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A House for Mr. Biswas
- Narrated by: Sam Dastor
- Length: 21 hrs and 29 mins
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Summary
A House for Mr. Biswas, by Nobel and Booker Prize-winning author V. S. Naipaul, is a powerful novel about one man's struggle for identity and belonging. Born into poverty, then trapped in the shackles of charity and gratitude, Mr. Biswas longs for a house he can call his own. He loathes his wife and her wealthy family, upon whom he is dependent. Finding himself a mere accessory on their estate, his constant rebellion is motivated by the one thing that can symbolize his independence. The book is striking in its lush and sensual descriptions of Trinidad and was listed as one of Time magazine's 100 Best English-Language Novels from 1923 to 2005.
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What listeners say about A House for Mr. Biswas
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- NCoops
- 27-08-19
Audiobook marred by inattention to country context
VS Naipaul's masterpiece set in his birthplace, Trinidad. This audiobook would have benefited from some effort to give it more authenticity . As a Trinidadian listener it was jarring to hear place names pronounced incorrectly. Also, while getting the accent right can be difficult, substituting an Indian accent is not the answer.
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9 people found this helpful
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- RONAN O'CALLAGHAN
- 12-01-19
Stay with it.
I saw another reviewer commenting to the effect that this is a tediously drawn out account of the minutiae of a life story of a nonentity in an obscure location.
I have to confess that there were times in the first third or so of the narrative when I considered not bothering - having begun with the assumption that there would be something more eventful or dramatic than there is.
However the characters and their exquisitely described surroundings gradually wormed their way into my consciousness to a point where I began to dread the approaching end of the story - as there would be no more of those so enjoyable sojourns in that time and place.
This review does not tell you much about what the book is about but others have done justice to that task. Here I am adding my tuppence worth simply to say I am so glad I stayed with it as it is richly rewarding and satisfying in the end.
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2 people found this helpful
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- SingaporeSling
- 13-08-20
Beautiful book
A very meaningful book and shows remarkable insight and with given that Naipaul was young when he wrote it...
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jilly M-B
- 21-03-19
Full of Life
The oration is absolutely wonderful and changed the book from reading good literature to listening to an outstanding story, Sam Dastor’s voice really brought the characters to life, full of humour and pathos. Highly recommended to all of my friends.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Vinay
- 15-08-23
Great story, poor narration
Great lens into what life was like in those days.
Issues with narration:
- Inaccurate Trinidadian accent
- Several names are pronounced incorrectly
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- little egret
- 02-06-23
A subtle tale of families, flawed people and traditions
No real heroes or villains or great adventures. A subtle tale of families, flawed people and traditions and all their strengths and weaknesses.
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- ajwestward
- 05-05-23
A gratuitous description of defecating
Says it all. If I want a good description of such I can go to my grandchild's dirty nappy.
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- duckyber
- 10-01-23
repetitive
this was meant to be one of the books of the 20th century: dire dire
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- Edmond Lasry
- 29-12-22
Unbelievably good
The voices used by Sam dastor are astonishingly accurate. Reminded me of childhood incessantly. Well done.
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- Pa
- 19-06-22
solemn end
A favourite book, I wished it had a happier ending. I'd like to know the Naipaul's thought on this.
Great narration, too
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