hadeanstars 's review for:

A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul

5.0

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Unsettling, haunting, melancholic, exhilarating, a work of brilliance because it evokes so much. This is the story of Salim, an African of Arabian descent who makes a life halfway across the continent from his home at a town at a bend in the river. The town remains anonymous, it could be anywhere in Africa. And we witness a transition between the genteel oppression of colonialism as it gives way to the ascendancy of the bush, a word which describes not just the jungle, but also the disenfranchised African who is coming into his power at the behest of the President. But out of the bush comes a legacy of difficulty. Not just ambition and corruption, but also terror and superstition and new values undermine the simple routines of life at a bend in the river, until Salim finds that he did not understand the important distinction between a businessman and a mathematician, and now he is in mortal danger.

Naipaul writes with such refinement and sensitivity, and with a kind of covert intensity that is so rare. This novel really gets under your skin, it is wonderful.