A Fine
Balance – tells about four individuals whose lives became entangled
intricately, and honestly, if I may say so, were so messed up, not because of
their own doing, but because of unforeseen circumstances.
To describe the story in a word – heartwrenching – would be the
best choice. But as a normal human being, I couldn’t help but to hope that
their lives would one day get better, and everyone would be living a happy and
contented life. Alas, when I got to the last page, (there
were 614 pages, mind you!) my hopes and dreams for them slowly disappeared and
vanished into thin air, *just like the ashes of Maneck’s father, when the ashes
were strewn all over the hills near his home.
Nevertheless from a critical reader point of view, the author,
Rohinton Mistry, delicately and cleverly wrote this novel using the unrest
situation of 1970s India’s background, embedding the culture and beliefs of the
nation, especially of the poorest people, to make this novel an unforgettable
one.
A must read for novel’s lovers.
· This was the
third novel I’d finished reading this month of March, in between invigilating
SPM candidates at a school nearby. The first two were a re-read of my previous
novel collections. But this A Fine
Balance, is lent to me by a colleague. Oh, how I love to read..
Selamat berpuasa u guys out there!!
*Maneck was one of the four
individuals in the story
