Building A Mistry...A Letter to Rohinton

Honest, I'm not a stalker and I don't write 'fan' letters but in this case the power of Christ, rather the power of fantastic writing compelled me... And I felt honoured that Rohinton Mistry wrote back (in longhand no less)! Here's the body of Christ, I mean, my letter:

I am writing to register my complaint that your books are so wonderfully written and completely engaging that I am finishing them too quickly!

A friend recommended A Fine Balance to me. I bought it and got so wrapped up in the story and characters that I found myself quite worried about them and what might happen next. Such a tragic tale filled with life and hope written in such a beautiful manner is a rare thing.

I then bought Such A Long Journey and once again was entranced. Your characters and descriptions are alive on the page and in my mind. I read it in record time. I so wanted to intervene and offer any assistance I could to help everyone along.

Family Matters is what I now have on the go and I’m forcing myself to not read too much at once so I can savour it. My consolation in finishing Family Matters is that I have bought but not yet read Tales from Firozsha Baag. Congratulations on the short-listing for the Booker prize by the way and good luck.

I was delighted to see how you dealt with Germaine Greer’s criticism of A Fine Balance through the discussion of how humankind cannot bear very much reality. I had read her remarks on the Internet and was at a loss to understand how anyone could say the things she did.

As I’ve been fairly ignorant of India’s history and perhaps history in general, your books have provided me with a lot of food for thought and information that I simply wasn’t aware of.

I’ve been busy recommending your books to anyone who will listen and after a suitable digestive period has passed, I’m quite sure that I’ll read them again and
re-appreciate them.

Thank you for a wonderful reading experience and best wishes.

He then almost immediately lost the Booker Prize and I'm slowly shifting blame away from myself. And yes, perhaps my letter was a touch too smarmy but I meant it at the time and stand by it now.