Mistry, Rohinton

▪ 2003

      In 2002 Indian-born Canadian writer Rohinton Mistry's latest novel, Family Matters, joined its predecessor, A Fine Balance (1995), on the best-seller lists. Set in a tiny two-room flat in Mumbai (Bombay), Family Matters presented a compelling portrayal of a family of Parsis (descendants from Persian Zoroastrians) living in exigent circumstances in modern-day India; the story was in turns poignant, stark, and humourous—elements that had become a trademark of Mistry's work.

      Of Parsi origin himself, Mistry was born in Bombay on July 3, 1952, and, after obtaining a degree in mathematics and economics from the University of Bombay (now the University of Mumbai), moved to Canada in 1975. Despite his education, he was at first unable to find work and at one point even applied—unsuccessfully—for a job at a McDonald's restaurant before eventually landing a position as a bank clerk. In the early 1980s he enrolled at the University of Toronto to pursue a degree in English and philosophy. He began writing short stories and won the university's literary competition two years in a row. Mistry attracted wider attention when he won Canadian Fiction Magazine's annual Contributors Prize in 1985. His collection of short stories, Tales from Firozsha Baag, published in 1987, was warmly greeted by critics and general readers alike for its insights into the complex lives of the Parsi inhabitants of an apartment block in Mumbai.

      Mistry's debut novel, Such a Long Journey, an intricate tale of the triumphs and disasters of the friends and family of kindhearted Gustad Noble in a time of war and turbulence in India, garnered even more praise when it appeared in 1991. The book received the Governor-General's Award, the W.H. Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award, and the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book, as well as making the shortlist for the Booker Prize and the Trillium Award. The novel was translated into Danish, German, Japanese, Norwegian, and Swedish and in 1998 was made into a feature film directed by Sturla Gunnarsson.

      A Fine Balance, Mistry's second novel, was another study of Parsis living at close quarters in varying degrees of harmony during difficult times. This novel was even more widely acclaimed than his first, winning the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book, and the Royal Society of Literature's Winifred Holtby Award. It was short-listed for the Booker Prize, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Irish Times International Fiction Prize. Sales of the novel shot up dramatically when it became a choice of Oprah's Book Club in 2001.

Elizabeth Rhett Woods

* * *