Synopsis
At 600 pages, Mistry's stunning second novel looks intimidating, yet this moving tale of four people caught up in India's 1975 state of emergency -- when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi suspended the constitution in order to hold on to power following a scandal -- is an incredibly detailed, compelling read that sweeps you along from the opening pages and is over far too soon.Though it takes place in a time of political upheaval and chaos, A Fine Balance is not a political diatribe. Instead, it is a beautiful and compassionate portrait of the resiliency of the human spirit when faced with death, despair, and unconscionable suffering. Set in an unnamed city by the sea, it is the story of four disenfranchised strangers -- a widow, a young student, and two tailors -- who are forced by their impoverished circumstances to share a cramped apartment. Initially distrustful of one another, Dina, Maneck, Ishvar, and Om gradually build loving, familial bonds and learn together "to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair" in a society suddenly turned inhumanly cruel and corrupt.
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From the Back Cover
"Astonishing. . . . A rich and varied spectacle, full of wisdom and laughter and the touches of the unexpectedly familiar through which literature illuminates life." --Wall Street Journal
"A serious and important work . . . the product of high intelligence and passionate conviction." --New York Review of Books
"Monumental. . . . Few have caught the real sorrow and inexplicable strength of India, the unaccountable crookedness and sweetness, as well as Mistry." --Pico Iyer, Time
"Those who continue to harp on the decline of the novel . . . ought to consider Rohinton Mistry. He needs no infusion of magic realism to vivify the real. The real world, through his eyes, is magical." --The New York Times
From the Inside Flap
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.
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A Fine Balance
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A Fine Balance
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Fine Balance
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Paperback. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0571203620I4N00
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A Fine Balance
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A Fine Balance
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A Fine Balance
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Condition: Good. This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside.This book has soft covers. Clean from markings In good all round condition. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item,450grams, ISBN:0571203620. Seller Inventory # 8857728
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A Fine Balance
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Fine Balance
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A Fine Balance
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Condition: very good. Gut/Very good: Buch bzw. Schutzumschlag mit wenigen Gebrauchsspuren an Einband, Schutzumschlag oder Seiten. / Describes a book or dust jacket that does show some signs of wear on either the binding, dust jacket or pages. Seller Inventory # M00571203620-V
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A Fine Balance
Seller: Hamelyn, Madrid, M, Spain
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Condition: Aceptable. : En la India de mediados de la década de 1970, tras la declaración de un "estado de emergencia interna", cuatro personas diversas (una costurera viuda, un estudiante y un hombre y su sobrino que han huido de su pueblo) entrelazan sus vidas de manera inextricable. A pesar de los tiempos de agitación política y caos, esta novela es un retrato hermoso y compasivo de la capacidad de recuperación del espíritu humano ante la muerte, la desesperación y el sufrimiento desmesurado. Ambientada en una ciudad costera sin nombre, cuenta la historia de cuatro extraños marginados que, debido a sus circunstancias de pobreza, se ven obligados a compartir un apartamento estrecho. Inicialmente desconfiados el uno del otro, Dina, Maneck, Ishvar y Om construyen gradualmente lazos familiares amorosos y aprenden juntos "a mantener un delicado equilibrio entre la esperanza y la desesperación" en una sociedad que de repente se vuelve inhumanamente cruel y corrupta. EAN: 9780571203628 Tipo: Libros Categoría: Literatura y Ficción Título: A Fine Balance Autor: Rohinton Mistry Idioma: en Páginas: 752 Formato: tapa blanda. Seller Inventory # Happ-2026-03-18-d1ce58ae