Rohinton Mistry's new 469 page novel, Family Matters deals with a plot concerning an extended family breaking down when the patriarch, Nariman Vakeel, a retired English professor, breaks his ankle and requires home nursing care. Mistry's first novel, Such a Long Journey deals with the issues of family affairs like, hopes for the
future, family feuds and generation gaps. The protagonists Gustad Noble from Such a Long Journey and Nariman Vakeel from, Family Matters suffer from strained family relationships, like the betrayal of family members, expectations they put on kindred members, and how they ignore their family problems. Gustad Noble's family problems, are mostly focused on one of his son's Sohrab, while Nariman Vakeel has conflicts with many of his family members, especially his parents and his stepchildren, Jal and Coomy.
The main characters, Gustad Noble and Nariman Vakeel do feel the betrayal from certain family members mainly their children, and in the case of Nariman, his stepchildren.
Queen-Nariman-with-Mr-Amin Fahim
Nariman Point Room View
Nariman Point & Walk on the Marine Drive..........Gustad Noble feels the most betrayed by his son, who refuses to go to the Indian Institute of Technology. It is seen that the betrayal he feels from his son, Sohrab, has rooted from his past experience with his friend Jimmy Bilimoria. "Friends? Friends? Don't talk to me of friends! What happened to the great friend Jimmy Bilimoria? ... Where is he now, who used to come here all the time? ... Who I treated like a brother? Gone! Disappeared! Without saying a word to us. That's friendship. Worthless and meaningless!" (Such a Long Journey, Mistry 66) Gustad's also shows how he feels betrayed by his wife,
Dilnavaz. To understand his feelings to his wife, one has to look deep into Gustad's conversations with his wife. Through his conversations with his wife, it can be seen how he felt ignored,