Books are like friends.
You need to meet new friends during the proper time in your life.
Sometimes you are ready to greet a new friend and sometimes not.
The growth of a friendship depends on where you are in your life's journey.
The events in your life dictate whom you can relate to...
your circumstances often determine which people will "gel" with you.
You may have a wonderful book just waiting to make your acquaintance, but the timing is not right.
Read a book over and over, but there are only certain moments in your life when the book will "gel" and develop a relationship with your mind.
FAMILY MATTERS is a companion that spans the life journey from youth to old age. This story is ready to greet teenagers, young adults, middle aged and elderly alike.
This wonderful journey through the life of an extended Parsi family in Bombay during the mid 1990's is guaranteed to be a companion that will serve the reader well during many moments in one's life.
Rohinton Mistry has the talent of creating a bridge between cultures, drawing one into the intimate lives of a family that is just like all families... yet, offering the reader an opportunity to visit and breathe in the distinct heritage of this Indian family.
There are no great saints or sinners in this story.
The very core of this tale is the need for empathy... not to be confused with sympathy.
When we sympathize for another, we feel sorry for the individual, but remain separate. With empathy... we enter the person's very being. We feel what that individual is feeling and in doing so attain a step closer to enlightment.
Here is the backbone of this story in the author's words as told by the boisterous shop owner Mr. Kapur:
“Everyone underestimates their own life. Funny thing is, in the end, all our stories—your life, my life, old Husain’s life, they’re the same. In fact, no matter where you go in the world, there is only one important story: of youth, and loss, and yearning for redemption. So we tell the same story, over and over. Just the details are different” (p. 197).
The bottom line?
This novel is well worth your time. You may want to own two copies. One to keep and revisit, and another to pass on to your loved ones... because this is a book well worth sharing.
Loretta Kelly
Read more about Family Matters & author, Rohonton Mistry here:
Random House Books Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
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