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Such a Long Journey

Such a Long Journey

List Price: $14.00
Your Price: $10.50
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The compassion of Gustad Noble
Review: I have read all of Rohinton Mistry's novels. This is not my favorite of his books, but it is still very well written, and it still envokes feeling from the reader for the characters. Mistry just has a gift for being able to carefully write great characters.
The story is of Gustad Noble, his family and a few of his neighbors. His son who wishes to take a path that his father didnt expect, an old friend Gustad never thought to hear from again, an artist who turns something ugly into something beautiful, and the love and loss of a best friend.
Such a long journey, can indeed according to the plot be called that (getting through it) but if you like mistry's work, it's well worth the read.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One of my new favorites
Review: I picked up this book after hearing about A Fine Balance. Being a Parsi myself, I am always interested in seeing how they are characterized in novels or movies. Mistry writes with an honest perspective, neither hypercritical or hyper-adulatory. His sense of detail creates wonderfully layered characters; and his knowledge of the customs and even the crazy idiosyncrasies of the Parsi community made me feel like we were in on a private joke. Of course, non-Parsis will like the book also--they just won't appreciate Mistry's dry wit.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A good debut
Review: I read this book after I read "A Fine Balance", and it goes to show (happily) that Mistry's writing style has developed and become much more interesting. Journey is the story of one man, Gustad Noble, facing a set of challenges in Bombay in 1971 (the year of the war with Pakistan.) Mistry also tells several different stories as the characters weave in and out of Gustad's life. Some of it works, some of it doesn't. You can predict some of the fates of the characters right from the beginning. But Mistry has written a solid book, and shows the promise that he fulfilled quite nicely in a Fine Balance.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not as good as A Fine Balance but a good first novel
Review: I read this book after reading A Fine Balance and therefore am probably unfairly judging it. It doesn't have the depth and character development of the latter, but is a good first novel.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Perhaps I should have not read A Fine Balance first
Review: I truly enjoyed this book but it failed to meet my high expectations of Mistry's compelling and totally engrossing story-telling. It is a great story but if left me wishing for more depth and impact. Perhaps my biggest mistake is that I read A Fine Balance a few years ago and it still haunts me. It is such an intense journey, none of his other work has come close to it, in my opinion.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Perhaps I should have not read A Fine Balance first
Review: I truly enjoyed this book but it failed to meet my high expectations of Mistry's compelling and totally engrossing story-telling. It is a great story but if left me wishing for more depth and impact. Perhaps my biggest mistake is that I read A Fine Balance a few years ago and it still haunts me. It is such an intense journey, none of his other work has come close to it, in my opinion.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A delight
Review: I was told that Mistry's other novel, "A Fine Balance" is a far better book than "Such A Long Journey". If so, I'm looking foward to reading that one, because I thoroughly enjoyed "Such A Long Journey".

I novel centres on the Mumbai Parsi, Gustad Noble. He and his family have seen better days and are now struggling to get by in 1970s Mumbai. Gustad becomes involved with a scheme run by the mysterious Jimmy Bilimoria - what is the meaning of this, and how will it turn out?

Apart from this mystery, the main delight of the novel is how Mistry weaves the central plot into a kaleidoscope of descriptions of life in Mumbai. I have Parsi friends, so I was not completely at sea with the descriptions Mistry uses. Yet, his account of the Parsi funeral ceremony culminating at the Tower of Silence was both moving and intriguing (for those not familiar with Parsi funeral rights, it's scarcely believable, but nonetheless true).

It was Sartre, I think, who said that "hell is other people". Mistry doesn't go as far as that, but he does give the impression of an India teeming with life, full of people invading each others' space. As such, coping with this becomes a daily chore - others are both invasive of privacy and frequently unreliable when you depend on them. And yet, that is only part of being human - for all their faults, most if not all people have redeeming characteristics.

Recommended.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A delight
Review: I was told that Mistry's other novel, "A Fine Balance" is a far better book than "Such A Long Journey". If so, I'm looking foward to reading that one, because I thoroughly enjoyed "Such A Long Journey".

I novel centres on the Mumbai Parsi, Gustad Noble. He and his family have seen better days and are now struggling to get by in 1970s Mumbai. Gustad becomes involved with a scheme run by the mysterious Jimmy Bilimoria - what is the meaning of this, and how will it turn out?

Apart from this mystery, the main delight of the novel is how Mistry weaves the central plot into a kaleidoscope of descriptions of life in Mumbai. I have Parsi friends, so I was not completely at sea with the descriptions Mistry uses. Yet, his account of the Parsi funeral ceremony culminating at the Tower of Silence was both moving and intriguing (for those not familiar with Parsi funeral rights, it's scarcely believable, but nonetheless true).

It was Sartre, I think, who said that "hell is other people". Mistry doesn't go as far as that, but he does give the impression of an India teeming with life, full of people invading each others' space. As such, coping with this becomes a daily chore - others are both invasive of privacy and frequently unreliable when you depend on them. And yet, that is only part of being human - for all their faults, most if not all people have redeeming characteristics.

Recommended.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not his best
Review: If you read one book by Rohington Mistry or even one book about India or just one book in your life read "A Fine Balance" from the same author.

This book just leaves an empty feeling when you finish it and is just not a well though out or even coherent work. Read his other (and far better) work and move on.......

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Three Deaths And No Wedding, But There Was A Doll !!!
Review: It was a long journey, and I was tired at the end... However, I must say that the book is quite moving, and I was saddened by [one of] the [three] death[s] at the end. There were some funny, but quite moving characters in it.


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