A House for Mr. Biswas

This book has just been and discussed at the book group of which I am a member. Everyone found something to like in it, but opinions overall differed a lot. It tells of Mr. Biswas, a Trinidadian Hindu (and from a brahmin family, so high-caste), from his birth to his death at the age of 46 (that is no spoiler - we are told of it in the first chapter). The character is based on Naipaul's father, and his son, Anand, on Naipaul himself. Mr. Biswas lives through extreme poverty and difficulty, constantly (as an adult) struggling to assert his individuality in the face of his wife's large and extended family, the Tulsis. His dream is to have his own house and he makes a number of attempts to do so, all more or less doomed until the end of the book, when he has a measure of (very qualified) success - again, we know about that right from the start.It is a complex book. The society on which it centres, that of Indians living in Trinidad, has its own rules and standards, and I found it fascinating to read about these and see how they worked themselves out. There are constant rows, but they are also supportive and dutiful in times of crisis. Husbands beat their wives and wives their children, but this is almost like an expected ritual, and there is even some pride taken in the effectiveness of these beatings, as if they are a necessary part of family life. Families respect the 'pundit', the wise man in their midst who performs quasi-religious rituals (for example, to bless Mr. Biswas's house at one point), even to the extent that when the pundit decrees that baby Biswas has an unlucky sneeze, everyone believes him.In the midst of all this is Mr. Biswas, usually sceptical and trying to be himself. And what is he? He can be foolish, impulsive, petulant, naive, sarcastic, rude, and negligent. About halfway through the book, he suffers what is clearly a nervous breakdown of some kind. Yet he has an enquiring mind, reads widely (Marcus Aurelius, Epictitus, Dickens and much more - he likes reading wiring diagrams and scientific manuals as well) and has a strange kind of resourceful courage that keeps him going.There is a lot in this book. It is often amusing. When Mr. Biswas gets a job as a reporter for the Port of Spain Sentinel, it becomes very funny indeed (he writes grotesque sensational stories for them). Naipaul has a considerable gift for description, and many scenes in the book, fully described, are vivid. Occasionally we get an insight into the extreme poverty endured by some of the characters. There is a wide range of interesting characters - Shama, Mr. Biswas's wife, Mrs. Tulsi, Tara his wealthy aunt, Seth, the character known as W.C. Tuttle because he has a large collection of book by that author (who wrote Westerns featuring Hashknife Hartley and Sleepy Stevens), Owad, the 'young god' who goes to England and comes back with medical training and an absurd degree of self-importance, and others.As the book moves on, and especially in the final 100 pages or so, the mood changes and it becomes reflective and almost elegaic. Mr. Biswas (movingly) remembers his mother's kindness to him - he has thought little about her as an adult ; his work obliges him to visit the destitute people of Port of Spain and the surrounding area ; the family has a happy holiday at the beach ; Anand faces the trials of the exhibition exam., which may give him opportunity for further study after school ; they get a new Ford Prefect and delight in it ; and Mr. Biswas becomes aware that he is a grown man, the head of a family of young people, no longer children, who will branch out in their own way. His relationship with his wife, always complex and ambivalent, becomes more clearly defined, and his death, when it comes, is beautifully and very movingly handled in an understated way.... and I could go on. This is a 'big' book in its scope and range, and an unusual one. It has been much praised, as has its Nobel-prize-winning author. I took great pleasure in reading it and found it stimulating, thought-provoking and involving, and that seems good enough reason for giving it five stars.

This is Trinidad, where Mr Biswas was born unlucky and remained so throughout his life. Manipulated into marrying into an enormous family, dominated by his wife’s cunning and utterly selfish mother, as were all her other daughters and their husbands, who nearly all live together in the family home. Personal habits are disgusting, hygiene basic; nasty, petty jealousies are rife. Beneath her tyranny, a husband’s word is law, his wife his chattel. Children are routinely flogged; a husband beating his wife is a source of much entertainment. Bitchiness, petty jealousies and ignorance reign.The atmosphere is stifling, and Mr Biswas’s innate rebelliousness gains him poor relationships with them all, from ridicule and cruel teasing, to abject dislike. It is imperative that he escapes to a home of his own, where he and his growing family can be free from the suffocating influences of his wife’s family.I hope this story depicts the minority, and is not typical of Trinidadian life. While entertaining, it was far too long, and could have been cut by a third, to no disadvantage.

I read this book some years ago and enjoyed it very much then; so looked forward to returning to it the handsome Everyman's Library hardback edition.I found I enjoyed the opening very much; and after getting a bit bogged down in the middle, skipped to the end and enjoyed that very much too. But I found what I suppose is the main body of the novel held my attention rather less than it had done on a first reading (not, I think, because I remembered it, as frankly I only really remembered the beginning and the ending); and I also felt it seemed, for example on the subjects of death, bereavement and separation, rather less 'true to life' than I must once have thought. At least it's very much matter of fact, as perhaps befits a novel written in the tone of this novel (with the central figure referred to as Mr Biswas throughout, even when he is first born) - but then perhaps I am less in the market for a novel written in this kind of tone than I was in years past.Very mixed feelings about this book then: I can see why people might like it (as I did on first reading myself), and perhaps for all reader it still has something interesting to say; but it's quite long and on one reading it held my attention, but recently it just failed to do so...

Please improve your packaging Amazon otherwise all things are great

This an exemplary piece of work on human nature in context of adverse social, cultural, and geographic variables. The work is not so much about pride, ownership, and satisfaction in one's own abode as it is about an individual's struggle for balance in life. A proper reading here in large part hinges on empathy with the complexities of extended family in close quarters, the socioeconomic conditions, and the ecological circumstances specific to the geographic region (i.e. human beings living in symbiosis with creatures and vegetation that inhabit the tropics).Far from living a mundane and merely "unsatisfied" life, Mr. Biswas labors -- psychologically and physically -- through numerous predicaments and downturns in the struggle for greater peace and harmony: His conflicting values against violence in an extended family, his struggle finding a remunerative job suitable for family support, his submission to various fleeting abodes that could barely fit him, his wife and children, the interwoven meddling nature of not-so-pleasant extended family members, natural surroundings that proved wildlife dominance over human presence, e.g. the ever-present odor of surrounding snakes. Mr. Biswas' life reveals that finding a suitable abode goes beyond the superficial elements of vast space, ample furnishing, and having everything one needs to be "satisfied": A "suitable abode" lies at the crux of -- yet subordinate to -- fundamental peace and harmony with family and the surrounding environment. Mr. Biswas' life, though circuitous in magnificent ways, comes back full circle to a harmonious whole as his life story ultimately answered his own predicament: For, he did not live "unnecessary and unaccommodated." Spending his final days with a daughter he likens to a Butterfly orchid, "The shade was flowering again."

Well honestly I was intrigued by the length of the book for it is a weighty tome. But I just breezed through it. What do I say? I am blown away by the writing. It is so richly imaginative that I hardly felt bored picking it up. Coming to the writing - such humor, such ease and such is the language that takes you on a ride literally.Sir V S Naipaul, deserves every bit of credit for the writing is extra-ordinary and the vivid details, the drama, the clashes, the idiosyncrasies, the dialogues, everything is spot on.I highly recommend picking this book up.

I have been a fan of the writing of V.S. Naipaul for some time, and I've been meaning to getting around to reading his career-making novel A House For Mr Biswas (1961). It is a rather long novel, so it has remained on the shelf (metaphorically speaking-since I read the ebook version). However, Naipaul's recent death and Barack Obama's recommendation as a summer read moved it up my book reading queue. And I'm glad I finally got around to reaing it. It is an epic comic novel with great dialogue and written in a grand style about the comic-tragic Mr Biswas. The scale and execution calls to mind another great darkly comedic novel-Cormac McCarthy's Suttree. Biswas is an Indian born on the tropical island of Trinidad who spends his life trying to live with dignity and achieve his life-long dream of becoming a home owner. It almost seems as if his life is merely a series of tragic-comedic events that follow one after another-humor and pathos can be found in every aspect of his life from his birth, too his life as a sign painter, to his marriage, and subsequent post-married family life spent mostly in the company of his wife's family and relations that gives that story much of its comic vitality as the petty squabbles and other interactions between the family relations and inhabitants of the shared housing community drive the story. Naipaul has created many unforgettable characters, Biswas and his manner of speaking is not the very least of these. I daresay I am tempted to add the job description of "crab catcher" to my arsenal of personal insults. I must say I unexpectedly enjoyed this novel much more than I anticipated and will probably steer me toward his earlier comedic novels as well. That being said, I am looking forward to getting around to the several other Naipaul penned books that I have designated for future reading.

My wife read this book in school when she was ten years old. She always loved it so I got it for her to read on her trip. I think I’ll read it too when she’s back