Rohinton Mistry

Rohinton Mistry (born 1952) is an Indian-born Canadian writer. He was born in Bombay, now Mumbai, to a Parsi family, as was Freddie Mercury of Queen. Parsis are a Zoroastrian religious minority of Persian ancestry. He has lived in Canada since 1975. He is considered to be one of the foremost authors of Indian heritage writing in English.

Each of Mistry’s three novels were shortlisted for the Booker Prize:
• Such a Long Journey (1991)
• A Fine Balance (1995)
• Family Matters (2002)

More on his life and work can be found at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohinton_Mistry
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rohinton-Mistry
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/20859/rohinton-mistry/
https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/rohinton-mistry


Collectively, we read two of his books: A Fine Balance and Family Matters

Mistry is sympathetic to those of his characters who are lower-class and lower-caste, with no choice in their lives of struggle, writing in much detail about the life of beggars on the streets, slum dwellers, and the strict rules for the lower-castes to live their lives by. This stance may reflect Mistry’s family background as Parsis do not have a caste system.

He also writes about multiple generation family groups especially with elders living with younger members, as in Family Matters, and intra-family relationships, both love and cruelty, for example, the treatment of widows and the prevention of inter-caste marriages. In A Fine Balance, the friendships, joys and struggles between the four main characters are well written and developed. His use of language is wonderful, although at times we wished for some editing. The history of modern India is the context for his books and there is much to learn. We noted that despite of the upheavals and chaos as it appears to an outsider, the very regimented Indian society ensured that things worked out.