Rated of 5
by Joan Family Matters
Family Matters is just that...the every day happenings and ups- and -downs in family life. The same issues affecting family relationships in Bombay, as anywhere else in the world. The characters are beautifully drawn, true-to-life, and with flaws we all relate to. The ending is brilliant - the ends not all neatly explained nor explanations forthcoming. I felt the characters were alive and living next door! The text is slow, gentle,and a pleasure to read.
Rated of 5
by Ronin
Very Good Book. Readable, captivating.Touching storyline, memorable characters.
Rated of 5
by Joe
'Family Matters', like Mistry's other works of fiction, stands out from the crowd of the so-called 'postcolonial works' that have emerged from India after the 1980s. The most striking aspect of the book is that its theme revolves around a Parsi family. A story of love, hate, temptations, sin, faith redemption, and of course, Destiny. The old and terminally ill Nariman becomes an unavoidable presence in the lives of his daughetr Rexona and her family, when his stepchildren conveniently dumps him in her small apartment. Nariman's memories mingle with the fight for survival in Rexona and Yezad's (her husband) household and it makes their children learn lessons of compassion and selflessness. In the fight Yezad finds himself torn between his duties to the family and the inabitlity to raise the money which is badly needed thanks to the addition of a new, ailing member in the family. Why does he fall prey to the circumstances? Can his act be branded a betrayal? Why does his tormented mind seek solace in a religious fervour which he used to shun in an agnostic manner? And, why his younger son Jehangir, towards the end of the story, worries his head away about the happiness that is lacking in the family which is otherwise redeemed from all the worries? The answers are to be found in this novel that Mistry wrote after a long break. And for those who are interested in the Parsi quest for relevance in the novels of Mistry, this is a must read. Shortlisted for the 2003 Booker Prize. And, for the third time, Mistry lost the Prize by a narrow margin. The only drawback I could find about the book was the lack of a key to the terms related to the Parsi (Zoroastrians in India) religion. The length of the book is not a hindrance at all, for those who love reading the words of a master story-teller!
A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight...
read more
Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on...
read more
Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read...
read more
British Parliament asks Amazon to clarify why it pays $9 million in income tax on $23 billion of UK sales.(May 20 2013) Amazon will be called back to give further evidence to members of the British Parliament "to clarify how its activities in the U.K. justify its low corporate...
Full Story
of 5
by Joan 
of 5
by Joe 
