So this is my second V.S. Naipul book and it definitely lived up to expectations - I might even like it better than A House for Mr. Biswas. I think I just really loved the setting - I love books where you can learn about a certain time period in history and it's just like a slice of life. I love the "big story" (colonialism and how small tribes are being replaced by modern society) along with the contrast of the "small story" (about Salim and his life in the town).
There's probably so many details I could talk about, but it doesn't quite seem worth it to go into all of them now. Just know that the whole package is definitely worth it - I also liked how the ending was pretty melancholy. I was telling S this the other day but I don't like books with overly happy endings or endings where every detail needs to spelled out to the reader (or viewer, if it's a movie). I feel like media nowadays just needs to spoon feeds every detail in order to make sure people get the message. But Naipul seems to have a higher standard for the reader and I appreciate that.
If I had to think of one theme that stands out to me, it's definitely the theme of change and how the "bush people" are slowly getting replaced by a more modern society. But it's also the idea that there's ebbs and flows - during this period of upheaval, there's many rebellions and other significant events but the point is to just look at the overall trajectory and believe in the process Of course, you always have to know when you to get out, as in the famous quote:
“A businessman is someone who buys at ten and is happy to get out at twelve. The other kind of man buys at ten, sees it rise to eighteen and does nothing. He is waiting for it to get to twenty. The beauty of numbers. When it drops to ten again he waits for it to get back to eighteen. When it drops to two he waits for it to get back to ten. Well, it gets back there. But he has wasted a quarter of his life. And all he's got out of his money is a little mathematical excitement.”
I feel like there's another message I need to articulate, but I'm not doing a good job overall - I want to say it's just about the theme of also "dealing" with change itself. Sometimes the main character meets people, has affairs and then they drift apart (sometimes abruptly) while things continue to change. Life is a river and sometimes we can do nothing else but acknowledge that we are just being sweep along by the current, a swirling mass of forces and choices made long ago, over which we have no control.
Anyway, read the book. Would highly recommend it and I believe it made me think a lot too - but I suppose I wouldn't say it affected my thinking personally in a profound (that is, compared to Stoner or even Rob Peace as in my previous post). Sooo... maybe no book can truly be perfect, I guess :)
No comments:
Post a Comment