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This new, softcover issue of V. S. Naipaul's A HOUSE FOR MR. BISWAS will introduce a
whole new generation to a style of writing that evokes the 19th century novel. Critically
acclaimed as one of the best novels of the 20th century, A HOUSE FOR MR. BISWAS has not
lost any of its charm or appeal.
Drawing on history, personal experience, and literature, A HOUSE FOR MR. BISWAS is the
story of a journalist who marries into a forbidding family. The time is postcolonial
Trinidad, where the disparity between the classes is wide. Throughout his life, his quest
for autonomy and independence is met with disaster at every corner. Poor Mr. Biswas! He
never seems to get a break. When he finally achieves a lifelong yearning of owning his own
home, even if it is heavily mortgaged, it is his to call his own. The endurance of Mr.
Biswas is a lesson in the power of the human spirit, tragic and comic together.
With an exquisite command of the English language, V. S. Naipaul's A HOUSE FOR MR. BISWAS
may leave your heart heavy but glad for the experience. He has captured the cultures of
India as well as the Caribbean with perfection and detail. The flavor will stay with you
long after the book is closed.
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was born and raised in Trinidad the son of an Indian
Brahmin family. He was educated at Oxford and published his first novel, MIGUEL STREET, in
1959. He has received prestigious writing awards, including the Booker Prize.
--- Reviewed by Mary Louise Rohner
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