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bookguyeric 's review for:
A Bend in the River
by V.S. Naipaul
Salim is an Indian from the east African coast who travels to a town in central Africa to take over a shop he's bought from a family friend.
Salim's town was all but destroyed in the recent struggle for independence, in which many Europeans were killed. Now Salim lives in a social world that is a remnant of the foreign merchants and others who inhabit the town. The peace is fragile. The country is run by a dictator, the shadowy and reactive President who makes life a Kafkaesque endeavor to predict trends based on the President's speeches and iconography.
The locals resent the foreigners and their property. They have little opportunity and many are not adapted to the economic life of the town, having their origins in the villages of the bush. People of the villages enjoy the European goods on offer at the shops, so the economy, at least for Salim, thrives in fits and starts.
Salim's challenge is to figure out when to get out when the gettin's good, given the unstable political situation. Unfortunately, he's a complacent sort, and is in danger of being caught out when the next revolution comes.
The observations here are all about Africa, but this book shares similar themes with other books that deal with the trials of everyday life in countries with unstable governments.
Salim's town was all but destroyed in the recent struggle for independence, in which many Europeans were killed. Now Salim lives in a social world that is a remnant of the foreign merchants and others who inhabit the town. The peace is fragile. The country is run by a dictator, the shadowy and reactive President who makes life a Kafkaesque endeavor to predict trends based on the President's speeches and iconography.
The locals resent the foreigners and their property. They have little opportunity and many are not adapted to the economic life of the town, having their origins in the villages of the bush. People of the villages enjoy the European goods on offer at the shops, so the economy, at least for Salim, thrives in fits and starts.
Salim's challenge is to figure out when to get out when the gettin's good, given the unstable political situation. Unfortunately, he's a complacent sort, and is in danger of being caught out when the next revolution comes.
The observations here are all about Africa, but this book shares similar themes with other books that deal with the trials of everyday life in countries with unstable governments.