Krishna
Usually, authors who have won the Nobel prize can be too complex for normal readers or turn out to be something of a bore. (Will not name names, as this may start a controversy!). It is more like joining a Movie Club and watching artsy Chech movies for ‘fun’)
This one is refreshingly different, and is unique and very entertaining! This is closer in substance to Roddy Doyle and Rohinton Mistry, in that it gives you an experience of witnessing a full life in a different environment (country, culture, etc).
This one describes the life of Mr Biswas, an Indian Hindu born and brought up in Trinidad. The life is told in fantastic detail, with humour, with sympathy and with stunning attention to detail. It talks about the birth of Biswas, his growing up surrounded by dreams but constraints, realization that the dreams may be unattainable. A sense of frunstration of being married to a family, who is a burden to the free spirit that Mr Biswas would have liked…
Amazing descriptions follow of how his father died when he was young, how he was brought up in extreme poverty, his struggle to find his feet, trying various professions, his attempts to prove that he can be romantic with long term consequences, his lifelong struggle to own a house (hence the title of the book)…
The interrelationship among the various communites living in Trinidad (Indians, Chinese and the Black community) is described wonderfully. The customs of the orthodox Hindus and the struggle to keep it relevant amidst a foreign land is described with sensitivity.
It is funny to read of Biswas being referred to by the author as Mr Biswas even when he is a two year old child. The humour that runs all through the book elevates it to a level above the normal tragic story. The attention to detail in describing the circumstances in which Mr Biswas and his family repeatedly find themselves in, is described. The good fortunes and the unexpected tribulations, the various attempts by Mr Biswas to extricate himself with the death grip of affection from his in-laws, the description of the various members of the Tulsi family, the misfortunes that strike their family through chance and their own gullibility, the casual cruelty shown by him towards his own wife, everything adds up to a front row seat to witness a typical life lived in the country chosen by the author of a unique family.
An excellent read, would recommend it to anyone who wants to read some serious fiction, and would give it a 9/10
— Krishna