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A Fine Balance [IMPORT] (Paperback)

~ (Author) "DINA DALAL seldom indulged in looking back at her life with regret or bitterness, or questioning why things had turned out the way they had,..." (more)
Key Phrases: hutment colony, hutment dwellers, college hostel, Prime Minister, Ashraf Chacha, Sergeant Kesar (more...)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (595 customer reviews)

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Amazon Price New from Used from
  School & Library Binding, February 28, 2001 $28.10 $28.10 $90.47
  Paperback, November 29, 2001 $10.85 $4.94 $0.01
  Paperback, Import, January 1, 1997 -- -- $0.50
  Audio, Cassette, Abridged, Audiobook -- $132.60 $6.84
  Unknown Binding, December 31, 1990 -- -- --
  Audio, Download Offsite Link $13.63 or less with new Audible membership

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Product Description

Set in mid-1970s India, tells story of four unlikely people whose lives come together during time of political turmoil soon after government declares State of Internal Emergency. Through days of bleakness and hope, their circumstances and fates become inextricably linked in ways no one could have foreseen. [Taken from back cover]

Product Details

  • Paperback: 728 pages
  • Publisher: McClelland & Stewart; 1st Canadian Trade Edition edition (January 1, 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0771060548
  • ISBN-13: 978-0771060540
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (595 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,729,877 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Rohinton Mistry
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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First Sentence:
DINA DALAL seldom indulged in looking back at her life with regret or bitterness, or questioning why things had turned out the way they had, cheating her of the bright future everyone had predicted for her when she was in school, when her name was still Dina Shroff. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
hutment colony, hutment dwellers, college hostel, rolling platform, automatic smile, broken bench, two tailors, fifty rupees
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Prime Minister, Ashraf Chacha, Sergeant Kesar, Dina Aunty, Thakur Dharamsi, Muzaffar Tailoring, Dina Dalal, Pandit Lalluram, Darab Uncle, Family Planning Centre, Hai Ram, Mumtaz Chachi, Kohlah's Cola, Vishram Vegetarian Hotel, Aban Kohlah, Brigadier Grewal, Venus Beauty Salon, Farokh Kohlah, Maneck Kohlah, Advanced Tailoring, Controller of Slums, Dukhi Mochi, Rustom Dalal, Thakur Premji, Bapsy Aunty
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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This book cites 3 books:
 
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4.5 out of 5 stars (595 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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123 of 126 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I hate you Mistry, May 10, 2002
This review is from: A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club) (Paperback)
I walked by the homeless in the streets while growing up in a city by the sea not unlike the one in this book. I was repulsed by their grimy faces, their missing limbs, their tattered and dirty clothes. Fearful I might catch their poor people diseases if I ventured too close, I would cross the street to avoid them. Sometimes throwing coins into their tin cups from a sterile distance-sometimes missing, and walking away praising my own charity.

Thank you Mr. Mistry for showing me the other side of the story. Thank you for putting into plain and powerful words exactly how unfair life in India is to the poor and lower castes. You have taught me more than any text book could about the injustices that daily occur in India. I hate you for your brutal honesty and for making me feel this way. Or perhaps, like you prophesized in the begining of this book, I am only blaming you for my own insensitivity.

For those of you considering reading this book, here is my warning. Mistry will seduce you with his flowing words and his gripping story. He will make you feel for his characters. He will show you a side of life that millions of people bravely struggle through. And soon you will begin to fear turning the page for fear of what might happend to the characters. And rest assured, when you turn the last page, and look for some solace, you will find none. For all is true. I have seen the Shankars and Ishvars and Oms. Go to any Indian city street corner, and you will too.

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271 of 296 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, January 9, 2002
By "sylsbooks" (Vulcan, Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club) (Paperback)
India, a country I knew little about, haunts me since reading this book. The author captures on paper the feeling of India on every page. The sounds, the smells and the people stay with me well after the last page was turned. Unforgettable characters that evoke every type of emotion!

Rohinton Mistry meshes the lives of four people of diverse backgrounds into a bond that lasts a lifetime. The in-depth look at a culture and a people that I knew little about has brought about an understanding that I previously lacked.

Dina Dalal, widowed and determined to make it as an independent woman in a world where women have little value, becomes the unwilling glue that supports 3 other lives. Maneck Kohlah is a student, sent by his parents from his mountain village to attend school in the city. Ishvar Darji and his nephew Omprakash are tailors escaping the terror in their village by moving to the city to look for work. This unlikely group of people become dependent on each other out of necessity, their lives entangling to create the basis of the story.

This book is written with much sadness as well as humour and has touched a place in my heart. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future. Bravo!

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95 of 105 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely One Of My Favorite Books, January 5, 2002
This review is from: A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club) (Paperback)
This book is a masterpiece and it took me by surprise. This was a book that I bought and read only because it was our book club choice and THANK GOODNESS for that or I would've never read this terrific piece about history and foreign culture. Wonderful book....one Oprah's very best picks.
The writing is beautiful and brings new understanding about India's struggles with poverty and caste systems. The bittersweet cultures and traditions are displayed through this story using 4 main characters and involving many background characters to make this book so realistic that as a reader, I felt like I actually visited this country and knew the characters. I didn't always like some of the characters but I could feel their sadness, their fright, their loss and sorrow, and even their desire to make it.
I recommend everyone, yes everyone to pick this book up and read it. It is long. It is, at times, depressing. It is, at times, cruel. And there are some scenes written about that are rather crude. But all of this is needed to tell the story of India during the 70s and the changes it was going through as well as the corrupt government. Here's a book to make an American feel the privileges our country gives us, or any truely free country.
This is a book that would be great for seniors in high school to read eventhough there are some explicit and dramatic scenes written about that don't paint a very pretty picture.
And the author's writing is tremendous. Flowing with the book's activities put together in a way that makes the reader very anxious to keep reading. The use of some Indian words did slow the reading a bit for me but the story would not have felt so authentic or have such an impact without them.
This is a gem of a book. A true "travel-read" into another time and culture. It has opened my eyes to a different time and place in history and I'm very thankful it was a book club choice and that I read this book. Highly, highly recommended.
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