Achingly good, 08 Aug 2008
I never understood why it says this is a `comic' masterpiece on the cover. It's true that A House for Mr Biswas is often funny and always biting, but as a novel this is tragic and grindingly dark stuff. Even the happy ending (given away at the beginning of the book; I'm not spoiling anything for you here), only is a happy end of sorts. Perhaps it is the inexhaustible undercurrent of cheerfulness amid the squalor that makes this so readable, and on the surface a `comic' work.

The novel describes the life of Mohun Biswas, the son of poor peasants of Indian descent in Trinidad, and his long trajectory from the sugarcane worker's hut to a still precarious position as dispatch writer for one of the capital's newspapers. Most of it is concerned with his struggle to escape from his very closed, self-obsessed community, still ridden with the caste prejudices and rituals of a Mother India its members have never seen, and from the tentacles of the Tulsi clan, a monster wringing dry the weak for the benefit of the leaders, into which he was tricked into marrying. Biswas wastes his life among the fields in various backwaters. He is swindled to ruin as a shopkeeper. He is threatened with knifing and arson. But mostly he can't be alone; he can't obtain the privacy, the minimum self-sufficiency without which there can be no dignity and for which the all-encompassing desire to own his own house comes to stand.

Probably largely autobiographical - Biswas appears loosely modelled on Naipaul's father - A House for Mr Biswas has the strength of novels written from experience. It is richly precise and vivid in its portrayal of places, of people and situations, and in recording the passage of time in the small island of Trinidad. It transports the reader to a doubly foreign, faraway world, to great effect. In fact, the strangeness adds to the disorientation one shares with Biswas, making the story even more realistic. And this block of a novel is ceaselessly imaginative and never boring. One piece of trivia: probably a coincidence, but the plot's outline for The Shipping News, Annie Proulx's prize-winning novel, is contained in a one-paragraph anecdote in the later pages of Naipaul's book.

Moving and at the same time very funny, 07 Jan 2008
Poor Mr Biswas. What a monster he seems with his adopted family, but how true he is to the way all of us feel when our relatives get too much for us.

His dream to have a place on this earth to call his own is a universal desire and his achievement just before he shuffles off his own mortal coil brings the novel to a conclusion that, unlike too many other novels, feels complete.

40 years on- still fresh as paint, 11 Jul 2007
I've just finished re-reading House for Mr. Biswas and it brought on a wave of almost unbearable nostalgia. It's extraordinary how I remember characters from this book whom I first met thirty years ago and who, to my astonishement, have continues to inhabit me all these intervening years. Thus re-reading Biswas produced an illusion of double vision- the perspective of as young adolescent being superimposed upon my jaded middle aged eyes.
Having,in the meanwhile had the chance to read Naipaul's father's writings and his letters to his son, I have to admit that Mr. Biswas falls far short of his real- life model. I also remember reading- I think in a book by Diana Athill (?) that Naipaul's mother was a far more independent and interesting person than Mrs. Biswas. Apparently, after her children left home and her husband died, she did not repine, on the contrary she took the opportunity to give free reign to her interest in running a business. But these are minor cavills- the fact remains that but for Naipaul's consummate artistry few of us would have known about these marvellous people- so essentially human, so impossible to reduce to neat little stereotypes, racial or otherwise- who populate the pages of Naipaul's masterwork. 40 years on- and still fresh as paint. What an extraordinary achievement!

Exposition of post-colonial life, 24 Jun 2006
`AHFMB' is the story of Mohun Biswas, a Trinidadian of Indian descent, and his lifelong search for a place to call his own. The book follows his life from his birth, to his early life as he searches for a career to call his own, to his marriage and life with his stifling in-laws, to his first (very belated) attempts at complete independence and finally to his death (with which the book actually begins). Mr Biswas is an everyman: not too bright, not too good-looking, not too strong, and his attempts to make a better life for himself are constantly thwarted by his own failings, and the ambition of those around him. Throughout the whole book Biswas, and all the other characters, are trying to define their roles and find a niche in the new post-colonial Trinidad.
`AHFMB' reminded me a lot of Rushdie's `Midnight's Children', both in its subject matter and its construction. There is a touch of magical realism at the beginning, with Mr Biswas' unlucky sneeze bringing disaster, and the dialogue between the Hindu characters is reminiscent of the lyrical `hinglish' often used by Indian writers. Mr Biswas' story represents a nation finding its new identity post-colonialism on many levels. Firstly, there is the lack of definition suffered by all the characters, as they struggle to find what they can achieve in post-colonial Trinidad. The characters also have more allegorical significance, such as the Tulsi's (Biswas' in-laws) representation of the old (and failing) social order, or other characters representing religious institutions or the influx of new money. `AHFMB' is a very clever observation of a society finding its roles.
The thing that made `AHFMB' such an enjoyable read, was the jaunty style in which it was written. Mr Biswas' life is actually pretty depressing on the whole, but Naipaul tells his story as a comic tale, making it an easy read, and never unduly heavy. `AHFMB' is a clever, thought provoking and easy read. It is a big book, but simply flew by as I read. Absolutely brilliant.


A tale of Indentured Labourers' descendants, 16 May 2005
VS Naipaul's story of the struggle of a poor labourer's son who grows up in early 19th century Trinidad is remarkable for its realism - something few people have pointed out, prefering to instead dwell on the oft mentioned tragi-comedy aspect. Those who come from similar backgrounds in the colonies will surely get the feeling of déjà-vu. For example, one of the things that you aspire to growing up on the islands is to have a house of your own some day, which is what the whole story is about.

Naipaul's trademark comedy permeates the novel - he starts from the very begining by calling the 21-day old baby Mohun 'Mr. Biswas'. The name sticks! However, the sense of pathos, gloom and pessimism that surrounds poor Indian immigrants is firmly established from the start, and this never leaves us even during Mr. Biswas' happier days.

The people orbiting around in Mr. Biswas' world is left to the imagination of the reader, as Naipaul does not commit to paint the whole portrait of each one of them. The story, even though told by an outside narrator, is nevertheless told from Mr. Biswas' point of view. Therefore this fits Naipaul's characterisation of the 'others' as Mr. Biswas is not your deep, philosophical traditional hero. In fact, he is selfish, uncooperative, rebelious, and as some have said, a 'born loser'. Personally, I don't agree with the loser epithet - I think he is just a product of his background, and of the times he is living. For each of the few descendants of indentured labourers who went on to achieve world-wide fame and wealth, there were hundreds of thousands who suffered the same fate as Mr. Biswas.

Achingly good, 08 Aug 2008
I never understood why it says this is a `comic' masterpiece on the cover. It's true that A House for Mr Biswas is often funny and always biting, but as a novel this is tragic and grindingly dark stuff. Even the happy ending (given away at the beginning of the book; I'm not spoiling anything for you here), only is a happy end of sorts. Perhaps it is the inexhaustible undercurrent of cheerfulness amid the squalor that makes this so readable, and on the surface a `comic' work.

The novel describes the life of Mohun Biswas, the son of poor peasants of Indian descent in Trinidad, and his long trajectory from the sugarcane worker's hut to a still precarious position as dispatch writer for one of the capital's newspapers. Most of it is concerned with his struggle to escape from his very closed, self-obsessed community, still ridden with the caste prejudices and rituals of a Mother India its members have never seen, and from the tentacles of the Tulsi clan, a monster wringing dry the weak for the benefit of the leaders, into which he was tricked into marrying. Biswas wastes his life among the fields in various backwaters. He is swindled to ruin as a shopkeeper. He is threatened with knifing and arson. But mostly he can't be alone; he can't obtain the privacy, the minimum self-sufficiency without which there can be no dignity and for which the all-encompassing desire to own his own house comes to stand.

Probably largely autobiographical - Biswas appears loosely modelled on Naipaul's father - A House for Mr Biswas has the strength of novels written from experience. It is richly precise and vivid in its portrayal of places, of people and situations, and in recording the passage of time in the small island of Trinidad. It transports the reader to a doubly foreign, faraway world, to great effect. In fact, the strangeness adds to the disorientation one shares with Biswas, making the story even more realistic. And this block of a novel is ceaselessly imaginative and never boring. One piece of trivia: probably a coincidence, but the plot's outline for The Shipping News, Annie Proulx's prize-winning novel, is contained in a one-paragraph anecdote in the later pages of Naipaul's book.

Moving and at the same time very funny, 07 Jan 2008
Poor Mr Biswas. What a monster he seems with his adopted family, but how true he is to the way all of us feel when our relatives get too much for us.

His dream to have a place on this earth to call his own is a universal desire and his achievement just before he shuffles off his own mortal coil brings the novel to a conclusion that, unlike too many other novels, feels complete.

40 years on- still fresh as paint, 11 Jul 2007
I've just finished re-reading House for Mr. Biswas and it brought on a wave of almost unbearable nostalgia. It's extraordinary how I remember characters from this book whom I first met thirty years ago and who, to my astonishement, have continues to inhabit me all these intervening years. Thus re-reading Biswas produced an illusion of double vision- the perspective of as young adolescent being superimposed upon my jaded middle aged eyes.
Having,in the meanwhile had the chance to read Naipaul's father's writings and his letters to his son, I have to admit that Mr. Biswas falls far short of his real- life model. I also remember reading- I think in a book by Diana Athill (?) that Naipaul's mother was a far more independent and interesting person than Mrs. Biswas. Apparently, after her children left home and her husband died, she did not repine, on the contrary she took the opportunity to give free reign to her interest in running a business. But these are minor cavills- the fact remains that but for Naipaul's consummate artistry few of us would have known about these marvellous people- so essentially human, so impossible to reduce to neat little stereotypes, racial or otherwise- who populate the pages of Naipaul's masterwork. 40 years on- and still fresh as paint. What an extraordinary achievement!

Exposition of post-colonial life, 24 Jun 2006
`AHFMB' is the story of Mohun Biswas, a Trinidadian of Indian descent, and his lifelong search for a place to call his own. The book follows his life from his birth, to his early life as he searches for a career to call his own, to his marriage and life with his stifling in-laws, to his first (very belated) attempts at complete independence and finally to his death (with which the book actually begins). Mr Biswas is an everyman: not too bright, not too good-looking, not too strong, and his attempts to make a better life for himself are constantly thwarted by his own failings, and the ambition of those around him. Throughout the whole book Biswas, and all the other characters, are trying to define their roles and find a niche in the new post-colonial Trinidad.
`AHFMB' reminded me a lot of Rushdie's `Midnight's Children', both in its subject matter and its construction. There is a touch of magical realism at the beginning, with Mr Biswas' unlucky sneeze bringing disaster, and the dialogue between the Hindu characters is reminiscent of the lyrical `hinglish' often used by Indian writers. Mr Biswas' story represents a nation finding its new identity post-colonialism on many levels. Firstly, there is the lack of definition suffered by all the characters, as they struggle to find what they can achieve in post-colonial Trinidad. The characters also have more allegorical significance, such as the Tulsi's (Biswas' in-laws) representation of the old (and failing) social order, or other characters representing religious institutions or the influx of new money. `AHFMB' is a very clever observation of a society finding its roles.
The thing that made `AHFMB' such an enjoyable read, was the jaunty style in which it was written. Mr Biswas' life is actually pretty depressing on the whole, but Naipaul tells his story as a comic tale, making it an easy read, and never unduly heavy. `AHFMB' is a clever, thought provoking and easy read. It is a big book, but simply flew by as I read. Absolutely brilliant.


A tale of Indentured Labourers' descendants, 16 May 2005
VS Naipaul's story of the struggle of a poor labourer's son who grows up in early 19th century Trinidad is remarkable for its realism - something few people have pointed out, prefering to instead dwell on the oft mentioned tragi-comedy aspect. Those who come from similar backgrounds in the colonies will surely get the feeling of déjà-vu. For example, one of the things that you aspire to growing up on the islands is to have a house of your own some day, which is what the whole story is about.

Naipaul's trademark comedy permeates the novel - he starts from the very begining by calling the 21-day old baby Mohun 'Mr. Biswas'. The name sticks! However, the sense of pathos, gloom and pessimism that surrounds poor Indian immigrants is firmly established from the start, and this never leaves us even during Mr. Biswas' happier days.

The people orbiting around in Mr. Biswas' world is left to the imagination of the reader, as Naipaul does not commit to paint the whole portrait of each one of them. The story, even though told by an outside narrator, is nevertheless told from Mr. Biswas' point of view. Therefore this fits Naipaul's characterisation of the 'others' as Mr. Biswas is not your deep, philosophical traditional hero. In fact, he is selfish, uncooperative, rebelious, and as some have said, a 'born loser'. Personally, I don't agree with the loser epithet - I think he is just a product of his background, and of the times he is living. For each of the few descendants of indentured labourers who went on to achieve world-wide fame and wealth, there were hundreds of thousands who suffered the same fate as Mr. Biswas.

More green than Greene, 24 Oct 2008
An impressive book, in many ways similar to the typical Graham Greene novel : cynical ex-pats living in a third world setting and having affairs.

It's more three dimensional and rounded than Greene though, with more empathy and understanding of the 'locals', and more sense of place, Naipaul taking more time to set the scene, and leaving more room for poetical descriptions of the settings.

One thing that puzzled me was the almost seemless transition of Salim from an adolescent wet behind the ears to a cynical Greene-like character in a matter of days. Not sure whether this is a literary device or a genuine non-sequitur, but would like to know.

Would also be interested to know if Chinua Achebe had had an opinion on this novel, with his famous opinions of non-Africans writing about Africa (ie Conrad)






Breath Taking Honesty, 27 Jul 2008
I must say that I regret that it took me a long time to discover the significance of A Bend in the River. Its significance was brought to my attention by the recent publicity surrounding a biography of V S Naipaul. As I began reading the novel, it immediately stuck a cord with me. Naipaul's opening sentence must be one of the most stunning first sentences of the literary novel. Its assertion creates a sense that one has embarked upon the reading of a great philosophical treatise. I was immediately engaged.

Our first person narrator and main character, Salim, takes over a shop somewhere in central Africa in a state of post rebellion. He is restless and trying to escape his former life on the east coast of Africa. Salim narrates his struggle for personal change against a backdrop of an array of characters who undertake their own personal journey of survival and change in the context of an emerging state that vacillates between the promise of success, and failure.

A Bend in the River is a timeless novel. Some twenty nine years after first publication if you take this passage as an example: "I had heard dreadful stories of that time, of casual killings over many months by soldiers and rebels and mercenaries, of people trusted up in disgusting ways and being made to sing certain songs while they were beaten to death in the streets", you will soon realise that it is very relevant to certain parts of Africa today. One must pay tribute to Naipaul's profound percepton and unfortunate prophecy.

This is a well observed and down right honest story. For this reason I fear that some readers may well shirk from its truths. In trying to get at the truth, Naipaul has a keen eye for the social conditions and an acute awareness of the mores of the surroundings in which his characters find themselves. The novel is rendered with frankness and heart felt honesty. However, Naipaul knows that we don't simply turn stones and find the truth. In a spirit of disillusionment a minor character tells us: "Do you think we will ever get to know the truth about what has happended in Africa in the last one hundred or even fifty years? All the wars, all the rebellions, all the leaders, all the defeats?

But the novel is much more than a story about the state of Africa or at least that part of Africa that it purports to cover. It is also a story about an ex-colonized people struggling to find a place in what they might perceive as the 'modern' world. Its like being cast off to drift by colonial masters, the 'ex-colonized' suddenly floats towards the shores of the mother countries but then find themselves lost. But what are these 'ex-colonized' people suppose to do? Should they take up the advice of one of Naipaul's characters, Indar, and acknowledge that: "the past can only cause pain" and then trample on it?

It is this theme, the psychological plight of the colonized and ex-conlonized that makes the novel a facinating read. It manifests itself dramatically in the character Salim. To some extent Salim is insecure and angry because he has managed to step outside the colonial frame of consciousness. He becomes adrift; he has no anchor. I quote at length to illustrate the point, and incidently this is symbolic of many a people brought up in the colonial world. This is how Salim describes his existential plight: "I too, breaking out of old ways, had discovered solitude and melancholy which is at the basis of religion. Religion turns the melancholy into uplifting fear and hope. But I had rejected the ways and comforts of religion. I couldn't turn to them again, just like that. That melancholy about the world remained something I had to put up with on my own. At some times it was sharp; at some times it wasn't there."

There is an array of wonderfully drawn characters. I was particularly taken by the couple Mahesh and Shoba. What we have in Mahesh is a bright, ambitious and optimistic man who is nonetheless thawted by his social conditions. In another place and time Mahesh represents the possibilities that could have been realised. What the main characters have in common, which makes them intriguing, is that they are running away from other lives and become caught up, and to some extent trapped, in the vast ramifications of the new post colonial Africa. On the whole these characters are not Africans and so in an ironic twist Naipaul turns the predator, who would exploit Africa for its potential, into hopeless prey simply adrift on a sea of events beyond their control. These characters are at once pityful and pathetic.

The prose is direct and straight forward yet dense with issues that the reader has to tease out. There is no rethorical flourishes. Mataphor and simile are kept to a minimum and where they are used they are not that vivid and memorable. I sense that this approach by Naipaul was deliberate. It's as if he did not want anything to get in the way of his powerful themes and ideas.

Ultimate, this is a novel of ideas. There us religion, politics, history and the eking out of an African intellectual culture. It depicts a people trying to find their feet in a post colonial world but inevitably stumbling. But the book is much more than a depiction of conditions in Africa. Just as important for me, and for others who care about such issues, it outlines the psychological and intellectual plight of people living in former colonies, and who have emmigrated to live in the so called mother countries. This is an honest book that touched me deeply. Twenty nine years on from publication it is still relevant and worth a read.

The World is What It Is - unfortunately bad books have a place in it, 08 Jun 2008
I was rather disappointed with this tale of Indians in Africa. Naipul seems not to have captured the mind of his subject and the book lacks direction or plot. There is no humour and despite a wonderful opening line the book isn't well written either. I would have expected better from a writer who is so lauded.

A Masterpiece, 18 Mar 2005
What a great novel this is! It tells the story of Salim who left his family home on the coast to start a business in central Africa at a town on the bend in the great Congo River. The inhabitants of the town, natives and expatriates, are described with empathy and an eye for detail.

Naipaul also narrates the history of the town as it is connected to the ups and downs of history, with great detail. His writing style is compelling and elegant, while the plot and characterization are superb. In many ways, the book illumines the post-independence history of those Africans that are of Indian descent.

Most of them were traders and many of them went into a second diaspora after the tumult and political upheavals in Africa of the 1960s and 70s. I was particularly impressed by Salim's first experience of the voice of Joan Baez, when a record of hers was played at a party in the academic suburb next to the old town.

Naipaul's extraordinary talent comes through in every flowing sentence and in every well-chosen word. I'm not a great lover of fiction, but this book has enriched my mind. I highly recommend it to readers of serious fiction and to historians alike. I also recommend the travel book North Of South by Shiva Naipaul, the record of a journey through Africa that ties in very well with A Bend In The River.

Welcome to Africa, 13 Aug 2002
So, here goes: my first Naipaul book. While reading it I really felt like being in Africa. And that's what always draws me back to Naipaul: he can so astonishingly well describe a place he once visited that it gets reconstructed to the tiniest detail in the reader's mind. And not only that: Naipaul can create characters as well as he can re-create places; Salim, Metty, Yvette - or even minor characters like Father Huismans and Raymond - are all so alive that you can't do otherwise than caring for them and wanting to know what they are destined to do.
Now, having read several more books by Naipaul since this first encounter, I must admit, though, that 'A Bend In The River' is the most monotonous of them and without the usual quantity of humour. On the other hand, I struggled hard not to give it ****, which says something about the quality of Naipaul's writing. In fact, this very book can get more appreciation after you try some of Naipaul's autobiographical books and start notice parallels between his life and his fiction (some parts of 'A Bend...' are also shown in 'Finding The Centre' - with Naipaul in Salim's role).

Achingly good, 08 Aug 2008
I never understood why it says this is a `comic' masterpiece on the cover. It's true that A House for Mr Biswas is often funny and always biting, but as a novel this is tragic and grindingly dark stuff. Even the happy ending (given away at the beginning of the book; I'm not spoiling anything for you here), only is a happy end of sorts. Perhaps it is the inexhaustible undercurrent of cheerfulness amid the squalor that makes this so readable, and on the surface a `comic' work.

The novel describes the life of Mohun Biswas, the son of poor peasants of Indian descent in Trinidad, and his long trajectory from the sugarcane worker's hut to a still precarious position as dispatch writer for one of the capital's newspapers. Most of it is concerned with his struggle to escape from his very closed, self-obsessed community, still ridden with the caste prejudices and rituals of a Mother India its members have never seen, and from the tentacles of the Tulsi clan, a monster wringing dry the weak for the benefit of the leaders, into which he was tricked into marrying. Biswas wastes his life among the fields in various backwaters. He is swindled to ruin as a shopkeeper. He is threatened with knifing and arson. But mostly he can't be alone; he can't obtain the privacy, the minimum self-sufficiency without which there can be no dignity and for which the all-encompassing desire to own his own house comes to stand.

Probably largely autobiographical - Biswas appears loosely modelled on Naipaul's father - A House for Mr Biswas has the strength of novels written from experience. It is richly precise and vivid in its portrayal of places, of people and situations, and in recording the passage of time in the small island of Trinidad. It transports the reader to a doubly foreign, faraway world, to great effect. In fact, the strangeness adds to the disorientation one shares with Biswas, making the story even more realistic. And this block of a novel is ceaselessly imaginative and never boring. One piece of trivia: probably a coincidence, but the plot's outline for The Shipping News, Annie Proulx's prize-winning novel, is contained in a one-paragraph anecdote in the later pages of Naipaul's book.

Moving and at the same time very funny, 07 Jan 2008
Poor Mr Biswas. What a monster he seems with his adopted family, but how true he is to the way all of us feel when our relatives get too much for us.

His dream to have a place on this earth to call his own is a universal desire and his achievement just before he shuffles off his own mortal coil brings the novel to a conclusion that, unlike too many other novels, feels complete.

40 years on- still fresh as paint, 11 Jul 2007
I've just finished re-reading House for Mr. Biswas and it brought on a wave of almost unbearable nostalgia. It's extraordinary how I remember characters from this book whom I first met thirty years ago and who, to my astonishement, have continues to inhabit me all these intervening years. Thus re-reading Biswas produced an illusion of double vision- the perspective of as young adolescent being superimposed upon my jaded middle aged eyes.
Having,in the meanwhile had the chance to read Naipaul's father's writings and his letters to his son, I have to admit that Mr. Biswas falls far short of his real- life model. I also remember reading- I think in a book by Diana Athill (?) that Naipaul's mother was a far more independent and interesting person than Mrs. Biswas. Apparently, after her children left home and her husband died, she did not repine, on the contrary she took the opportunity to give free reign to her interest in running a business. But these are minor cavills- the fact remains that but for Naipaul's consummate artistry few of us would have known about these marvellous people- so essentially human, so impossible to reduce to neat little stereotypes, racial or otherwise- who populate the pages of Naipaul's masterwork. 40 years on- and still fresh as paint. What an extraordinary achievement!

Exposition of post-colonial life, 24 Jun 2006
`AHFMB' is the story of Mohun Biswas, a Trinidadian of Indian descent, and his lifelong search for a place to call his own. The book follows his life from his birth, to his early life as he searches for a career to call his own, to his marriage and life with his stifling in-laws, to his first (very belated) attempts at complete independence and finally to his death (with which the book actually begins). Mr Biswas is an everyman: not too bright, not too good-looking, not too strong, and his attempts to make a better life for himself are constantly thwarted by his own failings, and the ambition of those around him. Throughout the whole book Biswas, and all the other characters, are trying to define their roles and find a niche in the new post-colonial Trinidad.
`AHFMB' reminded me a lot of Rushdie's `Midnight's Children', both in its subject matter and its construction. There is a touch of magical realism at the beginning, with Mr Biswas' unlucky sneeze bringing disaster, and the dialogue between the Hindu characters is reminiscent of the lyrical `hinglish' often used by Indian writers. Mr Biswas' story represents a nation finding its new identity post-colonialism on many levels. Firstly, there is the lack of definition suffered by all the characters, as they struggle to find what they can achieve in post-colonial Trinidad. The characters also have more allegorical significance, such as the Tulsi's (Biswas' in-laws) representation of the old (and failing) social order, or other characters representing religious institutions or the influx of new money. `AHFMB' is a very clever observation of a society finding its roles.
The thing that made `AHFMB' such an enjoyable read, was the jaunty style in which it was written. Mr Biswas' life is actually pretty depressing on the whole, but Naipaul tells his story as a comic tale, making it an easy read, and never unduly heavy. `AHFMB' is a clever, thought provoking and easy read. It is a big book, but simply flew by as I read. Absolutely brilliant.


A tale of Indentured Labourers' descendants, 16 May 2005
VS Naipaul's story of the struggle of a poor labourer's son who grows up in early 19th century Trinidad is remarkable for its realism - something few people have pointed out, prefering to instead dwell on the oft mentioned tragi-comedy aspect. Those who come from similar backgrounds in the colonies will surely get the feeling of déjà-vu. For example, one of the things that you aspire to growing up on the islands is to have a house of your own some day, which is what the whole story is about.

Naipaul's trademark comedy permeates the novel - he starts from the very begining by calling the 21-day old baby Mohun 'Mr. Biswas'. The name sticks! However, the sense of pathos, gloom and pessimism that surrounds poor Indian immigrants is firmly established from the start, and this never leaves us even during Mr. Biswas' happier days.

The people orbiting around in Mr. Biswas' world is left to the imagination of the reader, as Naipaul does not commit to paint the whole portrait of each one of them. The story, even though told by an outside narrator, is nevertheless told from Mr. Biswas' point of view. Therefore this fits Naipaul's characterisation of the 'others' as Mr. Biswas is not your deep, philosophical traditional hero. In fact, he is selfish, uncooperative, rebelious, and as some have said, a 'born loser'. Personally, I don't agree with the loser epithet - I think he is just a product of his background, and of the times he is living. For each of the few descendants of indentured labourers who went on to achieve world-wide fame and wealth, there were hundreds of thousands who suffered the same fate as Mr. Biswas.

More green than Greene, 24 Oct 2008
An impressive book, in many ways similar to the typical Graham Greene novel : cynical ex-pats living in a third world setting and having affairs.

It's more three dimensional and rounded than Greene though, with more empathy and understanding of the 'locals', and more sense of place, Naipaul taking more time to set the scene, and leaving more room for poetical descriptions of the settings.

One thing that puzzled me was the almost seemless transition of Salim from an adolescent wet behind the ears to a cynical Greene-like character in a matter of days. Not sure whether this is a literary device or a genuine non-sequitur, but would like to know.

Would also be interested to know if Chinua Achebe had had an opinion on this novel, with his famous opinions of non-Africans writing about Africa (ie Conrad)






Breath Taking Honesty, 27 Jul 2008
I must say that I regret that it took me a long time to discover the significance of A Bend in the River. Its significance was brought to my attention by the recent publicity surrounding a biography of V S Naipaul. As I began reading the novel, it immediately stuck a cord with me. Naipaul's opening sentence must be one of the most stunning first sentences of the literary novel. Its assertion creates a sense that one has embarked upon the reading of a great philosophical treatise. I was immediately engaged.

Our first person narrator and main character, Salim, takes over a shop somewhere in central Africa in a state of post rebellion. He is restless and trying to escape his former life on the east coast of Africa. Salim narrates his struggle for personal change against a backdrop of an array of characters who undertake their own personal journey of survival and change in the context of an emerging state that vacillates between the promise of success, and failure.

A Bend in the River is a timeless novel. Some twenty nine years after first publication if you take this passage as an example: "I had heard dreadful stories of that time, of casual killings over many months by soldiers and rebels and mercenaries, of people trusted up in disgusting ways and being made to sing certain songs while they were beaten to death in the streets", you will soon realise that it is very relevant to certain parts of Africa today. One must pay tribute to Naipaul's profound percepton and unfortunate prophecy.

This is a well observed and down right honest story. For this reason I fear that some readers may well shirk from its truths. In trying to get at the truth, Naipaul has a keen eye for the social conditions and an acute awareness of the mores of the surroundings in which his characters find themselves. The novel is rendered with frankness and heart felt honesty. However, Naipaul knows that we don't simply turn stones and find the truth. In a spirit of disillusionment a minor character tells us: "Do you think we will ever get to know the truth about what has happended in Africa in the last one hundred or even fifty years? All the wars, all the rebellions, all the leaders, all the defeats?

But the novel is much more than a story about the state of Africa or at least that part of Africa that it purports to cover. It is also a story about an ex-colonized people struggling to find a place in what they might perceive as the 'modern' world. Its like being cast off to drift by colonial masters, the 'ex-colonized' suddenly floats towards the shores of the mother countries but then find themselves lost. But what are these 'ex-colonized' people suppose to do? Should they take up the advice of one of Naipaul's characters, Indar, and acknowledge that: "the past can only cause pain" and then trample on it?

It is this theme, the psychological plight of the colonized and ex-conlonized that makes the novel a facinating read. It manifests itself dramatically in the character Salim. To some extent Salim is insecure and angry because he has managed to step outside the colonial frame of consciousness. He becomes adrift; he has no anchor. I quote at length to illustrate the point, and incidently this is symbolic of many a people brought up in the colonial world. This is how Salim describes his existential plight: "I too, breaking out of old ways, had discovered solitude and melancholy which is at the basis of religion. Religion turns the melancholy into uplifting fear and hope. But I had rejected the ways and comforts of religion. I couldn't turn to them again, just like that. That melancholy about the world remained something I had to put up with on my own. At some times it was sharp; at some times it wasn't there."

There is an array of wonderfully drawn characters. I was particularly taken by the couple Mahesh and Shoba. What we have in Mahesh is a bright, ambitious and optimistic man who is nonetheless thawted by his social conditions. In another place and time Mahesh represents the possibilities that could have been realised. What the main characters have in common, which makes them intriguing, is that they are running away from other lives and become caught up, and to some extent trapped, in the vast ramifications of the new post colonial Africa. On the whole these characters are not Africans and so in an ironic twist Naipaul turns the predator, who would exploit Africa for its potential, into hopeless prey simply adrift on a sea of events beyond their control. These characters are at once pityful and pathetic.

The prose is direct and straight forward yet dense with issues that the reader has to tease out. There is no rethorical flourishes. Mataphor and simile are kept to a minimum and where they are used they are not that vivid and memorable. I sense that this approach by Naipaul was deliberate. It's as if he did not want anything to get in the way of his powerful themes and ideas.

Ultimate, this is a novel of ideas. There us religion, politics, history and the eking out of an African intellectual culture. It depicts a people trying to find their feet in a post colonial world but inevitably stumbling. But the book is much more than a depiction of conditions in Africa. Just as important for me, and for others who care about such issues, it outlines the psychological and intellectual plight of people living in former colonies, and who have emmigrated to live in the so called mother countries. This is an honest book that touched me deeply. Twenty nine years on from publication it is still relevant and worth a read.

The World is What It Is - unfortunately bad books have a place in it, 08 Jun 2008
I was rather disappointed with this tale of Indians in Africa. Naipul seems not to have captured the mind of his subject and the book lacks direction or plot. There is no humour and despite a wonderful opening line the book isn't well written either. I would have expected better from a writer who is so lauded.

A Masterpiece, 18 Mar 2005
What a great novel this is! It tells the story of Salim who left his family home on the coast to start a business in central Africa at a town on the bend in the great Congo River. The inhabitants of the town, natives and expatriates, are described with empathy and an eye for detail.

Naipaul also narrates the history of the town as it is connected to the ups and downs of history, with great detail. His writing style is compelling and elegant, while the plot and characterization are superb. In many ways, the book illumines the post-independence history of those Africans that are of Indian descent.

Most of them were traders and many of them went into a second diaspora after the tumult and political upheavals in Africa of the 1960s and 70s. I was particularly impressed by Salim's first experience of the voice of Joan Baez, when a record of hers was played at a party in the academic suburb next to the old town.

Naipaul's extraordinary talent comes through in every flowing sentence and in every well-chosen word. I'm not a great lover of fiction, but this book has enriched my mind. I highly recommend it to readers of serious fiction and to historians alike. I also recommend the travel book North Of South by Shiva Naipaul, the record of a journey through Africa that ties in very well with A Bend In The River.

Welcome to Africa, 13 Aug 2002
So, here goes: my first Naipaul book. While reading it I really felt like being in Africa. And that's what always draws me back to Naipaul: he can so astonishingly well describe a place he once visited that it gets reconstructed to the tiniest detail in the reader's mind. And not only that: Naipaul can create characters as well as he can re-create places; Salim, Metty, Yvette - or even minor characters like Father Huismans and Raymond - are all so alive that you can't do otherwise than caring for them and wanting to know what they are destined to do.
Now, having read several more books by Naipaul since this first encounter, I must admit, though, that 'A Bend In The River' is the most monotonous of them and without the usual quantity of humour. On the other hand, I struggled hard not to give it ****, which says something about the quality of Naipaul's writing. In fact, this very book can get more appreciation after you try some of Naipaul's autobiographical books and start notice parallels between his life and his fiction (some parts of 'A Bend...' are also shown in 'Finding The Centre' - with Naipaul in Salim's role).

Unsettling and Virtuosic Take on Displacement, 05 Jan 2009
The overarching theme in V. S. Naipaul¡¦s novels is displacement - usually as a result of migration. By telling three stories, Naipaul weaves an exquisite tale on the subject of "fitting in" in a non-native culture. The three stories are respectively:

- An Indian servant who moves from Bombay to Washington D.C. with his diplomat master
- British expatriate workers who have moved to Africa in search of personal redemption (or so we are made to believe)
- A West Indian student and his brother, who move to London

The Indian servant, who seemed to be content with his lot in life (being a servant to a 'superior') moves to Washington D.C. While in D.C., his acquaintance with 'hubshi' (African Americans) challenges his concept of self and his place in the world. The scales eventually fall from the servant¡¦s eyes and he eventually leaves his master to marry a hubshi. Yes, our servant becomes a US citizen, achieving his American dream but still feels a sense of loss and emptiness.

The novel moves to a small, newly-independent African country sometime in the 1960's. Two British expats, Bobby and Linda, are taking a drive to the 'white' compound on the other side of the country. As they drive and chatter, they unveil their motivations for coming to Africa and their perceptions of their place in it. Our expats are anything but enlightened. Indeed, they are mass of contradictions: for example, they betray their hopes of redemption while in Africa and yet display crass racial prejudice against the Africans.

The exchanges between Bobby and Linda are simply exquisite. I was immediately transported to the backseat of their car on that dirt road in Africa. The Africa of their dreams is shattering around them. The newly independent state is falling apart. Political rivalry between the newly elected President and the local king reaches a head when the king is assassinated by the President's men. Though the novel does not explicitly state it, hell - ethnic cleansing and internecine violence - will soon be let loose on this small country.

In a Free State is a deeply unsettling yet poignant reminder of the challenges of migration and fitting in. Once it grips you the novel does not let go. Instead, it gnaws deeper and deeper and leaves a funny but strangely satisfying taste in the mouth. After reading Naipaul¡¦s Half a Life I thought that I had seen it all. Naipaul is an undisputed master of the English language; his control of the language is Mephistophelian. I felt like an fly caught in Naipaul¡¦s web; too stupid to avoid the web in the first place yet enchanted by the artistry of its design. In a Free State deserves 4 stars.


Tedious, 27 Dec 2008
I'm always suspicious of any book which needs to declare itself 'a novel' on the front cover, since it normally indicates that the description is up for debate. In this case, the suspicions were well founded. 'In A Free State' is less a novel than a collection of five unrelated short stories of erratic length and style.

Still, the first two were promising - the first being in the style of a journal entry, the second a narrative by an Indian manservant newly arrived in New York. They were beautifully written and, particularly the latter, full of insights.

Things went downhill with the latter three stories. The story about the West Indian man in London was written in an intensely irritating style and was so utterly confusing I almost lost the will to read altogether. But at least it wasn't very long.

The fourth story is the longest, divided into chapters, centered on two British expats making a car journey in an unnamed African country riven with civil war. It is written in mind-blowingly minute detail, which is tedious to read. The characters are dull and I couldn't summon any interest in them. I found myself skipping through the last few chapters in desperation to finish. By the time I reached the final 'story' I had lost the will, and skimmed through it.

Maybe fans of very minutely detailed writing might enjoy this novel but I just found it excruciatingly dull.

My desert island book, 20 Apr 2007
Some books you read, and the images they create stay with you for a very long time. I first read this book years ago and it certainly had that effect on me, and I can vividly recollect the three very different worlds the book describes in its short stories that come together to create an overwhelming and bleak view of what it is to be an immigrant, whether that's as a white man in Africa, or an Asian in the West. The subtlety and power of the writing blows into the weeds the stack of recent 'immigrant' novels exploring similar themes (Brick Lane, Inheritance of Loss, et al) and quite simply, for me, this is my favourite novel. Can't say more than that!

Engaging but bleak, 09 Jul 2005
This won the Booker in the early 1970s, but I would say that its status as a novel is questionable. 'In a Free State' consists of a central narrative about two people on a desperate road trip through an African country in the throes of revolution, framed by short story fragments on the same theme - displacement - at the beginning and the end.

The overall effect on the reader of this collection of stories concerning people struggling to feel at home in foreign lands is powerful, and the prose is elegant and carefully pared down, but still descriptive enough to be evocative of the settings(America, London, Africa, Egypt).

Recommended, but in no way uplifting.

In A Free State?, 04 Sep 2003
In a Free State is one of the great cultural fiction books of the last century, combining fictious characters in real life cultures. The supporting narratives along with the main novel make an excellent thought-provoking read about the differences in culture across the globe, the changes that may seem so subtle for an outsider escalated to great fears by the characters living in those situations.

The first narrative is a brief account of an Indian servant, Santosh, who travels from Bombay to Washington, with his employer. The tale written in first person portrays the struggles that Santosh faces, as he has left his homeland and is placed in a alien culture, he can not understand. The second narrative, Tell Me who to Kill, describes the search of another man pulled between two cultures, as he travels to London to help his brother.

The main novel, is the essence of cultural conflict, set in the war torn continent of Africa, and joins two English characters, working for the government, as they travel along the roads of the state towards the compound. The country has split in two, and tribal conflict has taken over. While the two english characters, Bobby and Linda remain somewhat neutral, in an effort to bring peace, their opposing views make interested conversations on their journey, coupled with numerous incidents along the way, the situation of the country begins to unfold.

An insightful, though sometimes brutal look at the changes in culture and effects of boundaries on continents, countries, tribes, and individual characters. A thoroughly readable book, by the excellent V.S. Naipul whose effortless writing conjures such a real atmosphere.

Achingly good, 08 Aug 2008
I never understood why it says this is a `comic' masterpiece on the cover. It's true that A House for Mr Biswas is often funny and always biting, but as a novel this is tragic and grindingly dark stuff. Even the happy ending (given away at the beginning of the book; I'm not spoiling anything for you here), only is a happy end of sorts. Perhaps it is the inexhaustible undercurrent of cheerfulness amid the squalor that makes this so readable, and on the surface a `comic' work.

The novel describes the life of Mohun Biswas, the son of poor peasants of Indian descent in Trinidad, and his long trajectory from the sugarcane worker's hut to a still precarious position as dispatch writer for one of the capital's newspapers. Most of it is concerned with his struggle to escape from his very closed, self-obsessed community, still ridden with the caste prejudices and rituals of a Mother India its members have never seen, and from the tentacles of the Tulsi clan, a monster wringing dry the weak for the benefit of the leaders, into which he was tricked into marrying. Biswas wastes his life among the fields in various backwaters. He is swindled to ruin as a shopkeeper. He is threatened with knifing and arson. But mostly he can't be alone; he can't obtain the privacy, the minimum self-sufficiency without which there can be no dignity and for which the all-encompassing desire to own his own house comes to stand.

Probably largely autobiographical - Biswas appears loosely modelled on Naipaul's father - A House for Mr Biswas has the strength of novels written from experience. It is richly precise and vivid in its portrayal of places, of people and situations, and in recording the passage of time in the small island of Trinidad. It transports the reader to a doubly foreign, faraway world, to great effect. In fact, the strangeness adds to the disorientation one shares with Biswas, making the story even more realistic. And this block of a novel is ceaselessly imaginative and never boring. One piece of trivia: probably a coincidence, but the plot's outline for The Shipping News, Annie Proulx's prize-winning novel, is contained in a one-paragraph anecdote in the later pages of Naipaul's book.

Moving and at the same time very funny, 07 Jan 2008
Poor Mr Biswas. What a monster he seems with his adopted family, but how true he is to the way all of us feel when our relatives get too much for us.

His dream to have a place on this earth to call his own is a universal desire and his achievement just before he shuffles off his own mortal coil brings the novel to a conclusion that, unlike too many other novels, feels complete.

40 years on- still fresh as paint, 11 Jul 2007
I've just finished re-reading House for Mr. Biswas and it brought on a wave of almost unbearable nostalgia. It's extraordinary how I remember characters from this book whom I first met thirty years ago and who, to my astonishement, have continues to inhabit me all these intervening years. Thus re-reading Biswas produced an illusion of double vision- the perspective of as young adolescent being superimposed upon my jaded middle aged eyes.
Having,in the meanwhile had the chance to read Naipaul's father's writings and his letters to his son, I have to admit that Mr. Biswas falls far short of his real- life model. I also remember reading- I think in a book by Diana Athill (?) that Naipaul's mother was a far more independent and interesting person than Mrs. Biswas. Apparently, after her children left home and her husband died, she did not repine, on the contrary she took the opportunity to give free reign to her interest in running a business. But these are minor cavills- the fact remains that but for Naipaul's consummate artistry few of us would have known about these marvellous people- so essentially human, so impossible to reduce to neat little stereotypes, racial or otherwise- who populate the pages of Naipaul's masterwork. 40 years on- and still fresh as paint. What an extraordinary achievement!

Exposition of post-colonial life, 24 Jun 2006
`AHFMB' is the story of Mohun Biswas, a Trinidadian of Indian descent, and his lifelong search for a place to call his own. The book follows his life from his birth, to his early life as he searches for a career to call his own, to his marriage and life with his stifling in-laws, to his first (very belated) attempts at complete independence and finally to his death (with which the book actually begins). Mr Biswas is an everyman: not too bright, not too good-looking, not too strong, and his attempts to make a better life for himself are constantly thwarted by his own failings, and the ambition of those around him. Throughout the whole book Biswas, and all the other characters, are trying to define their roles and find a niche in the new post-colonial Trinidad.
`AHFMB' reminded me a lot of Rushdie's `Midnight's Children', both in its subject matter and its construction. There is a touch of magical realism at the beginning, with Mr Biswas' unlucky sneeze bringing disaster, and the dialogue between the Hindu characters is reminiscent of the lyrical `hinglish' often used by Indian writers. Mr Biswas' story represents a nation finding its new identity post-colonialism on many levels. Firstly, there is the lack of definition suffered by all the characters, as they struggle to find what they can achieve in post-colonial Trinidad. The characters also have more allegorical significance, such as the Tulsi's (Biswas' in-laws) representation of the old (and failing) social order, or other characters representing religious institutions or the influx of new money. `AHFMB' is a very clever observation of a society finding its roles.
The thing that made `AHFMB' such an enjoyable read, was the jaunty style in which it was written. Mr Biswas' life is actually pretty depressing on the whole, but Naipaul tells his story as a comic tale, making it an easy read, and never unduly heavy. `AHFMB' is a clever, thought provoking and easy read. It is a big book, but simply flew by as I read. Absolutely brilliant.


A tale of Indentured Labourers' descendants, 16 May 2005
VS Naipaul's story of the struggle of a poor labourer's son who grows up in early 19th century Trinidad is remarkable for its realism - something few people have pointed out, prefering to instead dwell on the oft mentioned tragi-comedy aspect. Those who come from similar backgrounds in the colonies will surely get the feeling of déjà-vu. For example, one of the things that you aspire to growing up on the islands is to have a house of your own some day, which is what the whole story is about.

Naipaul's trademark comedy permeates the novel - he starts from the very begining by calling the 21-day old baby Mohun 'Mr. Biswas'. The name sticks! However, the sense of pathos, gloom and pessimism that surrounds poor Indian immigrants is firmly established from the start, and this never leaves us even during Mr. Biswas' happier days.

The people orbiting around in Mr. Biswas' world is left to the imagination of the reader, as Naipaul does not commit to paint the whole portrait of each one of them. The story, even though told by an outside narrator, is nevertheless told from Mr. Biswas' point of view. Therefore this fits Naipaul's characterisation of the 'others' as Mr. Biswas is not your deep, philosophical traditional hero. In fact, he is selfish, uncooperative, rebelious, and as some have said, a 'born loser'. Personally, I don't agree with the loser epithet - I think he is just a product of his background, and of the times he is living. For each of the few descendants of indentured labourers who went on to achieve world-wide fame and wealth, there were hundreds of thousands who suffered the same fate as Mr. Biswas.

More green than Greene, 24 Oct 2008
An impressive book, in many ways similar to the typical Graham Greene novel : cynical ex-pats living in a third world setting and having affairs.

It's more three dimensional and rounded than Greene though, with more empathy and understanding of the 'locals', and more sense of place, Naipaul taking more time to set the scene, and leaving more room for poetical descriptions of the settings.

One thing that puzzled me was the almost seemless transition of Salim from an adolescent wet behind the ears to a cynical Greene-like character in a matter of days. Not sure whether this is a literary device or a genuine non-sequitur, but would like to know.

Would also be interested to know if Chinua Achebe had had an opinion on this novel, with his famous opinions of non-Africans writing about Africa (ie Conrad)






Breath Taking Honesty, 27 Jul 2008
I must say that I regret that it took me a long time to discover the significance of A Bend in the River. Its significance was brought to my attention by the recent publicity surrounding a biography of V S Naipaul. As I began reading the novel, it immediately stuck a cord with me. Naipaul's opening sentence must be one of the most stunning first sentences of the literary novel. Its assertion creates a sense that one has embarked upon the reading of a great philosophical treatise. I was immediately engaged.

Our first person narrator and main character, Salim, takes over a shop somewhere in central Africa in a state of post rebellion. He is restless and trying to escape his former life on the east coast of Africa. Salim narrates his struggle for personal change against a backdrop of an array of characters who undertake their own personal journey of survival and change in the context of an emerging state that vacillates between the promise of success, and failure.

A Bend in the River is a timeless novel. Some twenty nine years after first publication if you take this passage as an example: "I had heard dreadful stories of that time, of casual killings over many months by soldiers and rebels and mercenaries, of people trusted up in disgusting ways and being made to sing certain songs while they were beaten to death in the streets", you will soon realise that it is very relevant to certain parts of Africa today. One must pay tribute to Naipaul's profound percepton and unfortunate prophecy.

This is a well observed and down right honest story. For this reason I fear that some readers may well shirk from its truths. In trying to get at the truth, Naipaul has a keen eye for the social conditions and an acute awareness of the mores of the surroundings in which his characters find themselves. The novel is rendered with frankness and heart felt honesty. However, Naipaul knows that we don't simply turn stones and find the truth. In a spirit of disillusionment a minor character tells us: "Do you think we will ever get to know the truth about what has happended in Africa in the last one hundred or even fifty years? All the wars, all the rebellions, all the leaders, all the defeats?

But the novel is much more than a story about the state of Africa or at least that part of Africa that it purports to cover. It is also a story about an ex-colonized people struggling to find a place in what they might perceive as the 'modern' world. Its like being cast off to drift by colonial masters, the 'ex-colonized' suddenly floats towards the shores of the mother countries but then find themselves lost. But what are these 'ex-colonized' people suppose to do? Should they take up the advice of one of Naipaul's characters, Indar, and acknowledge that: "the past can only cause pain" and then trample on it?

It is this theme, the psychological plight of the colonized and ex-conlonized that makes the novel a facinating read. It manifests itself dramatically in the character Salim. To some extent Salim is insecure and angry because he has managed to step outside the colonial frame of consciousness. He becomes adrift; he has no anchor. I quote at length to illustrate the point, and incidently this is symbolic of many a people brought up in the colonial world. This is how Salim describes his existential plight: "I too, breaking out of old ways, had discovered solitude and melancholy which is at the basis of religion. Religion turns the melancholy into uplifting fear and hope. But I had rejected the ways and comforts of religion. I couldn't turn to them again, just like that. That melancholy about the world remained something I had to put up with on my own. At some times it was sharp; at some times it wasn't there."

There is an array of wonderfully drawn characters. I was particularly taken by the couple Mahesh and Shoba. What we have in Mahesh is a bright, ambitious and optimistic man who is nonetheless thawted by his social conditions. In another place and time Mahesh represents the possibilities that could have been realised. What the main characters have in common, which makes them intriguing, is that they are running away from other lives and become caught up, and to some extent trapped, in the vast ramifications of the new post colonial Africa. On the whole these characters are not Africans and so in an ironic twist Naipaul turns the predator, who would exploit Africa for its potential, into hopeless prey simply adrift on a sea of events beyond their control. These characters are at once pityful and pathetic.

The prose is direct and straight forward yet dense with issues that the reader has to tease out. There is no rethorical flourishes. Mataphor and simile are kept to a minimum and where they are used they are not that vivid and memorable. I sense that this approach by Naipaul was deliberate. It's as if he did not want anything to get in the way of his powerful themes and ideas.

Ultimate, this is a novel of ideas. There us religion, politics, history and the eking out of an African intellectual culture. It depicts a people trying to find their feet in a post colonial world but inevitably stumbling. But the book is much more than a depiction of conditions in Africa. Just as important for me, and for others who care about such issues, it outlines the psychological and intellectual plight of people living in former colonies, and who have emmigrated to live in the so called mother countries. This is an honest book that touched me deeply. Twenty nine years on from publication it is still relevant and worth a read.

The World is What It Is - unfortunately bad books have a place in it, 08 Jun 2008
I was rather disappointed with this tale of Indians in Africa. Naipul seems not to have captured the mind of his subject and the book lacks direction or plot. There is no humour and despite a wonderful opening line the book isn't well written either. I would have expected better from a writer who is so lauded.

A Masterpiece, 18 Mar 2005
What a great novel this is! It tells the story of Salim who left his family home on the coast to start a business in central Africa at a town on the bend in the great Congo River. The inhabitants of the town, natives and expatriates, are described with empathy and an eye for detail.

Naipaul also narrates the history of the town as it is connected to the ups and downs of history, with great detail. His writing style is compelling and elegant, while the plot and characterization are superb. In many ways, the book illumines the post-independence history of those Africans that are of Indian descent.

Most of them were traders and many of them went into a second diaspora after the tumult and political upheavals in Africa of the 1960s and 70s. I was particularly impressed by Salim's first experience of the voice of Joan Baez, when a record of hers was played at a party in the academic suburb next to the old town.

Naipaul's extraordinary talent comes through in every flowing sentence and in every well-chosen word. I'm not a great lover of fiction, but this book has enriched my mind. I highly recommend it to readers of serious fiction and to historians alike. I also recommend the travel book North Of South by Shiva Naipaul, the record of a journey through Africa that ties in very well with A Bend In The River.

Welcome to Africa, 13 Aug 2002
So, here goes: my first Naipaul book. While reading it I really felt like being in Africa. And that's what always draws me back to Naipaul: he can so astonishingly well describe a place he once visited that it gets reconstructed to the tiniest detail in the reader's mind. And not only that: Naipaul can create characters as well as he can re-create places; Salim, Metty, Yvette - or even minor characters like Father Huismans and Raymond - are all so alive that you can't do otherwise than caring for them and wanting to know what they are destined to do.
Now, having read several more books by Naipaul since this first encounter, I must admit, though, that 'A Bend In The River' is the most monotonous of them and without the usual quantity of humour. On the other hand, I struggled hard not to give it ****, which says something about the quality of Naipaul's writing. In fact, this very book can get more appreciation after you try some of Naipaul's autobiographical books and start notice parallels between his life and his fiction (some parts of 'A Bend...' are also shown in 'Finding The Centre' - with Naipaul in Salim's role).

Unsettling and Virtuosic Take on Displacement, 05 Jan 2009
The overarching theme in V. S. Naipaul¡¦s novels is displacement - usually as a result of migration. By telling three stories, Naipaul weaves an exquisite tale on the subject of "fitting in" in a non-native culture. The three stories are respectively:

- An Indian servant who moves from Bombay to Washington D.C. with his diplomat master
- British expatriate workers who have moved to Africa in search of personal redemption (or so we are made to believe)
- A West Indian student and his brother, who move to London

The Indian servant, who seemed to be content with his lot in life (being a servant to a 'superior') moves to Washington D.C. While in D.C., his acquaintance with 'hubshi' (African Americans) challenges his concept of self and his place in the world. The scales eventually fall from the servant¡¦s eyes and he eventually leaves his master to marry a hubshi. Yes, our servant becomes a US citizen, achieving his American dream but still feels a sense of loss and emptiness.

The novel moves to a small, newly-independent African country sometime in the 1960's. Two British expats, Bobby and Linda, are taking a drive to the 'white' compound on the other side of the country. As they drive and chatter, they unveil their motivations for coming to Africa and their perceptions of their place in it. Our expats are anything but enlightened. Indeed, they are mass of contradictions: for example, they betray their hopes of redemption while in Africa and yet display crass racial prejudice against the Africans.

The exchanges between Bobby and Linda are simply exquisite. I was immediately transported to the backseat of their car on that dirt road in Africa. The Africa of their dreams is shattering around them. The newly independent state is falling apart. Political rivalry between the newly elected President and the local king reaches a head when the king is assassinated by the President's men. Though the novel does not explicitly state it, hell - ethnic cleansing and internecine violence - will soon be let loose on this small country.

In a Free State is a deeply unsettling yet poignant reminder of the challenges of migration and fitting in. Once it grips you the novel does not let go. Instead, it gnaws deeper and deeper and leaves a funny but strangely satisfying taste in the mouth. After reading Naipaul¡¦s Half a Life I thought that I had seen it all. Naipaul is an undisputed master of the English language; his control of the language is Mephistophelian. I felt like an fly caught in Naipaul¡¦s web; too stupid to avoid the web in the first place yet enchanted by the artistry of its design. In a Free State deserves 4 stars.


Tedious, 27 Dec 2008
I'm always suspicious of any book which needs to declare itself 'a novel' on the front cover, since it normally indicates that the description is up for debate. In this case, the suspicions were well founded. 'In A Free State' is less a novel than a collection of five unrelated short stories of erratic length and style.

Still, the first two were promising - the first being in the style of a journal entry, the second a narrative by an Indian manservant newly arrived in New York. They were beautifully written and, particularly the latter, full of insights.

Things went downhill with the latter three stories. The story about the West Indian man in London was written in an intensely irritating style and was so utterly confusing I almost lost the will to read altogether. But at least it wasn't very long.

The fourth story is the longest, divided into chapters, centered on two British expats making a car journey in an unnamed African country riven with civil war. It is written in mind-blowingly minute detail, which is tedious to read. The characters are dull and I couldn't summon any interest in them. I found myself skipping through the last few chapters in desperation to finish. By the time I reached the final 'story' I had lost the will, and skimmed through it.

Maybe fans of very minutely detailed writing might enjoy this novel but I just found it excruciatingly dull.

My desert island book, 20 Apr 2007
Some books you read, and the images they create stay with you for a very long time. I first read this book years ago and it certainly had that effect on me, and I can vividly recollect the three very different worlds the book describes in its short stories that come together to create an overwhelming and bleak view of what it is to be an immigrant, whether that's as a white man in Africa, or an Asian in the West. The subtlety and power of the writing blows into the weeds the stack of recent 'immigrant' novels exploring similar themes (Brick Lane, Inheritance of Loss, et al) and quite simply, for me, this is my favourite novel. Can't say more than that!

Engaging but bleak, 09 Jul 2005
This won the Booker in the early 1970s, but I would say that its status as a novel is questionable. 'In a Free State' consists of a central narrative about two people on a desperate road trip through an African country in the throes of revolution, framed by short story fragments on the same theme - displacement - at the beginning and the end.

The overall effect on the reader of this collection of stories concerning people struggling to feel at home in foreign lands is powerful, and the prose is elegant and carefully pared down, but still descriptive enough to be evocative of the settings(America, London, Africa, Egypt).

Recommended, but in no way uplifting.

In A Free State?, 04 Sep 2003
In a Free State is one of the great cultural fiction books of the last century, combining fictious characters in real life cultures. The supporting narratives along with the main novel make an excellent thought-provoking read about the differences in culture across the globe, the changes that may seem so subtle for an outsider escalated to great fears by the characters living in those situations.

The first narrative is a brief account of an Indian servant, Santosh, who travels from Bombay to Washington, with his employer. The tale written in first person portrays the struggles that Santosh faces, as he has left his homeland and is placed in a alien culture, he can not understand. The second narrative, Tell Me who to Kill, describes the search of another man pulled between two cultures, as he travels to London to help his brother.

The main novel, is the essence of cultural conflict, set in the war torn continent of Africa, and joins two English characters, working for the government, as they travel along the roads of the state towards the compound. The country has split in two, and tribal conflict has taken over. While the two english characters, Bobby and Linda remain somewhat neutral, in an effort to bring peace, their opposing views make interested conversations on their journey, coupled with numerous incidents along the way, the situation of the country begins to unfold.

An insightful, though sometimes brutal look at the changes in culture and effects of boundaries on continents, countries, tribes, and individual characters. A thoroughly readable book, by the excellent V.S. Naipul whose effortless writing conjures such a real atmosphere.

Unsettling,beautiful., 12 Sep 2001
I was unable to engage with the tempo of this book at first, but on my second attempt I was completely absorbed.The plaintive prose creates haunting scenes, that are almost too much to endure.I think this is one of VS Naipaul's best books.

Extremely moving, 30 Aug 2001
I was surprised that this magnificient book had not been reviewed.It is a long time since I read this novel, but I still remember the plaintive intelligence of the prose and the haunting landscapes.I recognise some of the stranger's emotions, and there were sections that were almost too painful to read.

Achingly good, 08 Aug 2008
I never understood why it says this is a `comic' masterpiece on the cover. It's true that A House for Mr Biswas is often funny and always biting, but as a novel this is tragic and grindingly dark stuff. Even the happy ending (given away at the beginning of the book; I'm not spoiling anything for you here), only is a happy end of sorts. Perhaps it is the inexhaustible undercurrent of cheerfulness amid the squalor that makes this so readable, and on the surface a `comic' work.

The novel describes the life of Mohun Biswas, the son of poor peasants of Indian descent in Trinidad, and his long trajectory from the sugarcane worker's hut to a still precarious position as dispatch writer for one of the capital's newspapers. Most of it is concerned with his struggle to escape from his very closed, self-obsessed community, still ridden with the caste prejudices and rituals of a Mother India its members have never seen, and from the tentacles of the Tulsi clan, a monster wringing dry the weak for the benefit of the leaders, into which he was tricked into marrying. Biswas wastes his life among the fields in various backwaters. He is swindled to ruin as a shopkeeper. He is threatened with knifing and arson. But mostly he can't be alone; he can't obtain the privacy, the minimum self-sufficiency without which there can be no dignity and for which the all-encompassing desire to own his own house comes to stand.

Probably largely autobiographical - Biswas appears loosely modelled on Naipaul's father - A House for Mr Biswas has the strength of novels written from experience. It is richly precise and vivid in its portrayal of places, of people and situations, and in recording the passage of time in the small island of Trinidad. It transports the reader to a doubly foreign, faraway world, to great effect. In fact, the strangeness adds to the disorientation one shares with Biswas, making the story even more realistic. And this block of a novel is ceaselessly imaginative and never boring. One piece of trivia: probably a coincidence, but the plot's outline for The Shipping News, Annie Proulx's prize-winning novel, is contained in a one-paragraph anecdote in the later pages of Naipaul's book.

Moving and at the same time very funny, 07 Jan 2008
Poor Mr Biswas. What a monster he seems with his adopted family, but how true he is to the way all of us feel when our relatives get too much for us.

His dream to have a place on this earth to call his own is a universal desire and his achievement just before he shuffles off his own mortal coil brings the novel to a conclusion that, unlike too many other novels, feels complete.

40 years on- still fresh as paint, 11 Jul 2007
I've just finished re-reading House for Mr. Biswas and it brought on a wave of almost unbearable nostalgia. It's extraordinary how I remember characters from this book whom I first met thirty years ago and who, to my astonishement, have continues to inhabit me all these intervening years. Thus re-reading Biswas produced an illusion of double vision- the perspective of as young adolescent being superimposed upon my jaded middle aged eyes.
Having,in the meanwhile had the chance to read Naipaul's father's writings and his letters to his son, I have to admit that Mr. Biswas falls far short of his real- life model. I also remember reading- I think in a book by Diana Athill (?) that Naipaul's mother was a far more independent and interesting person than Mrs. Biswas. Apparently, after her children left home and her husband died, she did not repine, on the contrary she took the opportunity to give free reign to her interest in running a business. But these are minor cavills- the fact remains that but for Naipaul's consummate artistry few of us would have known about these marvellous people- so essentially human, so impossible to reduce to neat little stereotypes, racial or otherwise- who populate the pages of Naipaul's masterwork. 40 years on- and still fresh as paint. What an extraordinary achievement!

Exposition of post-colonial life, 24 Jun 2006
`AHFMB' is the story of Mohun Biswas, a Trinidadian of Indian descent, and his lifelong search for a place to call his own. The book follows his life from his birth, to his early life as he searches for a career to call his own, to his marriage and life with his stifling in-laws, to his first (very belated) attempts at complete independence and finally to his death (with which the book actually begins). Mr Biswas is an everyman: not too bright, not too good-looking, not too strong, and his attempts to make a better life for himself are constantly thwarted by his own failings, and the ambition of those around him. Throughout the whole book Biswas, and all the other characters, are trying to define their roles and find a niche in the new post-colonial Trinidad.
`AHFMB' reminded me a lot of Rushdie's `Midnight's Children', both in its subject matter and its construction. There is a touch of magical realism at the beginning, with Mr Biswas' unlucky sneeze bringing disaster, and the dialogue between the Hindu characters is reminiscent of the lyrical `hinglish' often used by Indian writers. Mr Biswas' story represents a nation finding its new identity post-colonialism on many levels. Firstly, there is the lack of definition suffered by all the characters, as they struggle to find what they can achieve in post-colonial Trinidad. The characters also have more allegorical significance, such as the Tulsi's (Biswas' in-laws) representation of the old (and failing) social order, or other characters representing religious institutions or the influx of new money. `AHFMB' is a very clever observation of a society finding its roles.
The thing that made `AHFMB' such an enjoyable read, was the jaunty style in which it was written. Mr Biswas' life is actually pretty depressing on the whole, but Naipaul tells his story as a comic tale, making it an easy read, and never unduly heavy. `AHFMB' is a clever, thought provoking and easy read. It is a big book, but simply flew by as I read. Absolutely brilliant.


A tale of Indentured Labourers' descendants, 16 May 2005
VS Naipaul's story of the struggle of a poor labourer's son who grows up in early 19th century Trinidad is remarkable for its realism - something few people have pointed out, prefering to instead dwell on the oft mentioned tragi-comedy aspect. Those who come from similar backgrounds in the colonies will surely get the feeling of déjà-vu. For example, one of the things that you aspire to growing up on the islands is to have a house of your own some day, which is what the whole story is about.

Naipaul's trademark comedy permeates the novel - he starts from the very begining by calling the 21-day old baby Mohun 'Mr. Biswas'. The name sticks! However, the sense of pathos, gloom and pessimism that surrounds poor Indian immigrants is firmly established from the start, and this never leaves us even during Mr. Biswas' happier days.

The people orbiting around in Mr. Biswas' world is left to the imagination of the reader, as Naipaul does not commit to paint the whole portrait of each one of them. The story, even though told by an outside narrator, is nevertheless told from Mr. Biswas' point of view. Therefore this fits Naipaul's characterisation of the 'others' as Mr. Biswas is not your deep, philosophical traditional hero. In fact, he is selfish, uncooperative, rebelious, and as some have said, a 'born loser'. Personally, I don't agree with the loser epithet - I think he is just a product of his background, and of the times he is living. For each of the few descendants of indentured labourers who went on to achieve world-wide fame and wealth, there were hundreds of thousands who suffered the same fate as Mr. Biswas.

More green than Greene, 24 Oct 2008
An impressive book, in many ways similar to the typical Graham Greene novel : cynical ex-pats living in a third world setting and having affairs.

It's more three dimensional and rounded than Greene though, with more empathy and understanding of the 'locals', and more sense of place, Naipaul taking more time to set the scene, and leaving more room for poetical descriptions of the settings.

One thing that puzzled me was the almost seemless transition of Salim from an adolescent wet behind the ears to a cynical Greene-like character in a matter of days. Not sure whether this is a literary device or a genuine non-sequitur, but would like to know.

Would also be interested to know if Chinua Achebe had had an opinion on this novel, with his famous opinions of non-Africans writing about Africa (ie Conrad)






Breath Taking Honesty, 27 Jul 2008
I must say that I regret that it took me a long time to discover the significance of A Bend in the River. Its significance was brought to my attention by the recent publicity surrounding a biography of V S Naipaul. As I began reading the novel, it immediately stuck a cord with me. Naipaul's opening sentence must be one of the most stunning first sentences of the literary novel. Its assertion creates a sense that one has embarked upon the reading of a great philosophical treatise. I was immediately engaged.

Our first person narrator and main character, Salim, takes over a shop somewhere in central Africa in a state of post rebellion. He is restless and trying to escape his former life on the east coast of Africa. Salim narrates his struggle for personal change against a backdrop of an array of characters who undertake their own personal journey of survival and change in the context of an emerging state that vacillates between the promise of success, and failure.

A Bend in the River is a timeless novel. Some twenty nine years after first publication if you take this passage as an example: "I had heard dreadful stories of that time, of casual killings over many months by soldiers and rebels and mercenaries, of people trusted up in disgusting ways and being made to sing certain songs while they were beaten to death in the streets", you will soon realise that it is very relevant to certain parts of Africa today. One must pay tribute to Naipaul's profound percepton and unfortunate prophecy.

This is a well observed and down right honest story. For this reason I fear that some readers may well shirk from its truths. In trying to get at the truth, Naipaul has a keen eye for the social conditions and an acute awareness of the mores of the surroundings in which his characters find themselves. The novel is rendered with frankness and heart felt honesty. However, Naipaul knows that we don't simply turn stones and find the truth. In a spirit of disillusionment a minor character tells us: "Do you think we will ever get to know the truth about what has happended in Africa in the last one hundred or even fifty years? All the wars, all the rebellions, all the leaders, all the defeats?

But the novel is much more than a story about the state of Africa or at least that part of Africa that it purports to cover. It is also a story about an ex-colonized people struggling to find a place in what they might perceive as the 'modern' world. Its like being cast off to drift by colonial masters, the 'ex-colonized' suddenly floats towards the shores of the mother countries but then find themselves lost. But what are these 'ex-colonized' people suppose to do? Should they take up the advice of one of Naipaul's characters, Indar, and acknowledge that: "the past can only cause pain" and then trample on it?

It is this theme, the psychological plight of the colonized and ex-conlonized that makes the novel a facinating read. It manifests itself dramatically in the character Salim. To some extent Salim is insecure and angry because he has managed to step outside the colonial frame of consciousness. He becomes adrift; he has no anchor. I quote at length to illustrate the point, and incidently this is symbolic of many a people brought up in the colonial world. This is how Salim describes his existential plight: "I too, breaking out of old ways, had discovered solitude and melancholy which is at the basis of religion. Religion turns the melancholy into uplifting fear and hope. But I had rejected the ways and comforts of religion. I couldn't turn to them again, just like that. That melancholy about the world remained something I had to put up with on my own. At some times it was sharp; at some times it wasn't there."

There is an array of wonderfully drawn characters. I was particularly taken by the couple Mahesh and Shoba. What we have in Mahesh is a bright, ambitious and optimistic man who is nonetheless thawted by his social conditions. In another place and time Mahesh represents the possibilities that could have been realised. What the main characters have in common, which makes them intriguing, is that they are running away from other lives and become caught up, and to some extent trapped, in the vast ramifications of the new post colonial Africa. On the whole these characters are not Africans and so in an ironic twist Naipaul turns the predator, who would exploit Africa for its potential, into hopeless prey simply adrift on a sea of events beyond their control. These characters are at once pityful and pathetic.

The prose is direct and straight forward yet dense with issues that the reader has to tease out. There is no rethorical flourishes. Mataphor and simile are kept to a minimum and where they are used they are not that vivid and memorable. I sense that this approach by Naipaul was deliberate. It's as if he did not want anything to get in the way of his powerful themes and ideas.

Ultimate, this is a novel of ideas. There us religion, politics, history and the eking out of an African intellectual culture. It depicts a people trying to find their feet in a post colonial world but inevitably stumbling. But the book is much more than a depiction of conditions in Africa. Just as important for me, and for others who care about such issues, it outlines the psychological and intellectual plight of people living in former colonies, and who have emmigrated to live in the so called mother countries. This is an honest book that touched me deeply. Twenty nine years on from publication it is still relevant and worth a read.

The World is What It Is - unfortunately bad books have a place in it, 08 Jun 2008
I was rather disappointed with this tale of Indians in Africa. Naipul seems not to have captured the mind of his subject and the book lacks direction or plot. There is no humour and despite a wonderful opening line the book isn't well written either. I would have expected better from a writer who is so lauded.

A Masterpiece, 18 Mar 2005
What a great novel this is! It tells the story of Salim who left his family home on the coast to start a business in central Africa at a town on the bend in the great Congo River. The inhabitants of the town, natives and expatriates, are described with empathy and an eye for detail.

Naipaul also narrates the history of the town as it is connected to the ups and downs of history, with great detail. His writing style is compelling and elegant, while the plot and characterization are superb. In many ways, the book illumines the post-independence history of those Africans that are of Indian descent.

Most of them were traders and many of them went into a second diaspora after the tumult and political upheavals in Africa of the 1960s and 70s. I was particularly impressed by Salim's first experience of the voice of Joan Baez, when a record of hers was played at a party in the academic suburb next to the old town.

Naipaul's extraordinary talent comes through in every flowing sentence and in every well-chosen word. I'm not a great lover of fiction, but this book has enriched my mind. I highly recommend it to readers of serious fiction and to historians alike. I also recommend the travel book North Of South by Shiva Naipaul, the record of a journey through Africa that ties in very well with A Bend In The River.

Welcome to Africa, 13 Aug 2002
So, here goes: my first Naipaul book. While reading it I really felt like being in Africa. And that's what always draws me back to Naipaul: he can so astonishingly well describe a place he once visited that it gets reconstructed to the tiniest detail in the reader's mind. And not only that: Naipaul can create characters as well as he can re-create places; Salim, Metty, Yvette - or even minor characters like Father Huismans and Raymond - are all so alive that you can't do otherwise than caring for them and wanting to know what they are destined to do.
Now, having read several more books by Naipaul since this first encounter, I must admit, though, that 'A Bend In The River' is the most monotonous of them and without the usual quantity of humour. On the other hand, I struggled hard not to give it ****, which says something about the quality of Naipaul's writing. In fact, this very book can get more appreciation after you try some of Naipaul's autobiographical books and start notice parallels between his life and his fiction (some parts of 'A Bend...' are also shown in 'Finding The Centre' - with Naipaul in Salim's role).

Unsettling and Virtuosic Take on Displacement, 05 Jan 2009
The overarching theme in V. S. Naipaul¡¦s novels is displacement - usually as a result of migration. By telling three stories, Naipaul weaves an exquisite tale on the subject of "fitting in" in a non-native culture. The three stories are respectively:

- An Indian servant who moves from Bombay to Washington D.C. with his diplomat master
- British expatriate workers who have moved to Africa in search of personal redemption (or so we are made to believe)
- A West Indian student and his brother, who move to London

The Indian servant, who seemed to be content with his lot in life (being a servant to a 'superior') moves to Washington D.C. While in D.C., his acquaintance with 'hubshi' (African Americans) challenges his concept of self and his place in the world. The scales eventually fall from the servant¡¦s eyes and he eventually leaves his master to marry a hubshi. Yes, our servant becomes a US citizen, achieving his American dream but still feels a sense of loss and emptiness.

The novel moves to a small, newly-independent African country sometime in the 1960's. Two British expats, Bobby and Linda, are taking a drive to the 'white' compound on the other side of the country. As they drive and chatter, they unveil their motivations for coming to Africa and their perceptions of their place in it. Our expats are anything but enlightened. Indeed, they are mass of contradictions: for example, they betray their hopes of redemption while in Africa and yet display crass racial prejudice against the Africans.

The exchanges between Bobby and Linda are simply exquisite. I was immediately transported to the backseat of their car on that dirt road in Africa. The Africa of their dreams is shattering around them. The newly independent state is falling apart. Political rivalry between the newly elected President and the local king reaches a head when the king is assassinated by the President's men. Though the novel does not explicitly state it, hell - ethnic cleansing and internecine violence - will soon be let loose on this small country.

In a Free State is a deeply unsettling yet poignant reminder of the challenges of migration and fitting in. Once it grips you the novel does not let go. Instead, it gnaws deeper and deeper and leaves a funny but strangely satisfying taste in the mouth. After reading Naipaul¡¦s Half a Life I thought that I had seen it all. Naipaul is an undisputed master of the English language; his control of the language is Mephistophelian. I felt like an fly caught in Naipaul¡¦s web; too stupid to avoid the web in the first place yet enchanted by the artistry of its design. In a Free State deserves 4 stars.


Tedious, 27 Dec 2008
I'm always suspicious of any book which needs to declare itself 'a novel' on the front cover, since it normally indicates that the description is up for debate. In this case, the suspicions were well founded. 'In A Free State' is less a novel than a collection of five unrelated short stories of erratic length and style.

Still, the first two were promising - the first being in the style of a journal entry, the second a narrative by an Indian manservant newly arrived in New York. They were beautifully written and, particularly the latter, full of insights.

Things went downhill with the latter three stories. The story about the West Indian man in London was written in an intensely irritating style and was so utterly confusing I almost lost the will to read altogether. But at least it wasn't very long.

The fourth story is the longest, divided into chapters, centered on two British expats making a car journey in an unnamed African country riven with civil war. It is written in mind-blowingly minute detail, which is tedious to read. The characters are dull and I couldn't summon any interest in them. I found myself skipping through the last few chapters in desperation to finish. By the time I reached the final 'story' I had lost the will, and skimmed through it.

Maybe fans of very minutely detailed writing might enjoy this novel but I just found it excruciatingly dull.

My desert island book, 20 Apr 2007
Some books you read, and the images they create stay with you for a very long time. I first read this book years ago and it certainly had that effect on me, and I can vividly recollect the three very different worlds the book describes in its short stories that come together to create an overwhelming and bleak view of what it is to be an immigrant, whether that's as a white man in Africa, or an Asian in the West. The subtlety and power of the writing blows into the weeds the stack of recent 'immigrant' novels exploring similar themes (Brick Lane, Inheritance of Loss, et al) and quite simply, for me, this is my favourite novel. Can't say more than that!

Engaging but bleak, 09 Jul 2005
This won the Booker in the early 1970s, but I would say that its status as a novel is questionable. 'In a Free State' consists of a central narrative about two people on a desperate road trip through an African country in the throes of revolution, framed by short story fragments on the same theme - displacement - at the beginning and the end.

The overall effect on the reader of this collection of stories concerning people struggling to feel at home in foreign lands is powerful, and the prose is elegant and carefully pared down, but still descriptive enough to be evocative of the settings(America, London, Africa, Egypt).

Recommended, but in no way uplifting.

In A Free State?, 04 Sep 2003
In a Free State is one of the great cultural fiction books of the last century, combining fictious characters in real life cultures. The supporting narratives along with the main novel make an excellent thought-provoking read about the differences in culture across the globe, the changes that may seem so subtle for an outsider escalated to great fears by the characters living in those situations.

The first narrative is a brief account of an Indian servant, Santosh, who travels from Bombay to Washington, with his employer. The tale written in first person portrays the struggles that Santosh faces, as he has left his homeland and is placed in a alien culture, he can not understand. The second narrative, Tell Me who to Kill, describes the search of another man pulled between two cultures, as he travels to London to help his brother.

The main novel, is the essence of cultural conflict, set in the war torn continent of Africa, and joins two English characters, working for the government, as they travel along the roads of the state towards the compound. The country has split in two, and tribal conflict has taken over. While the two english characters, Bobby and Linda remain somewhat neutral, in an effort to bring peace, their opposing views make interested conversations on their journey, coupled with numerous incidents along the way, the situation of the country begins to unfold.

An insightful, though sometimes brutal look at the changes in culture and effects of boundaries on continents, countries, tribes, and individual characters. A thoroughly readable book, by the excellent V.S. Naipul whose effortless writing conjures such a real atmosphere.

Unsettling,beautiful., 12 Sep 2001
I was unable to engage with the tempo of this book at first, but on my second attempt I was completely absorbed.The plaintive prose creates haunting scenes, that are almost too much to endure.I think this is one of VS Naipaul's best books.

Extremely moving, 30 Aug 2001
I was surprised that this magnificient book had not been reviewed.It is a long time since I read this novel, but I still remember the plaintive intelligence of the prose and the haunting landscapes.I recognise some of the stranger's emotions, and there were sections that were almost too painful to read.

Familiar pessimism about the future of newly independent nations, 18 Apr 2008
Once again exile and cultural dislocation, and the mess of independence, are the principal themes in V S Naipaul's early and acerbic commentary on the ironies and paradoxes of post-colonialism. This time, the narrator, Ralph Singh, an ex-colonial minister from a small Caribbean island, ensconced in London, writes his memoirs from a room in a suburban hotel. His writings rock back and forth between the present and the past in an attempt to explore the meaning of his childhood and the relationship with his family, his education, his brief marriage to a ridiculous white woman and above all his political career in Isabella, the island of his youth, during its formative post-independent years. All the criticisms are here that he has made of his own native Trinidad: the ideological bankruptcy, greed and stupidity of the new post-colonial elite resulting from an inferiority complex in relation to their colonial masters, the abandonment of traditional cultures and values perceived as inherently inferior, and a desire by both communities (African and South Asian) to imitate, to mimic, the behaviour and mores of their white ex-rulers. The result is an ill-disciplined and poorly governed country, with the familiar racial and social tensions that are characteristic of that region and of Naipaul's novels, a place without social cohesion or any meaningful sense of direction. The chaos of Singh's own mean-spirited and selfish life is mapped over that of his unruly country to give a dispiriting pessimism about the future of nations seeking a fresh start after the demise of colonialism. But then this was written in 1967 - and by V S Naipaul.

A Bend In the River II, 01 Aug 2002
OK, so it's pretty unjust to say a book of such a writer as Naipaul is a sequel to another book of his; with that I can easily agree, don't take the title of this review seriously then. But what I wanted to emphasize here is that Naipaul generally describes One Man's Journey in his books - and while 'A Bend In the River' was a chapter concerning this man's Escape, 'The Mimic Men' deals with his Arrival and Return. And it really doesn't matter that the countries change: the protagonist remains the same; it doesn't matter that the 'sequel' was written before the 'part I': Naipaul jumps back and forth in the history of his own life and it is the reader's task to sort it out correctly... and this task, I must add, is tremendous fun. Personally I consider 'The Mimic Men' one of Naipaul's greatest novels - in fact it's even better than the more famous 'A Bend In the River'.

Acute ý but Distasteful., 25 Oct 2001
This is one of Naipaul's earlier novels and in it he addresses many of the same themes that occupy his latter, and masterful "A Place in the World". These include the transition of a multi-ethnic Caribbean society from colony to independence; the culture-shock of a colonial exposed to higher education in Europe; post-independence power struggles and, ultimately, failure, corruption and slow descent into near chaos arising from lack of any dynamic other than lust for power and wealth. The cultural impoverishment of Asian communities cut off from their cultural roots are poignantly described here, as in much of Naipauls's other work (including the masterful "A House for Mr.Biswas", where the treatment is tragic-comic). As always Naipaul's evocation of place and character is acute, bleak and wholly convincing. This said however, the major criticism may be less one of the book than of this particular reader. There is only so mu