40-ish widow, is determined to be an independent woman in a society where women cannot and do not have a say; Ishvar and his nephew Om are from the untouchables but, through immense courage and determination on the part of his father/grandfather, have managed to escape the bondage of caste and become tailors in the city; Maneck is a sensitive boy from a well-to-do family in a mountain town who needed to train for a career because the family business was declining. They are brought together when Dina decides to hire the tailors, and to let a room in order to support herself financially. They are first suspicious of and then eventually adjust to each other, become friends and even live together convivially. There is a brief respite from the despair each has previously known, life is still a daily struggle but it is less difficult, and happiness seems to be within reach.

The chaos of political events unleashed by the State of Emergency reach them and their lives start moving beyond their control quickly and insanely. Rampant corruption, harassment and violence, fear and terror started to rule, sparing nobody. The government imposes drastic, brutal policies in the name of political stability and economic development, policies such as forced eviction which left thousands homeless, forced labor in big infrastructure projects, and forced sterilization. Our friends go from bad to worse, and from then it was just from one misfortune to another. There were points along the story where I just wished Ishvar and Om to die – that would have been kinder to them. Yet they survive. And I think, indeed, why should I, the reader, be spared the inconvenient truth that in real life, many of the poor and destitute had actually gone through and survived the viciousness of that period in their history? Mistry pushes us, relentlessly, beyond our comfort zones.

I call this novel a story with a heart. The author writes with sympathy, without being sentimental. We recognize the characters -- they dream, they despair, they laugh, they hope, they feel pain, they get angry, they get jealous, they find change difficult but eventually accept their fates, they don't trust politicians. Mistry writes of big, serious themes and of small, ordinary lives. The novel raises sensitive issues of class conflict, ethnic conflict, gender, dispossession, and political repression, and how invariably the first ones to get sucked up in the vortex are the weak, the small, the powerless, the defenseless, the disenfranchised. He describes with vivid and realistic imagery the cruel and hard life of the untouchables in rural India, the squalid poverty of the shantytowns and the homeless in the streets of the city, the pervading cultural myopia, and the brutality of an oppressive regime.

The story is tragic, monumentally tragic even. Adversities came in waves, and while circumstances could have easily crushed or corrupted them, these four friends were never pathetic, were never wretched in their souls. The balance between hope and despair is very fine indeed. A big novel that at another time (and another place) might have been banned for tackling potentially inflammatory issues.

Highly recommended. ( )

The five characters of A Fine Balance, converge in a crowded apartment in a nameless Indian city, face a variety of horrors-a lingering, repressive caste system, the corrupt and callous government of Indira Gandhi's Emergency, the heartlessness of unchecked capitalism, and an environment that is both unhealthy and demoralizing. A moving tragedy. ( )

Beautifully written and ingenuously plotted, but unflinching in depiction of poverty, communal violence, and corruption in 1970s India. And it's long. The ending didn't satisfy me either. "A Fine Balance" was Mistry's second novel, and a Booker Prize nominee, and it does make me interested in read other works by this author. ( )

This novel - epic in length - tells the story of four people in Mumbai, India who come together during The Emergency of the mid-1970's. They are:

• Dina Dalal - a young widow who takes up clothing manufacture to maintain her independence from her controlling brother.


• Ishvar Darji - a kindly tailor from a low caste background who comes to Mumbai to work for Dina.


• Omprakash - Ishvar's more unruly nephew who works with him as a tailor.


• Maneck - a young man from a mountain village studying at the university and staying with Dina as a paying guest.

In the first part of A Fine Balance, Mistry tells the life stories of each of these characters which actually could be four gripping novellas in their own right. Then the story is told of how they all come together under one roof and after a rocky start forming a friendship.

This novel is marked by stark descriptions of poverty and injustice in India which Mistry none-too-subtly lays at feet of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's corrupt regime. This novel does not have a happy ending, but there is joy and love in the brief time of friendship of the principal characters that shows that their is some hope in the most dire of circumstances. ( )

When I first started this book, I thought it was going to another one of those multi-generational epics set in a particular time period, which seems to be a popular theme among current Indian writers of every generation. Instead, what I found and was totally absorbed by, was a massive, detailed, and utterly fascinating story of the lives of four people who have been thrown together by the exigencies of the time--the 70s and 80s under the tyrannical, corrupt, reign of terror of Indira Gandhi, Nehru’s daughter, who was the then-Prime Minister.

Dina Dalal is a 30 year old widow in an unnamed city by the sea (most likely Bombay) struggling to preserve her independence with a small piece-work business making women’s dresses. With failing eyesight, she hires two tailors, Ishvar Darji and his nephew Omprakash Darji; in addition she rents space to Maneck Kohlah, a university student from the mountains of India’s north. By accident and force of circumstance, all four wind up living together in Dina’s tiny apartment during a period of terrorist activity on the part of the police under Gandhi’s Emergency Act. Despite their best efforts, Ishvar and Om are caught up in caste and religious violence, police raids, and Maneck discovers the perils of opposition to the regime’s policies.

The story is a wonderful combination of the love that eventually arises among these four very unlikely friends and the description of the brutality, corruption and cynicism that infected every part of Indian life during Indira Gandhi’s despotism. But it is also an exploration of the unlikely ways that people are connected, many times through total strangers met by “happenstance”. It is an evocation of the concept of Indra’s Net, a Buddhist concept of the infinite interconnectedness of all existence, symbolized by a net at whose nodes are jewels; pluck just one thread of the net, and all the jewels vibrate.

This is a beautifully written book, fascinating in its description of everyday lives both in a large city and in villages, of relationships between and among ordinary people, and the terrors of political and civil oppression. Nothing is romanticized--not the lives of the people or the people themselves, yet the characters are completely empathetic, despite their flaws.

Don’t miss this one. ( )

excellent, bought copies for family as soon as i finished ( )

This is the best book I have read in awhile. 700+ pages were no obstacle: I finished it within days. Mistry has that true author's touch so invisible to the reader's eye, that he yanks him/her right into the midst of the story itself. He doesn't flinch from reality--this book is chock-full of heart-wrenching, depressing stuff--but at the same time, his overarching message is one of perseverance and the inherent value of LIFE. Characters like Ishvar, Om, Dina, and Maneck will stay with me for a very very long time, because I learned something from each one of them about how life probably ISn't but SHOULD BE.

Thanks to Mistry and his unbelievable talents, I now understand India and, with it, the world far better than I did before I first came across this book. ( )

Terrific book! It gave me a sense of India and made me feel almost as thought I were there. Great writing. ( )

Epic a la Tolstoy. Makes you appreciate what you have. About two humble tailors in India.

As Charles Dickens captured the lives of England’s working poor during the nascent Industrial Revolution, Mistry captures the lives of Indians surviving during the tumulus mid-1970s. Four individuals from different backgrounds are thrown together by political upheaval and economic necessity. Ishyar Darji and his nephew Omprakash are tailors hired by the widowed Dina Dalal to enhance her economic independence. Dala also takes the student Maneck Kohlah, the son of one of her childhood acquaintances, as a boarder to help pay her rent. Mistry explores the background and personal history of each against the background struggle of the India nation to find its own identity. As their lives intertwine, the four create a unique family. Within the fragile eye of the storm created by the State of Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi government, they find solace, peace, and a measure of happiness in caring for each other. All four seek the “fine balance” need on the knife edge between hope and despair, only to have their unity sundered by forces outside their control.

As Charles Dickens captured the lives of England’s working poor during the nascent Industrial Revolution, Mistry captures the lives of Indians surviving during the tumulus mid-1970s. Four individuals from different backgrounds are thrown together by political upheaval and economic necessity. Ishyar Darji and his nephew Omprakash are tailors hired by the widowed Dina Dalal to enhance her economic independence. Dala also takes the student Maneck Kohlah, the son of one of her childhood acquaintances, as a boarder to help pay her rent. Mistry explores the background and personal history of each against the background struggle of the India nation to find its own identity. As their lives intertwine, the four create a unique family. Within the fragile eye of the storm created by the State of Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi government, they find solace, peace, and a measure of happiness in caring for each other. All four seek the “fine balance” need on the knife edge between hope and despair, only to have their unity sundered by forces outside their control.

Sometimes a novel can help you to understand an issue much better than a slew of academic studies. 'A Fine Balance' presents such a vivid and compelling view of poverty in India, that you come away feeling that you have learned what it is like to be poor. Ok, this is probably an exaggeration, but Mistry's book really does add depth to the literature, fiction and non-fiction, about poverty. In it we see an almost Dickensian world, characters full of detail and a healthy dose of condemnation and despair at the factors and people responsible for this sorry situation.

The villains in the piece are variously the caste system, disastrous government policies, plain bad luck, and many others. These have all been well-studied, but Mistry's achievement is to allow his readers to really empathise with people who find themselves on the receiving end of these things. As his characters struggle through daily life, trying to make the best of what they've got, they are constantly pulled down, their efforts coming to nothing.

Above all, this is an extraordinarily sad book, poignant and affecting. If you want to understand what poverty is really like, read this book. ( )

This is on my list of all-time best reads. ( )

This beautiful novel, set in India in 1975, explores the notion of "fine balance" in several different dimensions: the fine balance of keeping people in their caste; the fine balance of prosperity vs. poverty; the fine balance between love and loss. There are four principal characters: Dina Dalal, a widow with unconventional views; Maneck, a college student; and Ishvar and Om, two tailors from a remote village. To achieve financial independence from her brother, Dina takes in Maneck as a boarder, and hires the tailors to run a clothing business. The tailors were the most fascinating characters in this novel. Their chosen profession did not come without some cost to their family: What the ages had put together, Dukhi had dared to break asunder; he had turned cobblers into tailors, distorting society's timeless balance. Crossing the line of caste had to be punished with the utmost severity...(p. 147) To make their way in the world, Ishvar and Om lived in severe poverty, and repeatedly overcame obstacles necessary for basic survival.

The caste differences were, at first, a barrier between Dina, Maneck, and the tailors. But as the four spent more and more time together in Dina's small flat, they came to appreciate one another. They provided both tangible and emotional support. Dina, in particular, found a way out of the loneliness that had plagued her since becoming a widow. The deep relationships between the characters were uplifting, and formed their own "fine balance" against the many sad and depressing scenes in this book.

I loved the structure of this novel. It begins with a prologue, that shows how the characters come to know one another. Then Mistry takes the reader deep into the lives of each character, beginning with Dina, exploring her childhood and marriage. Mistry vividly describes Maneck's parents and the rural setting of his childhood. A full understanding of the tailors comes by going back a full generation to reveal their parents' life and values. Mistry relates each character's story up to the point where their lives intersect, sometimes presenting the same events from different points of view.

A Fine Balance is a must-read! ( )

Engaging, sorrowful with pathos, beautiful. ( )

Epic, and at times like a punch in the face, but very good.

Epic, and at times like a punch in the face, but very good.

WOW, this is a startling book. It took a long time for me to read. It is a very serious story about a recent time in India's History. I was startled to learn of the abuses people were forced to endure during the "Emergency". The first half of the book was quite interesting. The final quarter of the book is horrible - that is the story events, not the writing. The writing is very good, but the story is horrific. I am wondering if all of these terrible events could happen to these people. I suppose it is possible. I do feel compelled to learn more about India's history. I will not recommend this for anyone who is not a reader of woeful award winning books. Even though the events are tragic, like any political stories, it is a story that must be told, and must be read by many. I suppose that is why this book was on the man booker shortlist and on the 1001 books you must read list. Yes, these stories must be shared. ( )

This book is amazing. So vivid with how life must be for many people in the slums. The way the characters stories link up adds to the beauty that is a GREAT novel. ( )

great book about India

This is one of my "TBR Challenge" reads, a book that's been on my shelf for over a year waiting patiently for me to get to it. It took me over two weeks to finish this book, and I read and listened to several others at the same time. Not because it was bad—it was a very good, and very interesting story set in 1970’s India, telling the story of four people—a young widow, a college student and two tailors—who ended up housed together for a time during the Emergency times when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was imposing her will on the country, and I did learn a lot about the political turmoil that was rampant in India at that time—something I knew nothing about before. The book did go slowly at times, but it’s very deep and rich and immersed you fully into the culture of India, both in the city and in the countryside where the caste system was still being clung to much more rigidly. A story of heartbreak and despair, yet balanced with moments of love and hope. A lot of people probably didn’t like the ending, but I thought it suitable. So despite the length of time it took me to read this book, it was only because it is a book to be slowly digested, not gulped. ( )

Good but depressing. ( )

The quality of writing in this book is superb. The characters stay in your head for days. I couldn’t help but care about them deeply, although part of me didn’t want to because the terrible hardships and tragedies they endure tore at my heart. The fine balance between hope and despair leaves some of the characters in misery, while others push on despite horrible setbacks. The people that fall, and those that endure, are not necessarily the ones you would expect. I found the book captivating and heartbreaking at the same time—such amazing kindnesses and bonds of friendship do occur in this world, but so do such terrible injustices. ( )

I read this in a couple of days. I like the examination of the caste system right after independence, and the political ramifications of Indira Gandhi's rule. ( )

Do not miss reading this book. I was completely immersed in the plot and characters of this book from the beginning. I rarely think that a book merits a five-star rating, but this is a true treasure. I learned a lot about India and its politics as an adjunct to the lives of the characters. There was no sermonizing, moralizing or self-pity; however, our limited understanding of the condiitons under which they lived made their actions and reactions very real. I found the writing to be tight and exactly right for the tone of the book - no spare sentiments that weren't necessary to achieve the required insights. The ending is superlative - it is the way the book had to end in order to complete our knowledge of the lives that were lived. The utter despair is beyond comprehension for those of us who live with a sense of security. It will be difficult to find a worthy successor now that I have finished this remarkable book. ( )