A Fine Balance

From goodreads.com:

"With a compassionate realism and narrative sweep that recall the work of Charles Dickens, this magnificent novel captures all the cruelty and corruption, dignity and heroism, of India. 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 idyllic 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.

As the characters move from distrust to friendship and from friendship to love, A Fine Balance creates an enduring panorama of the human spirit in an inhuman state."

I cannot thank Danielle enough for this recommendation (and Kerri for seconding it). This is a book I had never even heard of and would likely never have picked up. But it was so good! One of those books that is just so sad- compelling- epic- beautiful- I could go on and on. It was the perfect book to start off the year on from my list of 50. I actually finished another book today as well. I have been listening to Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo on my Zune at work. It's sad too, but somehow there is a difference. Although A Fine Balance was very sad, it had so many moments of redemption,of the characters coming together and finding meaning. Johnny Got His Gun had maybe one moment, but it was fleeting and soon ended badly. I highly recommend A Fine Balance. Don't let its length (600 pages) or the fact that it was part of Oprah's book club turn you away. :)