Back in the early 00’s I had read two V.S. Naipaul books ; A House for Mr. Biswas – which is brilliant and A Bend in the River – which I enjoyed. It is a pity that I didn’t really like ‘The Enigma of Arrival’
The book itself is a semi autobiographical account of the author’s experiences in England, in both the city and country. As Naipaul is a fine writer, there are tons of evocative descriptions.
However what was needed was humour.
Now Naipaul can be funny – … Biswas is a fine comedy of manners so if there’s a right person to talk about people’s quirks it’s definitely Naipaul but he just dedicates pages to descriptions and barely anything else. now and then there are parts dedicated to eccentric characters but he renders these specimens to dull descriptions. By the end of the book I was a little tired of being bombarded by lengthy passages on how to mow a lawn.
A disappointing read!
The Bobsphere 