A House for Mr Biswas

(by V. S. Naipaul)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Transparent Things, the best nihilist comedy ever: a long, lovely, sad, frustrating look at defiant failure Mohun Biswas.  Full of ‘amazing scenes’ and family strife in Trinidad.  When Biswas daubs brightly coloured spots of zinc cream on his face and goes out onto the footpath to watch the world go by, it is hard not to laugh till you cry.

The notoriously scratchy Mr Naipaul has produced an impressive oeuvre down the years, but this is certainly his best book.  He has written that it is the one closest to him.