Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32995 in Books
• Published on: 2001-12-07
• Binding: Paperback
• 247 pages

Synopsis
"In a Free State" deals in displacement. It tells first of an Indian servant in Washington, then of an Asian West Indian in London who is in jail for murder. Then the story moves to Africa, to a fictional country something like Uganda or Rwanda. The two main characters are English. They once found Africa liberating, but now it has gone sour on them. At a time of tribal conflict they have to make the long drive to the safety of their compound. In the background, the threat of violence looms. The voices in this novel are breathtakingly vivid, while the characters are portrayed with an intelligence and sensitivity that is rarely seen in contemporary writing. Dennis Potter described the book as one 'of such lucid complexity and such genuine insight, so deft and deep, that it somehow manages to agitate, charm, amuse and excuse the reader all at the same pitch of experience'. This is one of V.S. Naipaul's greatest novels, hard but full of pity.

Customer Reviews

My desert island book
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
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?
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.