V. S. Naipaul

A Bend in the River

Marion

A departure can feel like a desertion, a judgement on the place and people left behind.

ZaBeth lived a purely African life; for her only Africa was real. But for Ferdinand she wished something else. I saw no contradiction; it seemed to me natural that someone like Zabeth, living such a hard life, should want something better for her son. This better life lay outside the timeless ways of village and river. It lay in education and the acquiring of new skills; and for Zabeth, as for many Africans of her generation, education was something only foreigners could give.

The Europeans wanted gold and slaves, like everybody else; but at the same time they wanted statues put up to themselves as people who had done good things for the slaves. Being an intelligent and energetic people, and at the peak of their powers, they could express both sides of their civilization: and they got both the slaves and the statues.

This is a remarkable book i had swore off Naipaul after reading masque in Africa last year which was a very disappointing book and also reading anecdotes about he’s life on he’s passing put me off but a friend told me about this 1979 classic and wow. It is a deeply political and philosophical book depending on how you read it. Naipaul was a travel writer even in fiction hes characters always seem to be seemly passing through and observing the places they live but in this particular book it’s intriguing as the protagonist is of Indian descent and though he’s family has lived in Africa many generations he is watching the post independent nation building as though it’s not of any concern to him and he’s people. I am particularly struck by this as this book is set in Uganda/DRC and East African coast where many Indian people were expelled from after independence. If you can get passed Naipaul racial biases you’ll enjoy this. I think for me it was easy to get through the cringe descriptions of enslaved people and Arabs by considering them to simply be the protagonists thoughts and also having read Mahmoud Mamdani book on the expulsion of Indians in Uganda hearing how people of Indian descent thought about people in Africa after independence I was not too shocked by the protagonists views. Brilliant and highly recommend

Lance Willett

A rich and engaging look at life in Africa as a non-native merchant living in a rural city after an African nation gains independence from its European colonizer. The rise and fall of power, how civilization begins with, and goes back to, nature — and how often we don't really belong to our surroundings. My first book by Naipaul; I didn't give 4 stars since I don't enjoy the narrative style; there were sections in the book of endless one-person dialogue that trudged along slowly and painfully.

Andrew John Kinney

Seth Kalback

Roel Vandenhoeck

Giovanni Garcia-Fenech 

Shelby Goodwin

Frederik Van den Bril

Nathan Griffin

A Bend in the River is V. S. Naipaul’s vivid exploration of post-colonial Africa at the time of Independence. With an introduction by Yiyun Li, author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers. Salim has spent most of his life on the east coast of Africa, living and working with his family. When he sets out to build a new life for himself, moving to an unnamed country in the heart of the continent he believes he is doing so to fulfil his duty as a man. He buys a small shop in a sleepy town, at a bend in the river, where he sells sundries to the locals. First published in 1979, A Bend in the River is V.S. Naipaul's vivid exploration of post-colonial Africa at the time of Independence. Serving as a microcosm of this changing world, his bend in the river is a scene of chaos, violent change, warring tribes, ignorance, isolation and poverty. And from this rich landscape emerges one of the author's most potent works - a truly moving story of historical upheaval and social breakdown.

A Bend in the River

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