What is the author's style in A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry?

The story is told through the eyes of an omniscient narrator who imparts the feelings of all the characters at once. This point of view is necessary for the narrator to effectively give the reader the details of the main characters' pasts and also to follow the different storylines happening in the same period of time.

The main point to make about the language used throughout the novel is that it uses many familiar Indian words and phrases such as "yaar" and "hai ram." At first this can confuse the reader not familiar with these terms, but their constant use makes it easy to understand a word's meaning by the context in which it is used. Otherwise, the language is easy to read and flows well. While occasionally the narrator does describe the feelings of the characters, he mainly sticks to their actions, and the reader interprets the feelings through these actions. The author provides in-depth detail about the settings and situations surrounding the action, sometimes to a point where it can distract the reader from the action itself.

The novel is made up of sixteen long chapters with a prologue and an epilogue. The chapters are divided into untitled"mini-chapters." The main storyline is linear, with the narrator only departing from the main story to sketch the backgrounds of characters. An entire chapter is devoted to establishing the history of each of the main characters. Generally, though, each chapter is devoted to one character's story, unless of course the action is when they are all together.