An enjoyable book - the narrative always pulled me on. But now that I've finished it, it seems as if it were two or three chapters from the middle of someone's autobiography, lacking the chapters preceding and following. ( )

This is one strange book. There are little pockets, glimpses of really interesting writing and ideas, but it's all dressed up in such a strange package. Too weighted down in reality to be a fable, yet too unrealistic to be taken seriously, the main character just flips through life echoing everything around him in his banal thoughts and despite all the horrible things he ends up involved in, I could never feel sorry for him or many of the people around him.

Now I think about it, it almost feels like this book is trying to be too much of everything without committing itself to one path. Is it lush or is it minimalist? Is it a book about this man Willie's incredible/incredulous journey across the globe from controlling influence to controlling influence, or is it a discussion on humanity, class, power and culture? Although competent at all of these things, somehow, it just doesn't seem to satisfy. ( )

If I find myself in the unfortunate situation of struggling with a book, I typically reassess my willingness to pursue its completion around page 50 or so. Since Magic Seeds was my first novel by Naipaul, it was an assigned book in the Go Review that Book! group, and also because I own it, I felt more of an obligation to finish it. Alas, I closed it at page 149 of 288. I was simply too bored with it and found myself procrastinating with the book as other things were "more important". For reading, that was a new experience...

*****POSSIBLE SPOILERS*****
Magic Seeds is the story of Willie, a middle-aged (late-30s, early 40s) man who is discovering himself in his native India as the newly confirmed member of a rebel sect. While this may sound exciting, Naipaul is intentionally vague (I suppose because that's the nature of a rebel sect - to be unidentified) and as a result you don't get enough details about Willie, his mates, their mission, the surroundings, or anything else, to grip onto.

Willie goes back and forth trying to decide if he's doing the right thing, with the right group, or wants to remain. He's indecisive and the group continues to weaken further lessening the appeal of the book. If Willie can't commit to the group, how can we as readers?

More disappointingly, I found the writing pedestrian. I've heard many things about Naipaul's prose and that was why I bought the book (when it was first released). I also own A Turn in the South since I live in the south. I had high hopes but was not impressed.

No worries. I can now tick Naipaul off the list (and leave him there). It's happened before and will no doubt happen again. I'll dust off a different book and dive right in. ( )