Willie Chandran se află în prim-plan în acest text. Povestea lui începe în India, lângă tatăl său (un revoltat al castei sale care se căsătorește cu o femeie dintr-o castă inferioară, numită ”înapoiată”) pe care ajunge să-l urască cu timpul, neînțelegându-i alegerile. Suferă din cauza sărăciei, din cauza mamei de care se depărtează tot mai mult, și a surorii Sarojini, și ea, aparent, condamnată.

Pleacă în Anglia, la un colegiu, sperând că, lăsând în urmă rădăcinile sale, în siguranță față de religia și suferința sa, viața se va îmbunătății și grupurile boeme din Anglia postbelică îl vor primi cu brațele deschise.

Lucrurile nu sunt chiar așa simple, nici cercurile noi, nici prietenii, emigrantul Percy sau avocatul Roger, nu-l fac să se integreze și să găsească un sens vieții. Nici măcar volumul său de povestiri scurte, pornit dintr-o revoltă contra tatălui, nu-i aduce succesul dorit. Pe când sora, nedorită cum era, ajunge să se căsătorească și să călătorească în întreaga lume.
O întâlnește pe Ana, care vine din Africa să stea cu el, dar fiindcă colegiul e pe terminate, decide să se multe cu ea într-o țară despre care nu știa nimic. Nici ea nu are o povestea prea fericită dar se sprijină amândoi, găsesc siguranța printre africani, în casa bunicului Anei.

Din păcate, nici aici lucrurile nu stau mai bine, chiar dacă faci parte din cercurile coloniștilor portughezi care conduc totul. Revolte, războaie, lume suferindă, fete obligate să se prostitueze de la 11 ani, corupție, toate acestea dau impresia unei stări de fapt în jurul cuplului. Viața lor pare ”condimentată” cu poveștile familiei Correia care, în ciuda, banilor și suferințelor zilnice care-i înconjoară, reprezintă stâlpul de susținere, ideea falsă că totul merge bine.
Anii trec peste toți. Familia Correia începe să sufere, se mută, semn că declinul este iminent. El se instalează și-n familia lui Willie, acesta găsind alinare în brațele altor femei, fără nicio remușcare.
In cele din urma divorteaza si pleaca in Germania la sora sa.

This novel charting the life and losses of the central character - Willie - tells an interesting and in-depth tale of a young man caught between worlds. It charts a half-life. Born of a Brahmin and low caste mother (who is painfully ridiculed by Willie's father in the first part of the book), Willie spends the novel seeking a way to find himself and - presumably - find a sense of purpose and wholeness he believes his father discarded in favour of a pitiable idleness.

Willie attempts to find himself by seeking a supposed "better life" in London, where he is greeted by an underground party scene of (rather ditsy and ignorant) white British people and those who have emigrated dancing and becoming-with one another. In this heat of freedom Willie meets a girl and runs away with her to Portuguese-run Africa full of scrubland and big, expensive houses.

I liked that the book seemed both believable and ludicrous, that it was not romantic, that the characters were not perfect but deeply flawed and seeking some kind of progression yet standing still (as we all find ourselves doing). I liked that the book showed things to me that I have never encountered - Naipaul is a good writer and this is a good book. But I want to know more about Willie's mother and sister, who became shadows in the text. I wanted Willie to be less unfair to Ana (his wife), to be less lead by lust - but perhaps this is writing that is honest. We can't always get what we want.

Willie discarded his desire to be a writer, although he had promise, because he did not have confidence. Willie was lead by sexual desire, he was cruel to his parents and unforgiving to those who loved him. Perhaps he is simply human.

Los colonizados y los colonizadores, los negros y los blancos son una línea continua de matices. Todos estamos en un lugar, hay alguien peor que nosotros, alguien mejor. El odio, la imposibilidad de la convivencia. Después de leer esto me queda que la humanidad no tiene remedio. Y siento que Naipaul sabe más de esto que muchos antroplogos y sociólogos.
No puede ser así siempre. Si es así, que estoy haciendo con mi vida

PD Es también sobre hombres, cómo son los hombres. Eso tampoco tiene remedio.

Quantos de nós sentem que viveram uma vida pela metade? Serão muitos os que olham para trás e sentem que os melhores anos das suas vidas foram desperdiçados a viver as vidas de outras pessoas, sem terem a coragem de dar o salto de fé que lhes daria um leque de novas e infinitas possibilidades? Este é o subtexto desta historia desconcertante: pai e filho em permanente conflito com o que os rodeia e com as tradições que espartilham os seus sonhos, numa luta interior constante para conseguir viver as suas próprias vidas.
Para nós, portugueses, o interesse da história é reforçado pelo contexto colonial e pelas constantes referências a Portugal e ã ligação do nosso país a África e à Índia de meados do século XX. É o primeiro de dois volumes e mal posso esperar para começar a ler a segunda metade destas vidas que ainda vão a meio.

Questo è il primo libro di V.S. Naipaul che leggo, e l’ho scelto perché da più parti ho letto che si tratterebbe del suo capolavoro. Diciamo che, se è così, non ho molto interesse a leggere altri libri dello stesso autore, allo stesso modo in cui mi è accaduto poco tempo fa per Salman Rushdie, di cui non sono riuscita ad andare oltre le 30 pagine di The Satanic Verses. Questo libro invece l’ho terminato, anche perché è piuttosto breve.

Il protagonista è Willie Chandran, indiano, figlio di un brahmino e di una donna di casta inferiore, che il padre ha sposato quasi per sfida, più che per amore. Seguiamo la vita di Willie dall’India della sua infanzia, alla Londra della sua giovinezza/adolescenza, all’Africa (Mozambico, probabilmente, anche se il Paese non viene mai nominato) dell’età adulta. Willie vuole scappare dalla sua casa paterna, e così riesce a farsi mandare a Londra per studiare. Qui pubblicherà un libro di racconti, infatti fin da quando era bambino ama scrivere delle storie. E qui incontrerà varie donne, fra cui Ana, una portoghese africana che seguirà nel suo Paese in Africa, dove trascorrerà diciotto anni.

La storia di Willie è quella di un déraciné, un uomo senza radici, che sinceramente non cerca neanche tanto di farsene, ma si accontenta di vivere/sopravvivere in una vita priva di senso alcuno. Anche la storia, almeno ai miei occhi, è risultata così priva di senso alcuno, come la vita del protagonista, ma forse è proprio l’effetto che l’autore voleva ottenere, chissà.

La scrittura mi è piaciuta senza avermi entusiasmato, certo non si può dire che Naipaul non sappia scrivere, ma io a un romanzo chiedo più che una buona scrittura.

Una delusione, per me.

Although the author won a Pulitzer for his body of work, I wasn't too crazy about this book. I thought the protagonist was a loser who sort of wandered through life aimlessly, living off the good graces of other people. I really couldn't see any growth in his character at the book's end, nor did I really care. In fact, from beginning to end, I'm still not sure who this character is, or what he thinks, or why he behaves the way he does.

A plotless but enjoyable read. The story follows the life of a very unambitious young man who leaves his home in India to go to England for college where he makes little effort to excel. He writes a book of short stories that leads to his meeting a young woman from Africa. Since he has no ambition he decides to go to Africa with the woman after college because he doesn't know what else he can do. The story is very lackadaisical but Naipaul's writing makes it a good read.

This book is best understood by people who have left their home country and lived abroad. It is about seeing your own culture from a distance, becoming aware of how cultural norms have formed you, and realizing your own deficiencies. More than that it is about identity and the struggle to find meaning in one’s life. Sadly, the main character merely wanders through life, like many of us do. I loved the book because I could identify with his inner struggle, and I thought that the untidiness of story and lack of plot echo real life.

More specifically the book gives us a view of the consequences of colonialism. But even more noteable is how women are regarded throughout the novel. Although somewhat depressing, it was interesting to get inside the minds of the male characters. On a brighter note there is one passage that I found moving in its simplicity. This was when the main male character’s experience of sexuality came into full bloom:

“I had found again everything I had seen in her eyes. I was full of desire. Not that dumb, headlong, private desire of London, but a desire that came now from knowledge and experience and truly embraced the other person. At the same time I was quite shy. I could scarcely bear to look into her eyes. They promised such intimacies.” (page 202)

Half a Life offered me a perspective very different from my own. It takes place at varied destinations across the globe and offers twists and turns as well as some bizarre settings, like when the protagonist takes a woman to an abandoned German castle to make love, only to flee because they find out that it is infested with spitting cobras. All in all it was a rewarding read.

It does what it does well and not much else. Not a great way to explain it but if you read it you will understand. We follow the exceptionally uneventful life of Willie as he tries to discover himself and find a path to walk down. I found him to be spineless and became quite bored watching him float through life being led by his lust most of the time like so many male characters in so many other(better written) books. But then, the language reflects his life, nothing much exciting going on. Having at this time not read any other VS Naipaul I’m not sure if the straightforward prose is specific to this book or just how he writes, but at times it felt like it was written by a teenager. But as mentioned this matches the dull life of the main character. He marries the first woman to show him attention and I thought something was due to happen when they moved to Africa as the country went through some big changes as he lived there but these things seemed to happen on the outside and didn’t affect his life very much, he was too busy being led on by his crotch to notice much else. The life of his sister sounded a much better story and she seemed a better character but then the book would have been something completely different. Willie does live a ‘half life’ but it’s his own doing due to just floating through it with no direction or focus. Eventually he realizes that his life has been a waste of time but by then it’s too late. I’ll let you read something else and give you the main message; live your life now before it’s too late.

From the inside cover ‘…a devastating work of exceptional sensitivity…’ not sure who stayed up all night writing that but I was not devastated in the slightest.

At the end of the day there are better books about the struggle to find a ‘purpose’ in one’s life.

I was very disappointed with this book - for such a short book that would normally take me less than a day to read, it has taken me almost a month to finish. I found myself so bored and irrated with the characters and the plot that I kept putting the book down with annoyance.

Having endured his father's story at the start of the book I hoped that his son's story and the rest of the book would get more interesting and enjoyable... unfortunately it was even more painfully boring pointless. I usually finish a book having learnt something or at least feel something. With this book I found myself asking what is the point?

Prilično slabo. Pola života, više kao pola knjige. Sve je nedorečeno i nabacano. Motivi imigracije, otuđenosti, promašenosti su samo dati u naznakama, nigde zapravo temeljno obrađeni. Čim se jedan lik ili događaj spomene i taman osetiš da ima tu nečeg zanimljivog, sve se izvitoperi i ostane tako polovično (pun intended)

India
“I was doing penance for something I had done, and I was living as a mendicant in the outer courtyard of the big temple. I had also taken a vow of silence. This had won me a certain amount of local respect, even renown. People would come to look at me being silent and some would bring me gifts. I foolishly gave up English education in response to the mahatma's call and unfitted myself for life, while watching my friends and enemies growing in prosperity and regard.”

England
“He turned away and began to walk down one of the paths beside Bayswater Road. He walked without seeing, thinking of the hopelessness of home and his own nebulous present. All at once, in the most magical way, he was lifted out of himself. He saw, walking towards him on the path, a man famous beyond imagining, and now casual and solitary and grand among the afternoon strollers. It was Krishna Menon, the close friend of Mr. Nehru, and India's spokesman in international forums.”

Africa
"I am not staying here. I am leaving.” That was how he thought during the slow further journey in a small coasting ship to the northern province closer now to the land, closer to the frightening mouths and wetlands of very wide rivers, quiet and empty, mud and water mixing in great slow swirls of green and brown. Those were the rivers that barred any road or land route to the north. They got off at last at a little low-built concrete town, grey and ochre and fading white, with straight streets.”

************

Willie Chandran asks his father why his middle name is Somerset and the father begins the story of how he was born. The father was enrolled in an English language school and engaged to the principal’s daughter when he became motivated by the Mahatma to practice noncooperation. He notices an outcaste woman in the class and tries to socialize with her in accordance with Gandhi’s teachings against untouchability. This occurs after the 1930 Salt March in an unnamed maharaja state. His sitting with her at a tea shop after classes provokes her activist uncle to organize protests against caste oppression. Willie’s father was from a priestly caste family of high standing who ran the temple.

Concerned for her safety he arranges a place for her to live in a sculpture studio storeroom. At this point they both have left school. When the grandfather and the principal become aware of what’s happened he takes an oath of celibacy and penitence, moving out of the house to the temple where he practices a vow of silence, living off alms. The principal is hosting the foreign writer Somerset Maugham who traveled to ashrams and temples in 1938 and explains the meaning of the mendicant. He becomes famous in a guidebook and later in a Maugham novel. His celibacy vow ultimately fails and she becomes pregnant with Willie. Now living together in a house he is absorbed with self doubt and regrets.

After hearing this tale Willie tells his father that he despises him. As a boy he has a sister Sarojini, whom the father hopes to marry off to a foreigner, a mirror image of his wife. They attend a missionary school where Willie writes allegories of persecuted Dalits and evil Brahmins. He goes to London at age 20 in the 1950’s, sponsored by a member of the House of Lords, similar to Naipaul’s scholarship at Oxford paid for by the government of Trinidad at around the same time. Willie finds he learned little of the world at the missionary school and meets other foreign scholarship students, one from Jamaica who has a white girlfriend, as Naipaul did. Willie wastes no time contriving to cheat with her.

Willie gets a part time job writing bits for the BBC, where Naipaul had once worked as a presenter. He meets a legal aid lawyer who is knowledgeable about literature. When he reads Willie’s writing he gives him sage advice which leads to the publication of a short story book and literary contacts. In the midst of London riots he receives a fan letter from a London student from Mozambique, a Portugese colony. They meet and he is immediately attracted to the mixed African woman named Ana. London had taught him to accept a range of people, unlike a caste system which determines your station at birth. There are echoes of his father and mother’s union and the folly of innate class distinctions.

Faced with graduation, no prospects and in love with Ana he asks to go with her to Africa. His younger sister Sarojini works with Che Guevara in Cuba while berating him to press for socialist causes. She had married a German who lives in Berlin. Naipaul had visited and traveled in East Africa in the 70’s. When Willie arrives they drive off into the bush to a farmhouse where he doesn’t want to stay but spends the next eighteen years until he tires of living in the backwater colony. There are worries of a native insurrection, as had happened in Angola in a most grisly way. The whites put on European airs in the country. Finally Willie leaves and joins his sister and her husband in Berlin.

As a non-practicing Hindu V S Naipaul knew much about the faith even though he visited India only as a grown man and famous writer. He holds the dubious distinction of his first travelogue in a trilogy being banned by the government. This 2001 novel was published the year he received the Nobel Prize. There is a 2004 sequel ‘Magic Seeds’ which picks up where ‘Half a Life’ ends, with Willie in Berlin. As with many of Naipaul novels it is a master class in how to transform your personal life experiences into fiction by adding a twist here and a stretch there. As Naipaul once said “Non-fiction can distort; facts can be realigned. But fiction never lies.” This is a classic Naipaul novel, no doubt about it.