Author: V.S. Naipaul
Pages: 576
Book takes place in the country: YES
Author is from the country: YES
I have visited: NO
This is my 64th read of the year
My eldest daughter has been in the hospital for the last 4 days due to a dog bite that got severly infected, so I have had a lot of time to read. What I DIDN'T have until today was my computer. So now it is time to catch up on the books I have been reading.
This is the story of Mohun Biswas (for most of the time he is called Mr. Biswas) who spent all 46 years of his life feeling inadequate. The story begins when he is a child and his father drowns. Things just seem to go downhill from there. He spends his whole life looking for a home where he can settle and stay. He marries into the Tulsi family who treats him terribly for the rest of his life. His life and his 4 children never really care for him. He bounces around from house to house, never settling, never having enough money to break away from the Tulsi family, and in the end, his life is cut short. He spent his whole life looking for autonomy and never finding it.
This book was.....strange. It is supposed to be a dark comedy, and I guess it was.....to a point. I did chuckle from time to time. And don't get me wrong, the writing was good. It was well written and the story was easy to follow. But the story in general I just couldn't get in to. I did not like any of the characters in the book. They are all awful. Even Mr. Biswas. He was constantly an "Eeyore" in this whole book - woe is me at every turn. This book never took an upswing, and that made it a big painful to tacklet.
Eh.
Stars: 3
Oh my goodness, I hope your daughter is on the mend! How scary. This sounds like a rough read for a stressful time!
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