The Mimic Men: A Novel

Found this on my bookshelf--it was a leftover from a grad class I never ended up taking--and I appreciated the wisdom of the narrator's voice. And while I realize that Naipaul did it for structural reasons, I didn't love the fact that almost the entire book was in summary or scenic summary. That unusual rhythm made the story so cerebral that I couldn't admire it.

its a nice but a very intense book...only 4 serious reading

Here is the increasingly solipsistic tale of a man who has been lost and drifting his entire life. His directionlessness paralells the entire postcolonial experience. The narrator's life is built on imitating the manners of the colonial masters. When he reaches adulthood, he is incapable of self-determination, still waiting for forces larger than himself to lead him along, even if it leads him to...more

Here is the increasingly solipsistic tale of a man who has been lost and drifting his entire life. His directionlessness paralells the entire postcolonial experience. The narrator's life is built on imitating the manners of the colonial masters. When he reaches adulthood, he is incapable of self-determination, still waiting for forces larger than himself to lead him along, even if it leads him to personal ruin and exile. It's the collapse of the newborn country in microcosm. The only thing that really detracts from it is that you never get a break from this really rather sad case. There is only ever the one narrator, and even though you get to know him, you eventually tire of this pathetic sack of a man. All the other characters in the book you never really know – you only know what the narrator thinks of them. I know this is the whole point of writing the book this way – so you can understand this one representative character all the better. But he can be so self-absorbed that you're in danger of becoming sick of him before finishing the book.   hide