This blog is specifically for comment on the Man Booker Prize for fiction, based in the U.K. There are, at the moment, six shortlisted books each year, and as I read them, I will offer my review, without revealing the plot! I want to talk about the readability, style and the amount of quality reading to be enjoyed (or not!) I have no affiliation to anybody, so my comments are without outside influence. enjoy my thoughts, and please feel free to comment...
In A Free State
By V.S. Naipaul
Andre Deutsch, 1971
ISBN: 0233 95832 0
What an intriguing
book. It is as relevant now as it was in the early 1970’s, when it was written.
That timelessness makes it, for me, one of the classic titles that will be
around for many years to come. The content, unfortunately, will also probably
be around for many years to come. Let me explain...
The book is
a series of accounts of people who attempt a life in a country that is not of
their birth, in an atmosphere that is foreign to them. Each one believes they
are going to, or becoming part of, a free state. Three long accounts, and a
couple of shorter ones, all different, but all fundamentally the same, all
telling of the struggle of life, looking for something better than they have,
trying to create a better place for themselves and the world around them. Their
successes and failures are explored in detail, but we are left to ponder the
greater issues; just as a great book should leave us to do.
But enough
of the plotline! I do try to avoid giving away any of the story itself, so as
to retain the integrity of the author’s work, but I can tell you this much. It
is tightly written, in as much as it wastes no words. Each sentence has a relevance
to the tale and each sentence leads flowingly into the next one. It makes the
work easy to read. I, for one, found myself concerned for the wellbeing of each
of the protagonists, thus making the book a page turner. One of those tales
that make the chores of the day disappear; the bedside light stays on just a
little longer, or ‘lunch can wait’ for another half hour.
The
descriptive text is, as far as I can tell, accurate and exhaustive. Set in
three main locations, the description on England resonated in me as somewhere I
recognised, so I have no doubt that quality research or first-hand knowledge
was brought to bear with regard to the other locations. But it doesn’t automatically make it a
pleasant read. It is possible to make the reader quite uncomfortable, when he
describes some of the things we took as the norm but are, in fact quite alien
in our modern society. Or at least I would like to think so!
The book was
written more than forty years ago, when the world as we know it was completely
different. The great shame is that he could have probably written it in the
last twelve months, and the story line would still be just as contemporary.
Everything has changed, but absolutely nothing has changed. This is what will
make this book important for the next hundred years or so. Perhaps Naipaul’s
exposure of human endeavours, frailties, hopes and self belief, along with despair,
prejudice and insulation by society will serve to alter the way the world looks
at itself. But I wouldn’t bank on it!
BookerBookBloke verdict: 8/10
Why not have a look at my short story about the life of Florence Nightingale, taken from a slightly different slant. It can be found at:
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