A Fine Balance deur Rohinton Mistry het my getref soos 'n mokerhou wat my wind uitgeslaan het - dit is só kragtig.
Mistry se roman ondersoek die lewens van vier mense oor die tydperk van ongeveer een jaar wanneer hulle onder een dak bymekaar kom. Dié jaar stel Indira Ghandi ook haar Noodtoestand bekend nadat die Indiese Hooggeregshof haar verkiesing as onwettig verklaar het.
Hoewel die boek as fiksie geklassifiseer word, het die outeur indringende navorsing gedoen oor die politieke maatreëls van die tyd. Dit sluit onder andere in: die sterilisasie van die Indiese volk (wat breedvoerig bespreek word); gewelddadige rassisme; en die sosio-ekonomiese toestande van veral die armsaliges.
Dit is 'n puik roman wat ek aan enigeen sal aanbeveel.
“You see, we cannot draw lines and compartments and refuse to budge
beyond them. Sometimes you have to use your failures as stepping-stones
to success. You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and
despair.' He paused, considering what he had just said. 'Yes', he
repeated. 'In the end, it's all a question of balance.”
“But nobody ever forgot anything, not really, though sometimes they
pretended, when it suited them. Memories were permanent. Sorrowful ones
remained sad even with the passing of time, yet happy ones could never
be recreated - not with the same joy. Remembering bred its own peculiar
sorrow. It seemed so unfair: that time should render both sadness and
happiness into a source of pain.”
“The human face has limited space. If you fill it with laughter there will be no room for crying.”
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