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Rohinton Mistry. A Fine Balance
historical fiction

With the conflicts between the Muslims and Hindus in India of the 1970’s and 80’s as its backdrop, A Fine Balance traces the lives of four main characters as they eek out a living in a society stumbling along with grinding poverty, political corruption, and a seeming disregard for the dignity of humanity. Mistry uses a unique process of flash-backs to lay the foundation of his character; only in the middle of the book does he catch the reader up to the present, which then unfolds with wave upon wave of tragedy. Remarkably, no sorrow is gratuitous; no defeat seems like a fictional twist for the story’s sake. Instead, the reader is left to resolve uncomfortably how difficult life is, and to refeclt on how many of us in the Western world have been gleefully ignorant of much of the world's daily struggles. This book is a perfect beginner’s study of the life of most of the Indian poor, a description for a vast segment of the country’s population. Other books also worth reading by Rohinton Mistry: Family Matters (a more tightly focused study of a single family in Mumbai) and Swimming Lessons (a series of short stories all set in the same apartment complex in Mumbai, with vivid characters who are woven in and out of each other lives with a nuanced rarely seen in writing.)   ~ Sumner McCallie

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Arundhati Roy. The God of Small Things
general fiction

The God of Small Things: A Novel
Random House Trade Paperbacks (2008)
$15.00

Some events can tear a family apart. In the God of Small Things, such an event happens on the book’s first page. The rest of the book describes what led to that event, with intriguing use of flashbacks and a brilliantly framed presentation of personalities within an extended Indian family. Roy presents a study in people with a grindingly slow, yet curiously fascinating march towards tragedy which reveals both deep individual flaws and how family tradition and expectation can both uplift and destroy a working family. The effect is mesmerizing story-telling. The book helps uncover the hidden sides of family patterns in India, and might be good both for traveler, but also Peace Corps volunteer.   ~  Sumner McCallie

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