Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #719610 in Books
• Published on: 1980-05-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 278 pages

Customer Reviews

The World is What It Is - unfortunately bad books have a place in it
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
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
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).