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A Fine Balance: Oprah's Book Club No. 44 Author: Rohinton Mistry Trade Paperback Usually ships in 24 hours Delivery is subject to warehouse availability. Shipping delays may occur if we receive more orders than stock. Our Price: $24.99 Our Sale Price: $17.49 Savings: $7.50 (30%) Ordering is 100% secure . Spend $39 or more at chapters.indigo.ca and your order ships free!. ( Details ) Dimensions: 728 Pages | Canadian Author | ISBN: 0771060548 Published: April 1997 | Published by McClelland & Stewart Our customers who bought this item also bought: Fall on Your Knees (1998) Book ~ Ann-Marie MacDonald In the Skin of a Lion (1996) Book ~ Michael Ondaatje The Corrections (2001) Book ~ Jonathan Franzen La Prisonniere (2001) Book ~ Malika Oufkir The Blind Assassin (2000) Book ~ Margaret Atwood chapters.indigo Review In a small apartment somewhere in India, a fiercely independent widow is determined to remain independent. She employs a very small group of people to sew clothes and invites them into her home. Slowly, inevitably, the four become great friends, leaning heavily on each other for support. But when everything around them begins to collapse, each of them must decide for themselves how best to survive. Caste violence, gender oppression, and the perennial privations of the poverty-stricken masses combine in the past and present stories of Rohinton Mistry's compassionate characters. By weaving together the disparate lives of these four people, A Fine Balance itself achieves a balance of complete and utter despair and indelible hope. From the Publisher The questions, discussion topics, and suggested reading list that follow are intended to enhance your group’s experience of reading Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance . We hope they will provide many interesting angles from which to approach this sweeping and magnificent novel by one of the most powerful of contemporary writers. About the Author Rohinton Mistry ’s most recent work of fiction was A Fine Balance (1995). It won many prestigious awards, including The Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Irish Times International Fiction Prize. His previous novel, Such a Long Journey (1991), won the Governor General’s Award, the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book, and the SmithBooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It was made into an acclaimed feature film in 1998. Mistry’s first work of fiction, a collection of short stories, Tales from Firozsha Baag , was published in 1987. Born in Bombay, Rohinton Mistry has lived in Canada since 1975. Tips for your Reading Group The questions, discussion topics, and suggested reading list that follow are intended to enhance your group’s experience of reading Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance . We hope they will provide many interesting angles from which to approach this sweeping and magnificent novel by one of the most powerful of contemporary writers. 1. Why has Mistry chosen not to name the Prime Minister or the City by the Sea, when they are easily recognizable? Does recognition of these elements make any difference in your attitude toward the story? 2. Is Nusswan presented entirely as a villain, or does he have redeeming features? What are his real feelings toward Dina? 3. How does Dina’s position within her family reflect the position of women in her culture and social class? Is the status of Om’s sisters the same as Dina’s, or different? What sorts of comparisons can you make between the roles and functions of women in India (as represented in this novel) and in America? 4. Post-Independence India has seen much religious and ethnic violence: for instance, the mutual slaughter of Hindus and Muslims after Partition (1947), during which Ishvar and Narayan saved Ashraf and his family, and the hunting down and killing of Sikhs after the Prime Minister’s murder, witnessed by Maneck. How does the behavior of the characters in the novel, ordinary Hindus, Parsis, and Muslims, contrast with the hatred that inspired these terrible acts? How much of this hatred seems to be fomented by political leaders? Dukhi observes bitterly "that at least his Muslim friend treated him better than his Hindu brothers" [p. 115]. What does this say about ethnic and religious loyalties, as opposed to personal ones? 5. After Rustom’s death, Dina’s primary goal is self-reliance. But as the novel progresses and she makes new friends, she begins to change her ideas. "We’ll see how independent you are when the goondas come back and break your head open," Dina says to Maneck [p. 433]. Does she find in the end that real self-reliance is possible, or even desirable? Does she change her definition of self-reliance? 6. Most people seem indifferent or hostile to the Prime Minister and her Emergency policies, but a few characters, like Mrs. Gupta and Nusswan, support her. What does the endorsement of such people indicate about the Prime Minister? Can you compare the Prime Minister and her supporters with other political leaders and parties in today’s world? 7. Why does Avinash’s chess set become so important to Maneck, who comes to see chess as the game of life? "The rules should always allow someone to win," says Om, while Maneck replies, "Sometimes, no one wins" [p. 410]. How do the events of the novel resemble the various moves and positions in chess? 8. Dina distances herself from the political ferment of the period: "Government problemsÑgames played by people in power," she tells Ishvar. "It doesn’t affect ordinary people like us" [p. 75]. But in the end it does affect all of them, drastically. Why do some, like Dina and Maneck, refuse to involve themselves in politics while others, like Narayan and Avinash, eagerly do so? Which position is the better or wiser one? 9. When Ishvar and Om are incarcerated in the labor camp, Ishvar asks what crime they have committed. "It’s not a question of crime and punishment—it’s problem and solution," says the foreman [p. 338]. If it is true that there is a problem—the vast number of homeless people and beggars on city streetsÑwhat would a proper and humane solution be? 10. People at the bottom of the economic heap frequently blame so-called middlemen: people like Dina, who makes her living through other people’s labor, or like Ibrahim the rent collector. Do such middlemen strike you as making money immorally? Who are the real villains? 11. How would you sum up Beggarmaster: Is he ruthless, kind, or a bit of both? Does he redeem himself by his thoughtful acts, the seriousness with which he takes his responsibilities toward his dependents? In a world this cruel, are such simple categories as "good" and "bad" even applicable? 12. When Beggarmaster draws Shankar, Shankar’s mother, and himself, he represents himself as a freak just like the other two. What does this vision he has of himself tell us about him? 13. The government’s birth control program is enforced with violence and cruelty, with sterilization quotas and forced vasectomies. But is birth control policy in itself a bad thing? Dina tells Om, for example, "Two children only. At the most, three. Haven’t you been listening to the family planning people?" [p. 466]. How might family planning be implemented in a humane fashion? 14. After Dina’s father dies, her family life is blighted until she marries Rustom. In later years, she chooses to withdraw from her natural family; it is not until her year with the tailors and Maneck that she again comes to know what a family might be. What constitutes a family? What other examples of unconventional "families" do you find in the novel? 15. Why do Ishvar, Om, and Dina survive, in their diminished ways, while Maneck finally gives up? Is it due to something in their pasts, their childhoods, their families, their characters? 16. "People forget how vulnerable they are despite their shirts and shoes and briefcases," says Beggarmaster, "how this hungry and cruel world could strip them, put them in the same position as my beggars" [p. 493]. Does A Fine Balance show people’s vulnerability, or their fortitude? 17. What effect is achieved by the novel’s mildly comic ending, with Om and Ishvar clowning around at Dina’s door? Is the ending appropriate, or off-balance? 18. The novel gives us a vivid picture of life for members of the untouchable caste in remote villages. Why might such an apparently anachronistic system have survived into the late twentieth century? Does it resemble any other social systems with which you are acquainted? Why do so few of its victims fight the system, as Narayan does? Why do so few leave the village: is it from necessity, social conservatism, respect for tradition? Review Quotes “A masterpiece of illumination and grace. Like all great fiction, it transforms our understanding of life.” – The Guardian (U.K.) “This novel has the courage to remember and to reaffirm who we are, one by one; it continues, in the tradition of the great novels, to celebrate the luminous and unquenchable human spirit.” – Globe and Mail “Few have caught the real sorrow and inexplicable strength of India, the unaccountable crookedness and sweetness, as well as Mistry.” – Time “A towering masterpiece by a writer of genius.…” – The Independent (U.K.) “An astonishing novel…full of wisdom and laughter and the touches of the unexpectedly familiar through which literature illuminates life.” – Wall Street Journal “A work of stature…in scope, insight, and above all compassion for human beings.” –Montreal Gazette “Those who continue to harp on the inevitable decline of the novel ought to…consider Rohinton Mistry.” – New York Times Book Review of Books “The story unfolds with the grace and beauty of a butterfly’s wing…extraordinary.” – The Times (U.K.) “Mistry has demonstrated once again the enduring power of fiction to make sense of it all simply by telling a story…Read it.” – Vancouver Sun “Every word of it seems like a fleck of brilliant light on a dancing ocean.…A major achievement.” – Scotland on Sunday “A compelling book that manages the rare feat of being both entertaining and compassionate.” – India Today “Compulsively readable; also funny, intensely moving and, like Bombay, pullulating with humanity.” – The Independent (U.K.) “Impossible to put down.” – The Sydney Morning Herald , Australia Reader Reviews Average Reader Review: Number of Reviews: 35 1. Almost as good as Saramago's Blindness Reviewer: Val Campbell from Vancouver, B.C. Date: 2/1/2003 7:38:54 PM This tightly-written story of four Indian people with differing backgrounds was entertaining. The inter-mingled stories were unpredictable, making for a very refreshing read. I highly recommend Mistry's writing, and I look forward to reading more from him. ALMOST as good as my all-time favourite book, Blindness, by Jose Saramago. 2. Life Changing Reviewer: Reema Bhasin from Toronto (reemb@hotmail.com) Date: 8/14/2002 1:16:55 AM A fine Balance is by far the best novel I have ever read. I feel priviledged to have been able to read this novel. Rohinton Mistry is truly one of the most articulate writers around. The detail he provides to the reader, makes you feel as though you are a part of the novel. After reading this novel, I felt grateful to be who I am. This novel has changed me forever... 3. Amazing excellent book Reviewer: myriam from montreal (myriam_4@hotmail.com) Date: 7/23/2002 6:36:28 PM This book is a must read the characters are so attaching and real .highly recommended 4. Can he get any better? Reviewer: don barry from st. john's Nfld (nbarry@nf.sympatico.ca) Date: 5/5/2002 4:43:30 PM This is a great read, Mistry takes us into the mind of the players allowing us to develop the characters as the story line winds its way from the hope we felt on the arrival to the city to the despair that came at the end. This is a book that you MUST read from the very first page to the Very last. If you liked Wally Lamb's I Know This Much is True. You will love this too. 5. Changes You! Reviewer: Nina from Toronto Date: 1/30/2002 7:44:48 AM I just finished this book and as a East Indian Canadian who has been to India before - this book really opened up my eyes. I learned so much from this book and could not put it down. Very few books have the power to change the way you think. After finishing this book 1 week ago, the characters are still on my mind. The book ends with the reader wanting more. The plot and characters are heart wrenching. I could definitely read it again. Thanks Rohinton for opening up my mind further and making me appreciate what it is to be a Canadian. Read all of the reviews... 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