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A House for Mr. Biswas

by V. S. Naipaul

A home of his own

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Awards & Recognition

  • Author recognition

    Author V. S. Naipaul is identified as a Nobel Prize winner

    The metadata identifies the author as a Nobel Prize-winning author.

AlbakiReads Editorial

A home of his own

Mr. Mohun Biswas’s search for a house gives this novel a concrete measure of a larger struggle: the effort to shape an independent life while circumstances and family ties pull him elsewhere. After his father’s death, he moves between residences and becomes dependent on the formidable Tulsi family through marriage. His attempt to loosen that dependence and secure a home of his own unfolds against a post-colonial backdrop, combining domestic conflict with questions of autonomy and belonging. The description presents the novel as both comic and dark, with its central pursuit carrying the weight of a life marked by repeated calamity.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in stories about the pursuit of independence and a place to call home.
  • Readers drawn to family dynamics and domestic conflict.
  • Readers exploring fiction set against a post-colonial backdrop.

Themes

Autonomy and dependenceHome and belongingFamily tiesPost-colonial life

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

From the Nobel Prize-winning author: an unforgettable comedy of manners inspired by the author's father that has been hailed as one of the twentieth century's finest novels.

"A marvelous prose epic that matches the best nineteenth-century novels for richness of comic insight and final, tragic power." --Newsweek


In his forty-six short years, Mr. Mohun Biswas has been fighting against destiny to achieve some semblance of independence, only to face a lifetime of calamity. Shuttled from one residence to another after the drowning death of his father, for which he is inadvertently responsible, Mr. Biswas yearns for a place he can call home. But when he marries into the domineering Tulsi family on whom he indignantly becomes dependent, Mr. Biswas embarks on an arduous--and endless--struggle to weaken their hold over him and purchase a house of his own.

A heartrending, dark yet comedic novel, A House for Mr. Biswas masterfully evokes a man's quest for autonomy against an emblematic post-colonial canvas.
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