{"id":306,"date":"2014-01-04T21:52:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-04T21:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/index.php\/2014\/01\/04\/a-fine-balance\/"},"modified":"2019-12-31T08:17:32","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T21:17:32","slug":"a-fine-balance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/a-fine-balance\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fine Balance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-839\" src=\"http:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/mistry.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"179\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/mistry.jpeg 179w, https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/mistry-172x270.jpeg 172w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 179px) 100vw, 179px\" \/>To continue with some of the books I read in 2013, I thought I would mention <i>A Fine Balance <\/i>by Rohinton Mistry. This is an amazing book, depicting India during<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-841\" src=\"http:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/rohinton.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"183\" height=\"275\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/rohinton.jpeg 183w, https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/rohinton-180x270.jpeg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 183px) 100vw, 183px\" \/> the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. It collects hundreds of small images, spreading them out across a canvas woven with threads taken from the traditional caste system, British colonization and encroaching modernity. The picture thus painted is at times overwhelming, sad, inspiring, frustrating, unbelievable and depressing; however, at all times it maintains a definite integrity, and at no time does it slip into the muddy waters of sentimentality. As one of the characters says, &#8220;You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair&#8230;&#8221;, and this, in essence, is what the book is all about. It is beautifully written with some wonderfully drawn characters.<\/p>\n<p>If you are looking for a &#8216;feel good&#8217; book, I would suggest that you do not read <i>A Fine Balance<\/i>, but, by not reading it, you will miss out on a very special reading experience.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The image of Rohinton Mistry is from &#8216;World Literature Today&#8217;.<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To continue with some of the books I read in 2013, I thought I would mention A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. This is an amazing book, depicting India during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. It collects hundreds of small images, spreading them out across a canvas woven with threads taken from the traditional caste &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"readmore-btn\" href=\"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/a-fine-balance\/\">+<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}