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A Fine Balance

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A Fine Balance

By: Rohinton Mistry
Narrated by: Vikas Adam
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About this listen

With a compassionate realism and narrative sweep that recall the work of Charles Dickens, this magnificent novel captures all the cruelty and corruption, dignity and heroism, of India. The time is 1975. The place is an unnamed city by the sea. The government has just declared a State of Emergency, in whose upheavals four strangers - a spirited widow, a young student uprooted from his idyllic hill station, and two tailors who have fled the caste violence of their native village - will be thrust together, forced to share one cramped apartment and an uncertain future.

As the characters move from distrust to friendship and from friendship to love, A Fine Balance creates an enduring panorama of the human spirit in an inhuman state.

©1995 Rohinton Mistry (P)2018 Audible, Inc. Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction South Asian Creators Emotionally Gripping Heartfelt Inspiring Tear-jerking Thought-Provoking Friendship

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All stars
Most relevant
I loved this book but found it hard to deal with the cruelty and the fact there was little redemption or any happy endings. Couldn't stop listening.
Loved the history of India in this period and the wonderful noble and tragic characters.

Wonderful mix of history and story!

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I need to pace myself when I was nearing the end of this book, didn’t want it to end.
This is the best audible book I have ever listened to, the narration was absolutely amazing, all the characters came to life so beautifully.
The story centres around 4 main characters and how their lives intertwine.
It also provides a great history of India under Indira Ghandi.
What a hard act to follow, I would highly recommend this masterpiece of a book.

Outstanding piece of literature

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I have worked in India and know something of its History This book was brilliant in its ability to expose the pain and cost of India's legacy of caste and politics on the people who lived there.

Excellent book on the reality of life in India

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From the opening lines, ‘Rest assured this tragedy is not a fiction. All is true. (Balzac)’, to the jaw-dropping epilogue, I was spellbound by AFB. A tragedy of epic proportions, the bulk of the story is set in India in 1975 during The Emergency; an economic programme to increase agricultural and industrial production and combat poverty and illiteracy. The policies included a clampdown on workers’ rights, beautification of the cities via slum clearance & removal of the homeless from the streets, and - perhaps most infamous of all - enforced mass sterilisation.

All of this provides the canvas for Mistry’s novel which charts the fortunes of four people attempting to navigate the social upheaval. The two central characters, tailors Ishvar and his nephew Om, are part of the Chamaar caste and considered ‘untouchables’. In their quest for employment they encounter Dina, a relatively wealthy widow who gives them work and also provides lodging for student Maneck. While the deeply embedded protocols of the caste system play out in their expectations, interactions and individual fates, watching the group’s initial distrust develop into cautious understanding, friendship and ultimately love is just beautiful. But make no mistake. Given the social context, what transpires is brutal and shocking and cruel and devastating.

I should add that it’s also very funny. ‘Flirting with madness was one thing; when madness started flirting back, it was time to call the whole thing off.’

Yes, I laughed but mainly I crumbled. Damn you Mistry. Damn you and your devious ways. You broke me. Tragedy heaped upon tragedy. If this novel doesn’t destroy you, you’re officially indestructible.

‘Remembering bred its own peculiar sorrow. It seemed so unfair: that time should render both sadness and happiness into a source of pain.’

A Modern Classic

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This story gives a glimpse of some Indians' daily lives by weaving together the stories of different characters from different castes, and is interesting for someone from another culture. Loved the narration too.
In the end the book is a bit long and would have benefitted from removing or condensing the last 3/4 chapters but nevertheless it is still a great listen.

Immersion into Indian daily life

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