I enjoyed this, it takes longer to read, but still keeps your interest.

Mr. Biswas never seems to have control over his own life, from his humble beginnings in the country to his later years in Port of Spain. An Indian from Trinidad, he and his family deal with the struggles of daily life and the life of an Indian so far from India.

Another good book from the great writer. ( )

I think the only reason I made it all the way through this book is because it was the first book on the list for my first ever book club, and I really didn't want to make a poor impression by showing up without actually finishing it.

It did have good points. The dark humour throughout was often entertaining, the Tulsi-Biswas power struggles were compelling, and the use of violence, particularly the spousal abuse and child-beatings, portrayed a twisted sort of pride and displayed varying dynamics that were sometimes fascinating.

That said, the book was far too long and very repetitive. Mr. Biswas, and in fact most of the characters, were usually disagreeable and difficult to empathize with, and I had no interest in cheering for any of them (except Mohun's children) in their struggles to pull themselves out of dependence and/or poverty. This is not a book that I would recommend, and I'm not sure why it has made so many "best books" lists. Perhaps I'll give it another go in 10 years or so, and my opinion will change. You never know. ( )

I enjoyed this novel about the life of Mr. Biswas, from birth to death, an Indian man from an emigre family in Trinidad -- his life is a struggle to carve out a little something of his own, trying to get free of the tentacles of poverty, ignorance, and his wife's relations especially. I didn't quite enjoy it as much as the first work of his I read - the spare and powerful , 'A Bend in the River.' This was more of a sprawling Indian family epic along the lines of Seth's 'A Suitable Boy' or Mistry's 'A Fine Balance' -- so at times it felt a bit repetitive, but overall quite well-done.

I really came to almost love Mr. Biswas despite his selfish, sarcastic, and sometimes unreasonable behavior. His dry wit at times made me laugh out loud and I just loved how he taunted his wife's crazy family. But my God, enough with the flogging of children and wives already! His attempt at his first house at Green Acres with Anand and the dog and the nervous breakdown was quite poignant. The overall tone to the book was rather unusual - Are these pathetic, violent, crazy characters there for the reader to laugh and shake their heads at? Or are we to feel empathy at all times? Of course I can't spoil, but the ending seemed anti-climactic, yet somehow fitting.

Overall, well-written, entertaining, touching and really a unique, quirky cast of characters. Lovers of Indian fiction definately need to go back and read this one from the 1960's if they haven't already. I am still having trouble coming away with an overall 'message,' if you will - but I will not soon forget Mr. Biswas, may he rest in peace far from the Tulsis! ( )

My initial experiments with Naipaul ( )

I was really looking forward to reading this book, having checked out the reviews and synopsis on Amazon. Unfortunately, I didn't think it really delivered. The storyline seemed quite circular - every new opportunity that Biswas encountered slowly but surely turned sour, with the result that the story was depressing. Biswas is the type of character that you want to like, he is the hero after all, but he just keeps letting you down. The other characters that he despises never seem quite as grotesque as his feelings towards them would suggest and if anything he comes across as more dislikeable than them. There are humorous and heart-warming moments, but they are heavily out-weighed by all the tragedy and malcontent. Had the book been one or two hundred pages shorter I might well have enjoyed it more, but I couldn't help feeling relief as I turned the last page. ( )