A House for Mr. Biswas

As a British colony, Trinidad became the home of many Indian immigrants, and "A House for Mr. Biswas" tells the story of a man who is born into and grows up in this society searching for a place he can call his own. In this novel, V.S. Naipaul vividly and picturesquely describes Trinidad as a thriving but generally poor island populated by a strong Hindu community with a waning observance of the caste system and where, even well into the twentieth century, the most common mode of transportation is the bicycle.
Naipaul's titular protagonist, Mohun Biswas, was born a bad omen, declared by a pundit (Hindu scholar) to be the eventual downfall of his parents; the prophecy is seemingly fulfilled when his father accidentally dies because of his mischief. After some brief schooling, Mr. Biswas (as he is called throughout the novel, even as a young boy) embarks on a series of odd jobs: After an unsuccessful apprenticeship to a pundit, he is sent to work in a relative's rumshop and later becomes a sign-painter. It is on this job that he meets a pretty girl named Shama, whose family, named Tulsi, owns many properties and businesses in Trinidad. A marriage is arranged between Biswas and Shama, and he soon finds himself a prisoner of the Tulsi family in a way, a situation which becomes the basis for his lifelong struggle for independence.
The Tulsis' house, called the Hanuman House, is crowded with members of Shama's extended family, including her mother, her uncle Seth, who manages much of the family's businesses, brothers, sisters, and innumerable and indistinguishable nieces and nephews -- living conditions which lead to irritation and violent arguments with in-laws. The Tulsis give him a shop to run and a sugarcane field to oversee, but he lets deadbeats and workers take advantage of him. His attempt to build his own house and move away from the Tulsis for good, with the help of an incompetent carpenter, ends in disaster.
On his own initiative, he becomes a reporter for a Trinidad newspaper, the Sentinel, writing sensational and often embellished stories, interviewing "Deserving Destitutes," and learning a new kind of creativity which grants him true vocational freedom from the Tulsis. Meanwhile, Shama bears him four children, among whom there is only one son, Anand, whose fragile relationship with his father instills the novel with touching moments of realism.
It's easy to empathize with Mr. Biswas, for he is a character of the most universal sort -- everyone can relate to his desire for autonomy, freedom, and independence. He could be a symbol of the emancipation of a controlled people -- specifically, Indian independence from the British empire -- but the novel also succeeds on its surface level. We know from the prologue that Mr. Biswas eventually does escape the Tulsis and obtain a house, a decrepit, boxlike affair that hardly seems like a personal triumph. But it is *his* house, his declaration of independence, a final confirmation that he is indeed his own man.

Mr Biswas is a member of the East Indian community in Trinidad. His attempts to gain some freedom and dignity in life (especially to be owner of a house) are constantly thwarted. He is trapped into marriage, becomes subservient to his wife's awful family and loaded with debt. Is he held back by poverty, or by the chains of Hindu tradition, or by the colonial system, or racial prejudice, or is his problem his own personality? Are these separate problems or one problem? One reviewer questions whether a book about such a frustrated life can be called funny. I think that it's one of those books with such a broad and rich view of life that humor inevitably finds its way in.

To those who remember Al Bundy from the show Married with Children, this book would seem very similar. Mr. Biswas, from a poor family, is rushed into a marriage that he wasn't prepared for, is at the mercy of his in-laws, has a low paying career, and is stuck with a wife that hates his guts.
Mr. Biswas is presented as a loser whose one goal of finding a place of his own. Without giving too much away, this book follows the simple struggle of Mr. Biswas's life. It presents a fascinating view of Trinidad and Indian families within. From crowded Indian houses, to sugarcane fields, to villages, to crowded buses, to resorts, the reader gets a great glimpse of life on the Island. The reader also gets to follow the life of this man as he struggles in his marriage, his career, with sanity, and the search for his house. Throughout his life, he lives in crowded and squalid residences, and wishes to live independently from it all. Thus the name of the book.
The one flaw of this book is the monotony. Mr. Biswas did not live an exciting life, and Naipul forces the reader to look into his most mundane activities. This readability of this book greatly declines as the book nears the end.
Tedious at some points, this book does a great job bringing Mr. Biswas's perspective to the reader. I would recommend this book to those with some time and patience.

This book defines "engaging". Though I have never been to Trinidad, I now feel like I've spent significant time there. Using very few words, Naipaul paints a portrait of what poverty in Trinidad looked like, emotionally, economically and socially. He also takes a protagonist who seems very harsh and abrasive at first, and makes him into a sympathetic character. We grow as he does. I've seldom read books that have made me able to so fully climb into the skin of a character, but this one does it. You feel his anguish, and understand his few joys. All of this is done with a very economical use of words. This is truly one of the best books I've ever read. I can't reccommend it enough.

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.

Margaret Thatcher had one simple insight which converted Britain from Socialism to Conservatism--people who own their own homes are conservative. We see this property=conservatism maxim playing itself out today, in 401k's. The fact that the great bulk of the population is invested and doing well has served to insulate President Clinton from virtually every degenerate or incompetent thing he's done. As long as the market's cranking, everyone just wants to leave things as they are--no change, please.
What does this have to do with Mr. Biswas?
Well, V.S. Naipaul's novel is profoundly conservative in just this way. At a time when many in the Third World, & the First & Second for that matter, were demanding that wealth be redistributed and the West pay them reparations for colonialism, he gives us Mr. Biswas a decent hard-working Trinidadian of Indian decent, whose sole motivating dream in life is to own his own home. His simple virtues and noble aspiration stand in stark contrast to the lazy, the tradition bound, the politically myopic and the morally dubious characters around him.
I'm not sure the story warrants it's enormous length, but it's a pleasant enough diversion and has a salutory message.
GRADE: B-

�A House for Mr. Biswas� is all of the following -- complex, psychologically perceptive, emotionally difficult, rewarding, moving, depressing, tragi-comic, deeply ironic, metaphoric, nightmarishly surreal, utterly believable, honest, exasperating, claustrophobic, prudish in some ways (no sex, for instance), deeply human, liberating, brilliant, frustrating, beautifully written � and much more. It is a book which very well may tempt you, as it tempted me, to just say �the hell with it� about halfway through, as Mr. Biswas struggles, but never seems able to achieve, autonomy, self respect, happiness, freedom (especially from the suffocating, sprawling Tulsi family � the ultimate in-laws from hell!!), let alone the �house� referred to in the title. But don�t give in to temptation! �A House for Mr. Biswas� is a book that richly rewards those who stick with it, who persevere, just as Mr. Biswas does, although at times you may feel like you can�t take it anymore (one step forwards, two steps back, argggghhh!). Perhaps a helpful attitude in reading this book, which I strongly recommend you consider, is to think of yourself as a �reader and learner� (to use V.S. Naipaul�s term for the Tulsi schoolchildren) at the feet of a superb writer with something to say and a great deal of wisdom to impart.
In sum, �A House for Mr. Biswas� is a deeply satisfying (as opposed to �entertaining� or superficially �enjoyable�) book, NOT easy summer �beach reading�, but a book which confirms the psychological cliché that it�s the HARD STUFF which is potentially the most rewarding emotionally. So, don�t let the fact �A House for Mr. Biswas� is not �easy� scare you off, because this is truly a brilliant book, and one which richly deserves its ranking as one of the �best books of the century� (#72 on the Modern Library�s best fiction list, for instance). Oh, and by the way, why hasn�t V.S. Naipaul won the Nobel prize for literature yet? (Earth to Nobel Prize committee, come in please!) Anyway, for what it�s worth, I hereby nominate him, and hope that many of you will second my nomination!

One of the most satisfying novels I have ever read. In my admittedly non-erudite opinion, it is the author's best work. At the least, it is his most honest one, free of a certain smug condescension and pretentiousness that seems to creep into his later works. The writing is richly detailed (none of it superfluous), with a brilliantly understated sense of hapless comedy underscoring the tragedy of Mohun Biswas's life. If you like prose that is not pompous, full of gentle wit, and clearly in the hands of a master, and a story of rare poignancy - this is your book.

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.

I'd always gone along with the bias against Naipaul due to his conservative, some would say neocolonial, politics. Big mistake. This is great writing, a fun book, and real social criticism. Though it is hundreds of pages long, this read felt bad when he finished it that there were not another 500 pages to read!
He really captures the argot and ways of the East Indian commmunity in T & T, and captures the foolishness, greed, and ridiculous caste and caste striving. All of this is done in manner that preserves the real humanity of everyone involved. This is so much fun!

As always, Naipaul's writing is brilliant. In this novel, unlike many of his others, he has a compelling story to tell, which he invests with great humor and effectively restrained emotion. While many of his subsequent works are masterful, they all seem to be tainted by bitterness and an odd combination of condescension and defensiveness. While "Biswas" is completely unsentimental, it is never bitter or mean.

This really was a slog. His writing abilities are impressive, but the content is so miserable. It's all such a drag. The narrative is the relating of a dull, unhappy, humorless, unsuccessful life. Mr. Biswas interacts with other dull, unhappy and humorless individuals. There is no plot to speak of. But I consider myself someone who isn't all that concerned with plot. However, there has to be some idea or philosophy or observation that is interesting.

THis is a novel of epic proportions about the struggle of an individual against his in-laws, a "mini-totalitarian society" as Naipaul put it. While the plot is simple - Biswas wants his own house - the struggle is so painfully real. You will laugh and cry with this book, and learn about the Third world as well.
Naipaul said that this book marked his maturing as a writer, and in many ways it is his best novel. Warmly recommended.

The book is tedious, boring, hilarious and thoroughly absorbing. I first came across the novel 30 years ago when I was a private English tutor and had to teach it to this secondary school student who was more interested in football and girls.

I can't recall a single thing about the book now except the word "insuranburn" (i.e. to insure and burn). Biswas was advised that an easy way to make money was to insure his house or shop, burn it and collect the insurance payout.

I must check out the public library to get a copy of this book to re-read, and check whether my spelling of that word is correct.

Despite the tears, nobody ever says this thoughout this long, fascinating book. A story of generations, of family dispute and disparity, A House For Mr. Biswas is a stirring, masterful dispiction of life going on. It tells of one man's humble independance that he keeps private, not realizing how such subtle virtue affects those he comes in contact with.
Never dull, always anticipatory, one of the greatest books ever written--

This was VS Naipaul's break-out book, although it took a few years for it to really take off, first in England, and then everywhere else. If you're familiar with Naipaul, you will notice that it is in this book that he begins to shed the comicalness that marks his earlier works.

i went though an "indian author" stage and mr. biswas was one of my favorites...i could actually smell the deteriorating paint on the house, it's dreams, the human sweat that turned it into the foundation for the biswas family.
a great novel.

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.

Tragi-comedy about a funny little man and his war with his inlaws. Mr. Biswas finally achieves some personal satisfation by buying and living in his own home; even if he is only able to inhabit his house a short time before his death.
Funny and sad character study of a born loser and an odd race of people, Indian hindus living in Trinadad.

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.

Tragi-comedy about a funny little man and his war with his inlaws. Mr. Biswas finally achieves some personal satisfation by buying and living in his own home; even if he is only able to inhabit his house a short time before his death.
Funny and sad character study of a born loser and an odd race of people, Indian hindus living in Trinadad.

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.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2001
V.S. Naipaul
The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2001 is awarded to the British writer, born in Trinidad, V.S. Naipaul
"for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories".

Naipaul is a great wordsmith, and I suspect that this novel has some autobiographical elements. It is essentially the story of a struggling , disfunctional Indian family . It is clear that the author knows the suject and the setting very well, but unless this is an area the interests you, it is likely that the book will be a long and not totally satisfying read. Tony Soprano's family is more interesting, and has more depth.

"A House for Mr. Biswas" is probably Naipaul's best - can't recommend it highly enough. Naipaul is a master at understated, calm, unobtrusive story telling.. As I read this most absorbingly keen book, I couldn't help but be hypnotized by this story of a man's search for "independence" in post-colonial Trinidad.What a book! What a writer!

I battled through this book because I enjoyed Guerillas and A Bend in the River.

This book is long, dull, repetitive, rarely funny. The protagonist is unlikeable.

I kept waiting for a moment of enlightenment, where I would suddenly think 'That's why it won the Nobel Prize!'. It never came.