Family Matters – It truly does!. Review on Family Matters - Rohinton Mistry

A lonesome elderly figure staring into the gorgeous expanse of the ocean! Well this visually engaging cover made me pick up ‘Family Matters’ and glimpse through the précis. I was engrossed and I bought it, and I am glad I did!

Family Matters is the tale of a dysfunctional Parsi family living in the 90s Bombay. Coomy and Jal can’t get over the unfairness of the fact that their haggard stepfather Nariman has to share space with them at Chateau Felicity. To add more woes to their wounds, he refuses to pay heed to their requests, when they tell him not to go for his daily walk, lest he has an accident. Alas, their worst fear comes true and Nariman has a terrible fall, causing him ceaseless disablement.

The medical bills, bedpans, vomits, urine, body odor and sickness are maladies too excruciating for the devious Coomy, who decides to swing Nariman into her stepsister Roxana’s one bedroom flat, Pleasant Villa, who accommodates him on the divan in the living room. This becomes his home for the most part of his later life and brings a sweeping change in the life of everyone in the family. A change that they live, abhor, endure, tolerate, suffer, and reluctantly stomach!

Family Matters intricately weaves the conflict of acceptance and tolerance, as it runs into the stream of consciousness of the vivid characters. It vibrantly brings alive the core of the degenerating Parsi community in Bombay. Moreover it captures the moods and minds of each character in a manner such, that it brings them alive.

The characters are beautifully sketched. The acquiescence of Jal, the wayward obstinacy of Coomy, the complacency of Roxana, and Yezad’s (Roxana’s Husband) aggravation towards harsh realities of life are remarkably limned. Nariman’s defenselessness and vulnerability arouses intense sympathy and anguish, but one character that moves the audience with his tired innocence is Jehangir (Roxana’s younger son).

Family Matters is an accomplishment all the way. One only wishes that the author hadn’t rushed through the finish. Also apart from the haste, the author seems to have banked too much on expediency, which takes the book a step lower than it should’ve been.

Tout ensemble, a finely textured novel!