Mistry, Rohinton Family Matters ISBN 13: 9780375403736

Family Matters - Hardcover

9780375403736: Family Matters
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
Set in Bombay in the mid-1990s, Family Matters tells a story of familial love and obligation, of personal and political corruption, of the demands of tradition and the possibilities for compassion. Nariman Vakeel, the patriarch of a small discordant family, is beset by Parkinson’s and haunted by memories of his past. He lives with his two middle-aged stepchildren, Coomy, bitter and domineering, and her brother, Jal, mild-mannered and acquiescent. But the burden of the illness worsens the already strained family relationships. Soon, their sweet-tempered half-sister, Roxana, is forced to assume sole responsibility for her bedridden father. And Roxana’s husband, besieged by financial worries, devises a scheme of deception involving his eccentric employer at a sporting goods store, setting in motion a series of events that leads to the narrative’s moving outcome. Family Matters has all the richness, the gentle humour, and the narrative sweep that have earned Mistry the highest of accolades around the world.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:
Set during the 1990s in an overcrowded and politically corrupt Bombay, Rohinton Mistry's Family Matters depicts a family being torn apart by lies, love, and its unresolved demons of the past. Nariman Vakeel is an aging patriarch whose advancing Parkinson's disease and its related complications threaten to destroy his large Parsi family. When Nariman breaks his ankle and becomes bedridden, his two stepchildren turn his care over to their half-sister, Roxanne, who lives in a two-room flat with her husband and two sons. What follows is each character's reaction to this situation, from Roxanne's husband's struggle to provide for his family without neglecting his conscience to their sons' coming of age in an era of uncertainty. Expertly interspersed between these dilemmas are Nariman's tortured remembrances of a forbidden love and its inescapable consequences ("no matter where you go in the world, there is only one story: of youth, and loss, and yearning for redemption. So we tell the same story, over and over. Just the details are different").

Family Matters is a compelling, emotional, and persuasive testimony to the importance of memories in every family's history. In a poetic style rich with detail, Mistry creates a world where fate dances with free will, and the results are often more familiar than anyone would ever care to admit. --Gisele Toueg

From the Back Cover:
“Once again, Rohinton Mistry has written an absolutely fabulous novel.”
–Noah Richler, National Post

“He ought to be considered simply one of the best writers, Indian or otherwise, now alive.”
Atlantic Monthly

“The reader is moved, even to tears, by these rites of passage among characters we have lived with long enough to feel as family. . . . The exercise of compassion, by the writer and then by the reader, remains one of the novel’s chief duties and complex pleasures.”
–John Updike, The New Yorker

“A magnetic tale that comes as close to perfect as a novel can get.”
Booklist

“Magnificent....Family Matters could well be one of the finest novels most of us will ever read. It is certainly a masterpiece.”
Irish Times

“Warm, humane, tender and bittersweet....The author of A Fine Balance again explores the tightrope act that constitutes life on this planet....This beautifully paced, elegantly expressed novel is notable for the breadth of its vision as well as its immensely appealing characters and enticing plot.”
Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“For the purposefulness and clarity of his moral vision, there is no better writer living in Canada today....Mistry weaves a marvelous tapestry....”
–Montreal Gazette

Family Matters moves and engages at every moment....Mistry is among the most distinguished of the Indian writers currently visible, partly because he does not try to make India itself his main subject....His real territory if the divided heart.”
–Pico Iyer, The New York Review of Books

“Heart-breaking and utterly beguiling....”
The Herald (U.K.)

“Compassionately attentive to the blend of tragedy and comedy and strikes the notes of each with grace, precision and tenderness....”
Edmonton Journal

“Impressive. . . . Wry and richly perceptive....”
Times Literary Supplement

“A giant among writers....A vibrant and full-bodied novel.”
Chicago Tribune

“Compelling and rich....”
Globe and Mail

“With deceptive simplicity, Mistry draws his fine balance between scepticism and affirmation, faith and bigotry, family nurture and control.”
The Guardian (U.K.)

[He is] blessed by talent as natural as breathing....”
Maclean’s

“His prose style is as clear as a pane of newly polished glass.”
The Economist

“Mistry remains one of our most important writers –one of our most important moral voices....”
Quill & Quire

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherKnopf
  • Publication date2002
  • ISBN 10 0375403736
  • ISBN 13 9780375403736
  • BindingHardcover
  • Number of pages448
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780375703423: Family Matters

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780375703423
Publisher: Vintage Books, 2003
Softcover

  • 9780571230556: FAMILY MATTERS

    Faber ..., 2006
    Softcover

  • 9780571194278: Family Matters

    Faber ..., 2002
    Hardcover

  • 9780571215539: Family Matters

    Faber ..., 2003
    Softcover

  • 9780771061288: Family Matters

    McClel..., 2003
    Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Mistry, Rohinton
Published by Knopf (2002)
ISBN 10: 0375403736 ISBN 13: 9780375403736
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
BooksByLisa
(Highland Park, IL, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Book. Seller Inventory # ABE-1669136237883

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 18.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mistry, Rohinton
Published by Knopf (2002)
ISBN 10: 0375403736 ISBN 13: 9780375403736
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0375403736

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 21.47
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mistry, Rohinton
Published by Knopf (2002)
ISBN 10: 0375403736 ISBN 13: 9780375403736
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldBooks
(Austin, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0375403736

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 28.56
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mistry, Rohinton
Published by Knopf (2002)
ISBN 10: 0375403736 ISBN 13: 9780375403736
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Front Cover Books
(Denver, CO, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0375403736

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 29.62
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.30
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mistry, Rohinton
ISBN 10: 0375403736 ISBN 13: 9780375403736
New Soft cover First Edition Quantity: 1
Seller:
Flash Books
(Audubon, NJ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Soft cover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. RARE Advance Reading Copy-Uncorrected Proof-Not For Sale. 1st Edition-Stated. 1st Printing as all ARC's are. New Unread copy. Trade paperback format. BEAUTIFUL copy of Book & Cover. COLLECTOR'S COPY. Seller Inventory # 002779

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 40.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mistry, Rohinton
Published by Knopf (2002)
ISBN 10: 0375403736 ISBN 13: 9780375403736
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Books Unplugged
(Amherst, NY, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Buy with confidence! Book is in new, never-used condition. Seller Inventory # bk0375403736xvz189zvxnew

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 55.46
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mistry, Rohinton
Published by Knopf (2002)
ISBN 10: 0375403736 ISBN 13: 9780375403736
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Wizard Books
(Long Beach, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0375403736

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 53.30
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.50
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mistry, Rohinton
Published by Knopf (2002)
ISBN 10: 0375403736 ISBN 13: 9780375403736
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
The Book Spot
(Sioux Falls, SD, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # Abebooks94223

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 59.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mistry, Rohinton
Published by Knopf (2002)
ISBN 10: 0375403736 ISBN 13: 9780375403736
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
BennettBooksLtd
(LOS ANGELES, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 1.65. Seller Inventory # Q-0375403736

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 57.60
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 5.35
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds