…you have to use your failures as stepping stones to success. You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair. In the end its all a question of balance.
Summary - The time is 1975. The place is an unnamed city by the sea. The government has just declared a State of Emergency, in whose upheavals four strangers–a spirited widow, a young student uprooted from his i hill station, and two tailors who have fled the caste violence of their native village–will be thrust together, forced to share one cramped apartment and an uncertain future.
I thought it would be overly non-fiction-y. It wasnt. I thought it would go over my head. It didn’t. I thought the size was too intimidating. It wasn’t.
I grew so attached to the four characters. The structure goes from present to each of the four’s past, keeping the reader interested and on their toes. I learned so much about the caste system and way of the life in India, I highly recommend this book. Definitely for fans of Pachinko and The Mountains Sing!
Find A Fine Balance at the publisher →
Toni Rocchetti is a copy editor helping authors strengthen their narratives, deepen character arcs, and find the story that is already in the draft. She reads 80+ books a year across literary fiction, memoir, and nonfiction — and writes about what she is learning along the way. Work with Toni →
