A house for Mr. Biswas

Author: V. S. Naipaul

Other than Rabindranath Tagore, V.S. Naipaul is the only other person of Indian origin who has won the Nobel Prize for literature. He was born in Trinidad and his early novels are set in Trinidad and Tobago. Since I myself am of Indian descent and have spent a larger portion of my life in the United States, I am always curious to learn how Indians have assimilated in their adopted countries. My knowledge of the West Indies is limited to their Reggae Music and World Class Cricket team, and this book offered me the chance to sample a highly acclaimed author as well as learn something about Indians abroad. 

From a quick search on the internet, I learned that “A House for Mr. Biswas” is based on his father’s life and it was one of the books that catapulted V.S. Naipaul to fame on the international circuit. A few pages into the book, I marveled at the impeccable prose and even though the book weighs in at 576 pages, it is a pleasure to read. The main character modeled after Naipaul’s father, is Mohan Biswas, who is quirky and interesting right from his birth. The local astrologer predicts that he will bring disaster to his family and Mohan lives up to this expectation repeatedly. A good portion of the book chronicles Mohan’s interaction and exasperation with his wife’s extended family, the Tulsi clan and the different houses they inhabited along the way.

Mohan makes several attempts to escape from the clutches of his in-laws but is largely unsuccessful. Most of the characters in the novel are of Indian origin, so I am guessing that Indians in Trinidad kept mostly to themselves. It is interesting to note that even though they had little to no connection with India, they hung on to some of the religious traditions. Notably, the caste system was very much in play and Mohan is eager to point out that Mohan's parents and the Tulsi’s were brahmins, and some of them were trained to perform the religious ceremonies. The disdain with which they treated 

In one of his many forays living away from the Tulsi’s, Mr Biswas is banished to live in the plantation. You get a sense of his depressing life living in a shack overseeing the workers in the plantation. What is surprising, however, is that there is hardly any description of the life of the workers. Instead we get the full treatment of the materials required to build a house on the cheap. If it was not clear from the title, let me warn you that the houses that Mohan lived in are meticulously described and are clearly the subject of interest.