A House for Mr. Biswas | 
 enlarge | Author: V.s. Naipaul
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Rating:  58 reviews
Sales Rank: 32010
Media: Paperback
Pages: 576
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 1
ISBN: 0375707166
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780375707162
ASIN: 0375707166
Publication Date: March 13, 2001
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Product Description
The early masterpiece of V. S. Naipaul’s brilliant career, A House for Mr. Biswas is an unforgettable story inspired by Naipaul's father that has been hailed as one of the twentieth century's finest novels.
In his forty-six short years, Mr. Mohun Biswas has been fighting against destiny to achieve some semblance of independence, only to face a lifetime of calamity. Shuttled from one residence to another after the drowning death of his father, for which he is inadvertently responsible, Mr. Biswas yearns for a place he can call home. But when he marries into the domineering Tulsi family on whom he indignantly becomes dependent, Mr. Biswas embarks on an arduous–and endless–struggle to weaken their hold over him and purchase a house of his own. A heartrending, dark comedy of manners, A House for Mr. Biswas masterfully evokes a man’s quest for autonomy against an emblematic post-colonial canvas.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 53 more reviews...
 CLEANSING July 8, 2008
Bernacious (San Francisco, CA US)
Expect no great literary pyrotechnics here, no awesome writing style, no innovative and groundbreaking technique, and also no keen psychological insight into the minds of the characters. What you can expect is a good old fashioned narrative that firmly drives from birth to death the life of a Trinidad Indian man who's life is filled with fear and bad choices and a chaotic and truly overwhelming family. I had heard so long about this book, and its title had catched my eyes for years, when finally at the beginning of this summer I finally checked it out from the library and started reading it. It is not as great of book as I'd like it to be, as I enjoy reading, but still there is something that holds my fancy to it, and after finishing it, I find it cleansing in that everytime I think about Mr. Biswas' poor life, his poor choices, THAT FAMILY that despite it all I have grown some attachment to, I am so thankful for my life and for the family I have. Yes, my father and mother are not perfect, where I grew up was a bit cramped with little privacy and so on and so on, but LORD that doesn't hold a light to Mr. Biswas home life!!! I was in the shower today and I couldn't help being so incredibly greatful for the family and home I was born into! So this book, like all really great literature, has revealed something in my own life, about my own reality and place in the world and has made me feel blessed and for that I am really thankful.
 I loved it! February 15, 2008
Nicola Karesh (Pisgah Forest, N.C. United States)
Another selected novel for my high school literature class. What a great story! Mr Biswas and his family were such characters! Full of richness, weirdness and life. Very real with all of the emotions, quirks and traits that make us distinct and unique humans. I love Naipaul.
Brilliant! February 6, 2008
Liese A. Ricketts (Chicago, IL)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I hate typing so I will just say that the sense of alienation in this book's characters is most akin to my world view.
Darkly funny and my favorite book ever!
Incomparable November 29, 2006
lakeqi
5 out of 43 found this review helpful
Naipaul is a genius.This book is above and beyond.If after reading this book you don't acknowledge Naipaul's genius, you can feel free to consider yourself a functional illiterate who has no love for the english language or understandig of the human condition.
 Good Grief This Was Bad! March 7, 2006
D. Mitchell (South Carolina)
83 out of 107 found this review helpful
I am an AVID reader, pretty intelligent and read at least 1-2 books a week (more when on vacation). I have read books about all kinds of people in all cultures...and this book turned into a quest...a quest to FINISH it!!! I never stop reading a book once I start it, but I was about ready to shoot myself in order to end my distress. If you want to read a REALLY, REALLY good book about desperation in the Indian culture, you simply MUST, MUST, MUST read "A Fine Balance"...one of the best books I have ever read. It's always on my suggested reading list when people ask me for the name of a good book...along with "Life of Pi." I simply don't understand all the wonderful remarks about this book. It went on and on and on and on with the same thing happening to this man over and over...with only a change in his location. It would pick up every now and again, and I would think "now it's going to start to get interesting" but I was only entertained for a page or two before Mr. Biswas returned to his same ol' depressing self, repeating the same mistakes over and over and over and over and over and over...well you get the point. Boring, boring book. I would have given it 0 stars but that wasn't an option.
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