A House for Mr. Biswas (1961) is V.S. Naipaul’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._S._Naipaul) unforgettable third novel.
Born the ‘wrong way’ and thrust into a world that greeted him with little more than a bad omen, Mohun Biswas has spent his 46 years of life striving for independence. But his determined efforts have met only with calamity. Shuttled from one residence to another after the drowning of his father (for which he is inadvertently responsible), Mr Biswas yearns for a place he can call home.
He marries into the domineering Tulsi family, on whom he becomes indignantly dependent, but rebels and takes on a succession of occupations in an arduous struggle to weaken their hold over him and purchase a house of his own.
Heartrending and darkly comic, this novel masterfully evokes a man’s quest for autonomy against the backdrop of post-colonial Trinidad. Don’t miss the experience of reading this masterful prose stylist.
ISBN 978-0330522892
V. S. Naipaul