(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)The book that turned the gentle satirist of the Caribbean into a major literary figure, this is the story of a man who, without a single asset, enters a life devoid of opportunity; his tumble-down house becomes a potent symbol of the search for identity in a postcolonial world. His most widely read novel.
Continually faced with homelessness and manipulated by people in power, Mr. Biswas becomes obsessed with the idea of having his own house. Twice, he attempts to build, but the schemes fail. He finds a good job but loses it. Finally, he borrows money and, on impulse, buys a house that is shabby and defective--if not downright dangerous--but is at last a home for Mr. Biswas and his family. He dies shortly after of a heart attack, but is left with the satisfaction of having at last achieved some control over his life.
- Genre: Fiction + Literature Genres, Fiction + Literature Themes
- Subgenre: General, Work + the Workplace, Society + Social Issues, Literary, Human Qualities + Behavior, Family + Friendship, Humorous Fiction, Types of Characters
- Publisher: Everyman's Library
- Pages: 564
- Language: English
- Format: hardcover
- Release Date: June 1, 1995
- Date Published: June 1, 1995
- Author: V.S. Naipaul