...
Show More
This book was not my favorite, but it is also not even near being one of the worst books I've read. I just had a very hard time staying awake while reading this book (I actually missed two nights of tracking because I fell asleep while reading) due to its relatively dry subject matter and tediously paced plot. Thus, as you can probably derive from my previous statements, this book was a pretty slow read for me and what would've normally taken me 20 minutes to read, took me 40. I was just constantly catching myself either dozing off or letting my mind wander to other homework assignments I had to complete after I finished reading. However, vapidness aside, there were certain redeeming qualities about this novel as well. The actual writing itself was honorable, which I would expect from an author who has won the honor of a Nobel Prize in literature. The characters were also intriguing although at times it felt as though Naipaul was trying so hard to make them appear multi-dimensional that they lost all depth and simply became archetypes. Additionally, he did such a superb job of making me hate the father in the beginning that I couldn't seem to shake it, even in the portions where my hate was supposed to subside. Another redeeming quality was the setting as it took place in three different continents (Asia, Europe, and North America) so while the plot dragged, the reader was never bored with the location. This also allowed the reader to learn about the culture and landscape of each continent and how they differed from one another. Thus, all in all, this was not a bad book, it just wasn't a great one either.
