About this title: In Bombay, a retired professor named Nariman Vakeel looks back on his life, and specifically his failure to marry the woman he really loved, instead submitting to an arranged marriage. He lives now with his stepchildren, but when he breaks an ankle he is sent to the home of his own daughter to be cared for. This KING LEAR-derived tale presents a wide-ranging picture of Bombay society as Nariman, of necessity, finds himself more and more dependent on his children. A New York Times Notable Book for 2002.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780375403736ISBN:0375403736
Description: Good in Good jacket. 116-V Books rated "Good" may have some notes, underlining, or highlighting. These books also may contain the previous owner's name, stamp, sticker, or gift inscription, or may be library discards. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. 0375403736 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Very Good. 057120421X Pages are crisp and clean. Binding is tight. Edge and corner wear to cover of book. Name written on first page. read more
Description: Good. 2002-Paperback-Cover shows some shelf-wear. Pages lightly tanned. ---Used-Good-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 2003-11-18
ISBN-13:9780375703423ISBN:037570342X
Description: New. New Book. The book shows time wear. Otherwise new condition. Free tracking # included! International buyers are welcome. We ship every business day. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: McLelland & Stewart
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780771061271ISBN:0771061277
Description: Fine in ln jacket. Hardcover with dust jacket, Like New, clean, tight, inscription on inside blank page. Set during the 1990s in an overcrowded and politically corrupt Bombay, Rohinton Mistry's Family Matters depicts a family being torn apart by lies, love, and its unresolved demons of the past. Nariman Vakeel is an aging patriarch whose advancing Parkinson's disease and its related complications threaten to destroy his large Parsi family. When Nariman breaks his ankle and becomes bedridden, ... read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf; A Borzoi Book, New York
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780375403736ISBN:0375403736
Description: Very Good in Fine jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 434 pp.; 22 cm. Near fine. Speck of dirt/top edge, otherwise as new, in fine DJ. "Set in Bombay in the mid-1990s, Family Matters tells a story of familial love and obligation, of personal and political corruption, of the demands of tradition and the possibilities for compassion. Nariman Vakeel, the patriarch of a small discordant family, is beset by Parkinson's and haunted by memories of his past. He lives with his two middle-aged stepchildren, ... read more
"Some years ago I found myself collecting a rather appalling statistic. Women in India who are burned to death by their husbands, often in collusion with the mother of the husband. The preferred method is to douse the wife in petrol and then set alight. It generally does the trick, though unfortunately sometimes one ends up with a dreadfully disfigured wife who survives.
The real eye-opening thing about this practice is that it is a middle-class commonplace. The woman burned to death may well have a university degree or two. In other words, there is nothing primitive about the attitude. It isn't backward uneducated people, it is people who might be perusing goodreads when not taking stock of their petrol supplies.
Mistry's books do not deal with such horrors, but they do give an account of the ways in which middle-class urban life in India is mean and dispiriting and difficult. It sets the scene in which the wife-burnings take place.
If you want an idea of what life is really like in India, given that we all in the West think it's about Bollywood, this is good place to start."
"Ronhinton Mistry gives us a peek into a Parsee family, with all of the cultural & religious obligations, controversary, love, resentment, loyalty and bigotry involved in dealing with loved ones and extended families in Bombay, India. Mistry's characters in all his novels are likable,genuine real people but flawed, in some aspect. Yet he has the ability to make the reader understand the character in great detail. This novel was especially important to me , as I have an elderly parent that requires assistance. I cried at times in this novel. Nariman's past and present feelings , both emotional & physical are so powerful, it really opened my eyes to the plight of the elderly. What I love about Rohinton Mistry's writing, is not only does he give us great characters, he helps us understand the indian culture. Also never does he opt for that Hollywood ending. His stories are very realistic."
"Rohinton Mistry takes us right into the life of a family in this book, a family with all its conflicts, its misunderstandings, its jealousies, and unexpected moments of redeeming love. India, his setting, seems to make everything feel bigger and more important, both hopeless and hopeful.
Nariman is an old man who has experienced much sadness and pain in his life. He lives with his stepchildren, Jal and Coomy, who try without much success to protect him from the world. His natural daughter, Roxana, lives with her husband and two sons apart from her father. The lives of all the family, however, are intricately bound together.
The title, Family Matters, is wonderful, with its dual meanings of both family concerns and the importance of family.
There are no simple answers in this story. Plans, even clever plans, go awry. Good acts are not rewarded. Out of good intentions come undeserved troubles. Despite our best efforts to stop wickedness, people continue to do the wrong things. Moments of peace in this confusing world---acts of genuine compassion, a little laughter, a little music---are rare, but provide us with just enough hope to continue to slog on.
Mistry is a gifted writer, excellent at writing dialogue with edgy comedy, with a whiff of hysteria, and at creating plots that twist and turn unexpectedly, like life itself.
"Family Matters was a slow burner for me. A novel in a similar vein to white teeth, detailing the lives of a family struggling to make ends meet in Bombay. Mistry's touch is less comedic than Smith's, and as the family make their way through the flood of expectations from their communities, their relatives and the lawlessness of Bombay at the time we are dragged right into the heart of the emotions this stirs up. Loosely detailing the grandfather's descent from renowned Professor to a victim of Parkinson's disease, his past life and struggles against ideas of race in the community are raised, as we see future generations begin to make the same mistakes that he once did.
It is however, a little slow to start, but once you're in, it's well worth it."
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