Reviews

The coming of age journey of a young Indian boy as he goes from India to England to Africa. I enjoyed Naipaul's writing style. The plot just felt lacking to me. I finished the book and felt like what was the point. The ending felt abrupt.

lucychen's review

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Funny but weird. Tedious and slow

nwhyte's review against another edition

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http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1302708.html[return][return]Having enjoyed A House for Mr Biswas, I tried this as a follow-up, but did not enjoy it as much. Naipaul's protagonist is Indian, and gets a scholarship to study in London, where he starts to make a career as a journalist and writer; and then he abruptly goes to Africa with his current lover. The best thing about the book is the vivid sense of place of the three settings - the immediate post-independence period in India, the London literary sub-culture, and the African colony lurching towards independence: I really felt immersed in the settings, both the physical and human aspects of the geography.[return][return]That said, the book is rather frustratingly incomplete. There is occasional name-dropping of real people - Krishna Menon, Arthur Christiansen, Che Guevara; but I couldn't really understand the contrast between on the one hand this specificity about real people, and the very well conveyed sense of place, and on the other a geographical coyness. Why not name the Portuguese colony on the east coast of Africa? (There is only one, after all.) Why not be more specific about Willie's home town in India? Perhaps the point is to make it a more universal critique of colonialism, but I think it would have been more effective without the vagueness.[return][return]It's not a very cheerful book. Willie makes love to many women, but doesn't really appear to enjoy it, or to like them very much. I don't think it is misogynistic - Willie's sister, and his Portuguese African girlfriend, are both memorable charact

saipradhanreads's review

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2.0

This didn't make much of an impression on me –I expected more. The most compelling bit is the story of Willie’s father, not so much of Willie himself. Willie’s father is a man who goes along with the flow of things because he is remarkably mediocre, below average perhaps. Trying to break the tedium and prove himself worthy, he makes a ‘noble’ decision to marry outside his caste, a decision which turns out to be all talk and no substance because he isn’t able to, nor does he genuinely try to, rid himself of deep rooted biases. Through a weird set of circumstances, he turns into a somewhat revered sadhu, who comes into contact with Somerset Maugham (and vaguely names his son after him), and ends up in various accounts of spiritual India etc. I liked this bit because it took a jab at such stereotypical accounts, which you could still find very easily in a bookstore. I liked that it questions authenticity.

The rest is a typical jaunt around the colonies, trying to fit in, feeling like the ‘other’ etc.

mjmbecky's review

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3.0

It's nearly impossible to really write a review of Naipaul's Half a Life without including a gut reaction. The multi-layered threading of ideas presented in the novel are mind-numbing, to say the least. Every possible view and corner of race, social class, empire, colonization, education, and sexual politics are explored through the main character's life. Just as you get the sense that you are nailing down a "point" being made, the narrative snakes its way in a different direction.

Although I feel like I have read many books centered on these themes of identity, colonization, etc., I have to admit to feeling side-swiped by Naipaul's narrative style and message. Maybe I wanted a more neatly, discoverable message. Maybe it was the startling jump in 18 years in the narration that finally put the nail in the coffin for me. Or, maybe it was the oddly callous approach to sex (not graphically described in any way) that left me concerned by the main character's mechanical way of life. I wasn't so much shocked or appalled by Willie's life as I was concerned by his oddly disconnected, yet heightened existence. On one hand he was disconnected from every social group or culture he lived among, and yet on the other, he blended in and had insights into the hypocrisies of every group in which he mingled. It could be that this seeming "observation" mode taken by the main character is just the point? Willie really was as the title says, always living "half a life" because he was always an observer in every culture, position, circle, or relationship that he was engaged.

Strangely, I'm glad that I tackled Half a Life. In comparison to Naipaul's A House for Mr. Biswas, which I was familiar from a paper I wrote in graduate school, this later novel has a deeper sense of tension than I remember in his earlier piece. In Half a Life, the narration is linear in one sense, but splintered and fractured in a very deconstructionist sort of way that forces the reader to feel the instability of the main character. The concept of "still waters run deep" is a great way of describing the novel, in that the surface language and story feel smooth and uninterrupted, while the deep underpinnings of it are stirred and tumultuous beyond recognition.

milton's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

0.25

Content Warnings

nini23's review

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2.0

I really disliked all the casual descriptions of sex with under-aged girls and how it was written as normal widespread practice. Ditto adultery. The book suffered from the male gaze, at times lecherous others undisguised indiscriminate lust.

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