Product Description

"A House for Mr Biswas" is V.S. Naipaul's unforgettable third novel. Born the "wrong way" and thrust into a world that greeted him with little more than a bad omen, Mohun Biswas has spent his 46 years of life striving for independence. But his determined efforts have met only with calamity. Shuttled from one residence to another after the drowning of his father, Mr Biswas yearns for a place he can call home. He marries into the domineering Tulsi family, on whom he becomes indignantly dependent, but rebels and takes on a succession of occupations in an arduous struggle to weaken their hold over him and purchase a house of his own. Heartrending and darkly comic, "A House for Mr Biswas" masterfully evokes a man's quest for autonomy against the backdrop of post-colonial Trinidad. 'A marvellous prose epic that matches the best 19th century novels' - "Newsweek".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18978 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

Review
'A marvellous prose epic that matches the best 19th century novels' Newsweek

Anthony Burgess
‘A work of great comic power qualified with firm and unsentimental compassion’

About the Author
V.S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad in 1932. He is the author of thirteen works of fiction, including A Bend in the River, The Mystic Masseur and The Enigma of Arrival, and ten books of non-fiction including An Area of Darkness and Among the Believers. He has won the Booker Prize, the John Lleweiyn Rhys Memorial Prize, the Hawthornden Prize, the WH Smith award and in 1993 was awarded the first David Cohen British Literature Award. His latest novel, Half A Life, was published in September 2001. Shortly afterwards he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He lives in Wiltshire.

Customer Reviews

Hilarious and heartwarming
It's very rare that you find a book that makes you laugh out loud - and so it's worth treasuring it when you do find one. Mr Biswas is a tragi-comic character who by rights should be up there with Reggie Perrin. His attempts to break free from the sprawling Tulsi family and his desire to make a place for himself in the world make for a sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious conflict. Naipaul's style is reminiscent of Gabriel Garcia Marquez in its warmth and magic, while the book is a comfortable and enjoyable read.

A wonderful, atmospheric, precocious novel.
A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS is a thoroughly enjoyable book, a family saga-type book of the style that other writers of Indian origin have subsequently written to such great effect. But Naipaul's prose marks him apart - it is not overblown, like Rushdie's, nor somehow insipid, like Vikram Seth's. It is sharp, clear, smooth and wonderfully seductive.

On top of the wonderful prose, the tale is gripping, and the story of Biswas's struggles with work and family and life and position somehow epitomise much about the legacy of colonialism and the nature of ambition and "success".

What is also interesting, and telling, are the few indications of the later racism against black people which has marred Naipaul's more recent public comments - but this should not detract from a wonderful book.

Exposition of post-colonial life
`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.