To read Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance, a 1995 Giller winner, is
akin to reading Shakespeare's Titus. Beyond a tragedy, Titus is
what my husband has come to call a catastrophe. And in many ways
Mistry's A Fine Balance follows in that tradition. Carrying that
classical form of tragedy, Mistry also marries the epic throughout
his story, so that one very much feels part of an odyssey, complete
with storms, shipwrecks, exile, monsters, betrayals and
retribution.
It is not an easy read. Relentless, unforgiving, Mistry writes a
complex tale that entwines the lives of two tailors in search of a
better life, a woman struggling to gain independence, and a student
seeking fulfillment. There is a host of subsidiary characters who
walk on and off stage like the necessary and colourful characters
of any Shakespearean play, dancing through the narrative like a
counterpoint. And as a backdrop for all this Mistry, who now calls
Canada home, writes of his native India with all the noise,
squalor, divisions and desperation of the common people.
His characters are fully realized, lifting off the page with
tenderness and sometimes terrifying reality. They struggle with the
barriers of caste, religion and wealth. They confront demons within
themselves and within their neighbours, friends and family. Just
when you think everything will be okay, that there will be some
redemption, some small hope, Mistry excises hope and leaves you
weeping.
For the most part the language is very spare and conversational.
There are a few moments of prose wandering into the purple, but
they are rare. Point of view tends to wander from time to time, so
that a very tight, character-oriented focus dissolves into an
omniscient view; these shifts were not enough to disturb the
overall arc of the story, and instead imbued the voice of the
traditional storyteller, rather than detracting.
If you have never read any of Rohinton Mistry's work, I recommend
you do. While certainly A Fine Balance, is not a story I would
recommend for a cheery, uplifting bit of escape, it is very much a
story that will haunt you and linger long after the telling.