However it hasn't always been this way, at the beginning of the novel Jeanette looks to her mother as her idol, her heroine and they have a good, strong relationship despite her being adopted. ... It is because of this close relationship at the beginning that the breakdown is so upsetting for the reader as we come to know both these characters and identify with their relationship with one another. ... Jane later explains that she had 'nothing in harmony with Mrs Reed or her children' This reference to harmony is something that appears in both novels and this probably relates to...

• Word Count: 3018
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 1999 University of Oklahoma The title of Rohinton Mistry's second novel, A Fine Balance, suggests a worthwhile way to explore his fiction. ... It is not the history or the actuality that attracts in Mistry's fiction, but the way he uses these elements. ... I just don't recognize this dismal, dreary city. ... If she wanted to make the case that she did not like the book there were far better ways to do it than to say something so, so . . . ... The middle-class Parsis who inhabit the residential block known as Firozsha Baag come to life in these elev...

• Word Count: 4675
• Approx Pages: 19
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 1999 University of Oklahoma The title of Rohinton Mistry's second novel, A Fine Balance, suggests a worthwhile way to explore his fiction. ... It is not the history or the actuality that attracts in Mistry's fiction, but the way he uses these elements. ... I just don't recognize this dismal, dreary city. ... If she wanted to make the case that she did not like the book there were far better ways to do it than to say something so, so . . . ... The middle-class Parsis who inhabit the residential block known as Firozsha Baag come to life in these e...

• Word Count: 4673
• Approx Pages: 19
• Grade Level: Undergraduate