---
product_id: 4807648
title: "A Fine Balance"
price: "R301"
currency: ZAR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/4807648-a-fine-balance
store_origin: ZA
region: South Africa
---

# 4.3/5 from 11,819 reviews Deep dive into post-Independence India Ranked #237 in Contemporary Lit A Fine Balance

**Price:** R301
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> 📖 Unlock the untold stories of India’s heart and soul — don’t miss this literary journey!

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** A Fine Balance
- **How much does it cost?** R301 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.za](https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/4807648-a-fine-balance)

## Best For

- Customers looking for quality international products

## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
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## Key Features

- • **Cultural Immersion:** Explore four decades of Indian socio-political history through vivid, empathetic characters.
- • **Critically Acclaimed:** Join over 11,800 readers who rated it 4.3 stars for its emotional depth and storytelling.
- • **A Literary Masterpiece:** Experience a gripping narrative that ranks top 1,300+ in Literary Fiction.
- • **Emotional Rollercoaster:** Feel the raw human resilience amid struggle, oppression, and hope.
- • **Thought-Provoking & Timeless:** Perfect for professionals craving meaningful, socially conscious literature.

## Overview

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry is a critically acclaimed novel ranked #237 in Contemporary Literature, praised for its meticulous portrayal of Indian lives from the 1940s to 1984. With over 11,800 reviews averaging 4.3 stars, it offers a powerful exploration of struggle, resilience, and humanity against a turbulent socio-political backdrop.

## Description

A Fine Balance [Mistry, Rohinton] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A Fine Balance

Review: Great story about Indian lives - No other piece of writing in recent memory had captivated me and controlled my emotions as much as Mistry's The Fine Balance. It is a tragic tale of intense struggle, oppression, poverty and tyranny through the experiences of four main characters from three different socio-economic backgrounds. Starting off in the mid 1940's the novel traces the stories of these characters, for four decades until 1984. Mistry's characters are so well developed that anybody who has spent some time living in India, can easily empathize with them. With those characters evolving in the backdrop of young and fragile socio-economic-political structures, it becomes a very compelling read. Mistry takes the reader through a roller coaster ride with far more and far greater descents than ascents. Although the general theme of the story is one of struggle and despair, Mistry crafts beautiful moments showcasing great human resolve in the face of adversity. His narrative is always gripping and meticulous. Amidst all the tragedies and shocking violence, Mistry shines through his portrayal of love, friendship, brotherhood and tenacity of the human mind. The characters seem so close and their struggles so real. But at times, his description of human atrocities were very disturbing that reading as 23 year old in 2015, it was hard for me to believe that people were treated with such cruelty during those days. This led me to learn more about the India after Independence especially during the years of Emergency under Ms Indira Gandhi. To add a bit more about Mistry, I think it is an incredible piece of work written about Indian lives after Independence. The characters are from different social strata during a very turbulent time in Indian history. The way he has developed them from all their background, childhood, ambitions, struggles etc is absolutely fantastic. In my opinion, only a man with great knowledge of history, Indian societies, great writing and a big heart can pull out an exquisite piece of fiction such as this. And with this work, Rohinton Mistry has proved he is such a man
Review: Life in the Face of Despair - I finished this book a couple of days ago but have been unable to sit and write about it until now. I have to say that I could not put it down; I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I was fascinated by its cast of characters. The setting of the scene, the descriptions of the cities and the villages was detailed and mesmerizing, and I learned a great deal about life in India during the "Emergency" during which the people suffered under Indira Ghandi's apparently inept attempts to bring some sort of order to an incredibly poor and overpopulated country with a corrupt system of government and an antiquated, cruel caste system. The atempted "cure" almost destroyed a nation that was already torn apart. The four main characters, Dina, the strong willed, hardened widow, Maneck, the sheltered young student who comes to live with her, Ishvar and Om, the tailors fleeing the horrible caste system of their village and hoping to build a new life, are well drawn and sympathetic. The array of supporting characters reveal a great deal about the best and worst that mankind is capable of: Beggars, innocents, con men, landlords, thugs, gangsters and revolutionaries. In the end, no one is perfect, and each person (and even animal!) must do his or her best to survive in a world that is seldom fair, often cruel, and never predictable. These people somehow go through their tumultuous lives with grace and courage, always seeking something to hope for, some reason to go on surviving, some future that is better than the dismal present. I could see the strength of the people and thought that Mistry did a wonderful job portraying a nation's anguish through the characters he created. Having said all that, and having enjoyed reading it as much as I did, I have to say that I was ultimately disappointed by this novel. It seemed like there was little redemption, or hope, for anyone and that every single bad thing that could happen to a poor person in India happened to these 4 characters personally. It was just too much, and in the end, the suffering inflicted on them was just too heavy handed for me as a reader to accept. There were also far too many incredible coincidences that seemed too often contrived. The writing was clean and well done, and the setting of the tale was incredibly well drawn. It just seemed as if Mistry were trying too hard to explain the beauty and pain that is his India. In seeking the balance between hope and despair, he found only despair. Characters either survived, or were destroyed, each in their own way, but the ending was totally unsatisfying for me and I felt that it weakened all that had gone before. That is ultimately why I have had such a hard time writing about this book. I wish I could have been able to say more that was positive about a novel that I sincerely enjoyed reading and about a work that is obviously well-received. Perhaps I am like the reader in the Balzac quote at the start of the book and I am blaming the author for my own "insensitivity, accusing him of wild exaggeration and flights of fancy." All is probably true, and I can tell that Mistry feels very deeply about his subject, but it seems to me that fiction should illuminate the truth in such a way as to make it seem more real, while at the same time illustrating the basic truths of existence. To merely drive the sad truth into the ground, without giving one's characters at least some feeble hope for redemption, seems like a sad and wasted effort.

## Features

- Great product!

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #28,556 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #237 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction #1,208 in Literary Fiction (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.3 out of 5 stars 11,819 Reviews |

## Images

![A Fine Balance - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61wbORVsinL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great story about Indian lives
*by V***R on May 30, 2015*

No other piece of writing in recent memory had captivated me and controlled my emotions as much as Mistry's The Fine Balance. It is a tragic tale of intense struggle, oppression, poverty and tyranny through the experiences of four main characters from three different socio-economic backgrounds. Starting off in the mid 1940's the novel traces the stories of these characters, for four decades until 1984. Mistry's characters are so well developed that anybody who has spent some time living in India, can easily empathize with them. With those characters evolving in the backdrop of young and fragile socio-economic-political structures, it becomes a very compelling read. Mistry takes the reader through a roller coaster ride with far more and far greater descents than ascents. Although the general theme of the story is one of struggle and despair, Mistry crafts beautiful moments showcasing great human resolve in the face of adversity. His narrative is always gripping and meticulous. Amidst all the tragedies and shocking violence, Mistry shines through his portrayal of love, friendship, brotherhood and tenacity of the human mind. The characters seem so close and their struggles so real. But at times, his description of human atrocities were very disturbing that reading as 23 year old in 2015, it was hard for me to believe that people were treated with such cruelty during those days. This led me to learn more about the India after Independence especially during the years of Emergency under Ms Indira Gandhi. To add a bit more about Mistry, I think it is an incredible piece of work written about Indian lives after Independence. The characters are from different social strata during a very turbulent time in Indian history. The way he has developed them from all their background, childhood, ambitions, struggles etc is absolutely fantastic. In my opinion, only a man with great knowledge of history, Indian societies, great writing and a big heart can pull out an exquisite piece of fiction such as this. And with this work, Rohinton Mistry has proved he is such a man

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Life in the Face of Despair
*by D***Y on July 23, 2002*

I finished this book a couple of days ago but have been unable to sit and write about it until now. I have to say that I could not put it down; I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I was fascinated by its cast of characters. The setting of the scene, the descriptions of the cities and the villages was detailed and mesmerizing, and I learned a great deal about life in India during the "Emergency" during which the people suffered under Indira Ghandi's apparently inept attempts to bring some sort of order to an incredibly poor and overpopulated country with a corrupt system of government and an antiquated, cruel caste system. The atempted "cure" almost destroyed a nation that was already torn apart. The four main characters, Dina, the strong willed, hardened widow, Maneck, the sheltered young student who comes to live with her, Ishvar and Om, the tailors fleeing the horrible caste system of their village and hoping to build a new life, are well drawn and sympathetic. The array of supporting characters reveal a great deal about the best and worst that mankind is capable of: Beggars, innocents, con men, landlords, thugs, gangsters and revolutionaries. In the end, no one is perfect, and each person (and even animal!) must do his or her best to survive in a world that is seldom fair, often cruel, and never predictable. These people somehow go through their tumultuous lives with grace and courage, always seeking something to hope for, some reason to go on surviving, some future that is better than the dismal present. I could see the strength of the people and thought that Mistry did a wonderful job portraying a nation's anguish through the characters he created. Having said all that, and having enjoyed reading it as much as I did, I have to say that I was ultimately disappointed by this novel. It seemed like there was little redemption, or hope, for anyone and that every single bad thing that could happen to a poor person in India happened to these 4 characters personally. It was just too much, and in the end, the suffering inflicted on them was just too heavy handed for me as a reader to accept. There were also far too many incredible coincidences that seemed too often contrived. The writing was clean and well done, and the setting of the tale was incredibly well drawn. It just seemed as if Mistry were trying too hard to explain the beauty and pain that is his India. In seeking the balance between hope and despair, he found only despair. Characters either survived, or were destroyed, each in their own way, but the ending was totally unsatisfying for me and I felt that it weakened all that had gone before. That is ultimately why I have had such a hard time writing about this book. I wish I could have been able to say more that was positive about a novel that I sincerely enjoyed reading and about a work that is obviously well-received. Perhaps I am like the reader in the Balzac quote at the start of the book and I am blaming the author for my own "insensitivity, accusing him of wild exaggeration and flights of fancy." All is probably true, and I can tell that Mistry feels very deeply about his subject, but it seems to me that fiction should illuminate the truth in such a way as to make it seem more real, while at the same time illustrating the basic truths of existence. To merely drive the sad truth into the ground, without giving one's characters at least some feeble hope for redemption, seems like a sad and wasted effort.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ten Stars
*by D***N on December 5, 2013*

Set in an unidentified Indian city by the sea during the mid-1970s, Mistry’s novel is a moving tale of a lonely widow, a paying boarder, and two tailors seeking work in the city. The story opens quietly and builds unhurriedly. The author takes his time in developing the story; be patient. The characters each struggle with their own misfortunes. Dina Dalal, a financially strapped Parsi widow in her early 40's, struggles to preserve her independence, resisting the pleas of her brother to live off his charity. To make ends meet, Dina takes in a boarder, then recruits and hires two tailors to sew dresses for an export company. The boarder, Maneck, is the privileged son of a former school chum who has come to the city from his beloved mountain village for schooling. The Hindu tailors, Ishvar and Om, are refugees from caste violence. Ishvar, in his 40's, has dedicated his life to being a father to his nephew Om, the son of Ishvar's murdered brother. The tailors live from hand to mouth, entirely at the mercy of the social upheavals of the day. The novel is set during the Emergency in the mid-1970s, a time when the Prime Minister suspends the constitution in order to hold on to power following a scandal. It is a period marked by political unrest and human rights violations, including widespread corruption, detention, horrendous injustices, torture and forced sterilization. Although Indira Gandhi is never named (she is simply referred to as the "prime minister"), she is an ominous presence. Under these circumstances, Dina's apartment becomes a sanctuary for the tailors. The four strangers start sharing their stories, then meals, then living space, until the apartment is transformed into a home for the four that is as close as family. In addition to the four protagonists, the author introduces a series of marginal characters so vibrant they threaten to upstage everyone else: the legless beggar Shankar who gets around on a small wooden platform with wheels, the hair collector Rajaram, the beggarmaster, even an unnamed woman drying her only sari. A Fine Balance explores the effects of the state of emergency on the lives of ordinary people in India. A Fine Balance is a masterpiece—one of the best books I have ever read. It is a compelling read that transports you from one country to another. The author brings the sounds, colors, and images of his world to life. This is a very powerful book that draws you in, sweeps you along, and is over far too soon. It reminded me of the value of family and friendship. It is a book that is hauntingly beautiful; it will stir your emotions, highlighting the fine line that exists between hope and despair.

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*Product available on Desertcart South Africa*
*Store origin: ZA*
*Last updated: 2026-02-21*