In A Free State - V S Naipaul

I must confess that I do not not enjoy reading V.S. Naipaul. I find his fiction overly pessimistic and bitter, his characters unappealing, passive victims whose lives seem exercises in futility. In a sense, like Joseph Conrad, he explores the backwaters of colonialism ( or post-colonialism in Naipual´ s case) , but whereas most of Conrad´ s main characters have a spark of courage, or decency or some positive human value, Naipaul´ s alienated and displaced characters find it difficult to even sustain petty or mediocre aspirations.

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So this novel starts with a narrator on a ferry to Egypt which is to say that he owns a boat or ship for taking passenger and often vehicles deliverable on the surface of water body across a water as a regular service that has to be done by him by any means. And having been indulged into this he returns to egypt finally.

This novel starts from mumbai and ends when character is settled to egypt.

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The book is actually a tough one it is not that easy to understand . Only a person with keen dedication would be able to complete it. It consist of 3 short stories and one main story. It is about being in a space that is not your natural space or where you feel comfortable , in a word displacement.

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In A Free State - V S Naipaul In A Free State - V S Naipaul 83%

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Great book ranganarora09 Aug 10, 2016 1038

I think this is one that will stay with me for a long time.I tried to write an actual review, but I’m struggling to put how I feel afterwards into words.I woul

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Aftermath of freedom smeagol88 Jan 16, 2016 1613

In keeping with Naipaul’s schizophrenic relationship with colonialism, he is at his condescending best in this only Booker-winning work of his. The original no

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In a forest state is a very interesting book alviharis28 May 24, 2017 480

This book has been written by V S Naipaul in 1971.this book contain 3 stories or novel.In a free state is the last name of story which is present in this book.this book give guidance about foregin land.this book tell us about people of africe.the people of africa are not strong enought to take their own decision.in last they fight for their freedom.while reading this book I am very impressed by the thought of authur.this story made me to relaize that independence is important for everyone

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This book has been written by V S Naipaul in 1971.this book contain 3 stories or novel.In a free state is the last name of story which is present in this book.this book give guidance about foregin land.this book tell us about people of africe.the people of africa are not strong enought to take their own decision.in last they fight for their freedom.while reading this book I am very impressed by the thought of authur.this story made me to relaize that independence is important for everyone

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This book is written by V.S. Naipaul, who is a famous author, and writes in an elegant style. The plot of the story is nice, and I enjoyed while going this book. The author deserves an accolade for writing this book. It relates to the story of what price has to be paid for getting freedom. It is a compilation of three short stories and I love reading this book again and again. Each and ever detail is described minutely.

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There are three novellas with a very short piece at the beginning and end. The focus is on being in a foreign/strange land. The longest novella deals with Africa at the end of empire; two white colonials travelling across an African state(possibly Uganda) at a time of change. It highlights their fears, prejudices and feelings about the future. There is a strong sense of threat(real or imagined; you decide) as they travel and a sense of something ending. The story about an Indian in Wshington DC and his adjustment to a new culture and a foreign land is moving. Tell Me Who To Kill with its brooding sense of alienation is also very good.I know Naipaul is not really in vogue at the moment, but I enjoyed this.

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I must confess that I do Not enjoy while reading book v. S naipaul . I find his fiction overly pessimistic and bitter, his character unappealing and passive victim whose lives seem exercises in futility .v. s. Naipaul must be consider a important writer

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V.S. Naipaul is an Indian origin writer.He wrote around 30 novel in both fiction and non-fiction.He got nobel prize in literature. His novel "In A Free State" published and got man booker prize in 1971.It is a good novel.Novel contain 3 stages with small stories, last one named as In A Free State.the theme of the story related with price of freedom with analogies between the three situations.Overall I will rate 3.9/5.

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In a country in Africa, there are two groups of people – the President’s men and the King’s men; and the third are the Europeans, the settlers, the colonialists, the government officers, trapped in the rising heat between them. A hunt is going on and Bobby and Linda are travelling from capital, where Africa is in absentia, to the troubled south, with the uprising, revenge and self-identification of natives in the backdrop of their conversation. There is change of tides, rusting of old establishments and adjustment of hierarchy. But the story is of a travel, of perception of two white people of the changes in their present home, of transition and not of the revolution.

This 1971 Booker Prize winning book, which was originally published with two supporting matter from other places, now absent, is, in abstract, a story of change, but not the physical change as much as the change of outlook, attitude and opinions. Compared to the Naipaul’s previous books, this book have a different tongue which is much closer to a travelogue than a work of fiction. With almost more than 70% of book dedicated to the description of the surrounding, of the road, nearly everything around the protagonist Bobby, it seems that Naipaul want its reader to clearly picture the Africa of that time and imagine the changing feelings which is the reason the book clearly belongs to the decade of 70s.

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I read Picador paperback which had fine quality pages.

In a country in Africa, there are two groups of people – the President’s men and the King’s men; and the third are the Europeans, the settlers, the colonialists, the government officers, trapped in the rising heat between them. A hunt is going on and Bobby and Linda are travelling from capital, where Africa is in absentia, to the troubled south, with the uprising, revenge and self-identification of natives in the backdrop of their conversation. There is change of tides, rusting of old establishments and adjustment of hierarchy. But the story is of a travel, of perception of two white people of the changes in their present home, of transition and not of the revolution.

This 1971 Booker Prize winning book, which was originally published with two supporting matter from other places, now absent, is, in abstract, a story of change, but not the physical change as much as the change of outlook, attitude and opinions. Compared to the Naipaul’s previous books, this book have a different tongue which is much closer to a travelogue than a work of fiction. With almost more than 70% of book dedicated to the description of the surrounding, of the road, nearly everything around the protagonist Bobby, it seems that Naipaul want its reader to clearly picture the Africa of that time and imagine the changing feelings which is the reason the book clearly belongs to the decade of 70s.

Many people mistake the readability of the Naipaul’s books, considering the accolades and achievements, to be difficult but in fact his books are overly simplistic with little embellishments. The only roadblock in reading this book is, maybe, the depiction part, as the portrayal takes time in forming in the mind, like:

“Tall eucalyptus trees made an open, dripping grove, tattered bark on straight trunks; and, against the great mountains in the distance, the rising hills showed a mixture of fenced pastures, hummocked open land, eucalyptus windbreaks, old forest patches: an unfinished landscape, a scratching in the continent.”

For me, Naipaul’s other books were more enjoyable and thoughtful but if you want to read about the landscapes of Africa and the changing sentiment of the people around the time of decolonisation, this is your book.

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In a Free State is one of the best works of fiction I have read that deals with the subject of cultural incomprehensibility and the broken symmetry of colonial relationships. Naipaul's use of multiple stories helps him present a more balanced perspective than a straightforward novel would have allowed, the subject is one he has made his own, and his prose is up to its usual high standard. There can have been little surprise when In a Free State won the 1971 Booker Prize.

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I think this is one that will stay with me for a long time.

I tried to write an actual review, but I'm struggling to put how I feel afterwards into words.

I would, however, recommend this to absolutely anybody. There is wisdom and compassion and rage and a sense of lucid detachment that make the book very difficult reading, but make you think very deeply and clearly.

I think great literature should transport you to a time and place and you should come away having lived an experience, and in this you get five.

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In keeping with Naipaul's schizophrenic relationship with colonialism, he is at his condescending best in this only Booker-winning work of his. The original novel was a loosely-bunched-together collection of three short stories, but the edition I read contained just one, the main story at the end of the original book.

It is essentially a road-story. The protagonist Bobby, who is an official getting back to his living quarters in the Government compound from a conference that he attended in the capital, is accompanied by a colleague's wife, Linda, on the journey.

In the mad power-struggle that follows in the aftermath of granting of independence to the fictional Great Lakes nation in Africa, violence runs deep. The overarching theme seems to be that of a people not ready to take their affairs into their own hands. It's very well-known how Naipaul has repeatedly derided Africa as a somehow sub-human culture still not prepared from civilization. This stance of his has been widely criticized, but what cannot be denied is that In A Free State is surprisingly prescient, as his most of his work.

An important theme is also that of distrust: the distrust of the servant, the distrust of the master, the distrust between Bobby and Linda, and a very basic distrust of the enterprise of freedom.

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In a Free State is a sequence of five works - two short stories (the prologue and the epilogue), two forty page novellas and a one hundred and forty page short novel - linked by a common theme. All are about individuals stranded in foreign countries and confronted by alien cultures.

In ''One out of Many'' an Indian servant is almost accidentally transported to Washington, where he finds a niche for himself but remains profoundly alienated from the world around him. ''Tell Me Who to Kill'' is the tragic story of a West Indian who moves to London.

The novel ''In a Free State'' is about expatriate English civil servants in a recently independent African state torn by civil war. And the epilogue and prologue present the more detached view of an experienced traveller writing in his journal.

In a Free State is one of the best works of fiction I have read that deals with the subject of cultural incommensurability and the broken symmetry of colonial relationships.

Naipaul's use of multiple stories helps him present a more balanced perspective than a straightforward novel would have allowed, the subject is one he has made his own, and his prose is up to its usual high standard. There can have been little surprise when In a Free State won the 1971 Booker Prize.

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