Book Review
Half a Life (2001)
by V.S. Naipaul
Half a Life is book one of Naipaul's two book series about the life of Willie Somerset Chandran, the son of a Brahmin "Holy Man" and his untouchable wife. Half a Life covers Chandran's early life in India, his time as a student in London, and his 20 years in Mozambique as the husband of a wealthy half-Portuguese, half-African woman, Anna, who claims him as her own after she reads his book of short stories.
I managed to listen to Magic Seeds, the 2004 sequel, as an Audiobook before I heard Half a Life. Both books are on the short side- Half a Life is only 211 pages in print and it is a little surprising that Naipaul decided to publish Half a Life and Magic Seeds as two separate volumes. Half a Life was a Booker Prize longlister, unlike Magic Seeds. Chandran is a classic Naipaul protagonist, the most unique aspect of that role being his unusual mixed caste parentage.
Perhaps it isn't surprising that Half a Life ends up being more about sex than anything else. In particular the final chapter- which is nearly half the length of the book, involves Chandran monologuing to his sister, to whose Berlin house he has decamped after abandoning his wife about the series of erotic adventures that immediately preceded his decision to leave Mozambique behind.
Naipaul is endlessly fascinating to me, I just can't get enough of his perspectives. It's enough to make we want to read secondary books on his work, get to know the criticisms better, read a biography. I have the idea in my head that he was a miserable person in real life, that seems pretty common for prize winning authors.