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It is nice to meet an author who never lets you down. Rohinton Mistry is one of those authors whose fluid style, engaging characters and epic scope has never failed to impress me and so I've returned to his books again and again. In fact I think I may have now reached the end of his literary output and am now sadly reduced to sitting around, twiddling my opposable monkey thumbs and waiting for his next offering to be published.

Spanning nearly ten years, this epic tale of friendship set against the backdrop of "The Emergency", has an amazing depth and richness that far shorter novels sometimes fail to achieve. Despite boasting over thirty principle characters and a walk-on walk-off cast of hundreds, not once did I feel lost, or forget who each individual was. Mistry is capable of painting such vivid characters that each one is instantly recognisable for their quirks and foibles. They may be loveable (Monkey man), they may be deplorable (assorted goondas) but they are all undoubtedly very human and believable.

For those of you yet to experience the delightful pantheon of characters that inhabit the pages of a Mistry novel, then this is an excellent place to start. Be warned though, despite the liveliness and buoyancy of his stories, Mistry is not one to provide a happy ending just to satisfy the reader.