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A House for Mr. Biswas |  | Author: V.S. Naipaul
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy Used: $2.46
as of 11/21/2009 07:58 CST details
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Seller: gottapaythemortgage
Rating:  68 reviews
Sales Rank: 80020
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
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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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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Showing reviews 1-5 of 68
 A house is not a home October 29, 2009
Lao Chuang (Australia)
There's hardly a likeable character in A House For Mr Biswas. The Tulsis and their endless chain of extended relatives, the Ajodhas, employees of The Sentinel, Bhandat, the solicitor's clerk who sells Mr Biswas his final house, Mr Biswas himself--they carry more the ugly side of humanity than the lovable. But Naipaul invests these characters with such lively and memorable traits that they rise far above mere caricatures. We feel sorry for them. Mr Biswas, for all his unsavoury eccentricities, come across as somewhat a tragic hero.
A house is not a home. With every failed attempt on Mr Biswa's part to build his own dream house, his cumulative possessions trail him like a tail. His few tattered books, the poorly-constructed dining table, incongruous glass display cabinet, and Sharma's dressing table hang around his neck as heavy as the debt he incurs buying his dream house.
Naipaul's control of his descriptive prose is masterful. Measured with tragicomic overtones, satirical without being unsympathetic.
A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul October 29, 2009
scott89119 (Whittier, CA)
Naipaul's most well-known novel is about Mohun Biswas, a permanently unsatisfied man with marginal writing talent who lives with his wife and children in Trinidad. He has a thankless existence; he constantly fights with his colorful set of in-laws, never really connects with his kids, doesn't seem to love his wife, and bounces from job to job. His main goal in life is to own a home of his own, away from everyone else in the world where he could be free and as miserable as he wants. The ending, bittersweet and just right, subtly explores modern man's futile pursuit of happiness and the encumbrances he faces in attaining it throughout life.
Naipaul expertly balances Biswas' deeper, darker pursuits in life with a comedic, larger-than-life backdrop. The book is never laugh-out-loud funny, but derives its dry humor through the reader's pity of the character. Nuanced scenes follow one after another, each adding depth to the character's motivations and the novel's underlying themes. It may appear slow going at first, but makes more sense once you get attuned to the pace of the book. My only issue with the book is the style in which it is written. The tone throughout is very reserved, with little concern for rhythm or music, and it is difficult to get completely in-sync with it. Because of this I always felt at a distance from the story, just like poor Mr Biswas with everyone else in his life, so who knows if it was intentional. For me personally it is a book to respect more than to care more deeply about, but on its own it is a very distinguished piece of world lit.
Read a dozen times over 20 years September 26, 2009
kalanamak (Pacific NW)
and I still find it fresh. Great book for showing well-fed USian teens how the other half lives. Grim, but ultimately a triumph for Mr. Biswas, with several spots of dark humor. Mr. Naipaul understands many kinds of people, as any good novelist should.
Brilliant! September 5, 2009
Ravi
I first read this book in 1990 in my high school literature class and found it to be amazing. It is now on my all time favourite list of literary works!
A House of Cards August 18, 2009
Hnin Dehn (London, UK)
This book is about a man whose life changes due to one whimisical, irritational, and childish moment; a man whose dreams are scuppered by the relentless forces around him, inside him and invited by him. Biswas is a pathetic, cowardly, and weak man who rode on the life's stream of assault while building his perfect house in his head, a house made less of concrete and wood but more of unfulfilled potential, unrealised dreams and unmet needs for pure and romantic love. This book should be sad and Biswas should be despised, Naipul's language is harsh and blunt and direct and he takes no prisoners in his use of the English language. But that is not so. A House for Mr Biswas is a magical book filled with imagery, of a life, a culture, a people, and of a man who found that at the end of it all, he didn't have it too bad and he did the most difficult thing a person could do in times of distress and defeat, and that is to live a full life. He made an impact, but he died anyway in his own house. And that is not to be laughed at, Mr Biswas certainly would not have done.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 68
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