Customer Reviews
A wandering narrative of a displaced soul. - By: Mary Whipple, 23 Dec 2002 
Naipaul's Nobel Prize for Literature celebrates the long & illustrious career of a writer of extraordinary narrative gifts, amply demonstratedin this novel. The reader can choose any page of the book at random & be stunned by a graceful turn of phrase, a unique observation, the pleasing alternation of starkly simple & elegantly complex sentences, or a perceptive comment presented with grace. Though it is relatively short, it is densein its thematic development, tracing the peripatetic life of Willie Somerset Chandran across three continents, & from his teen years to his early 40's, as he attempts to fit in, to be part of some mainstream.
The offspring of a Brahmin functionaryin a maharajah's court & an Untouchable woman, someone to whom his father was drawn temporarilyin an effort to emulate the sacrifice of Gandhi, Willie belongs to neither group, an outsider even to the lowest caste. He escapes to England, where he remains an outsider, for his schooling & an early career as a writer, eventually fleeing again with Ana, a Portuguese-African woman, to her farmin Mozambique, where he lives for eighteen years. These are eighteen yearsin which he remains alienated, however, living half a lifein a half-developed country to which he, apparently, is only half-committed.
The political & racial tensions of the novel--the bloody independence movementin India, the Notting Hill race riotsin London, & the guerrilla movement for independencein Mozambique--are vivid & dramatic, paralleling Willie's personal conflicts. His early sexual encounters, which might have brought him some sense of belonging, are unfulfilling, however, laden with racial overtones & additional tensions, & described by Naipaulin startingly passionless & unerotic prose. And while the novel has a good deal of irony & some satire, it has no sense of lighthearted fun. Willie's need to belong is so intense it overpowers everything else. Though the reader may feel sympathy for him, his self-centeredness & lack of feeling for other alienated people, especially Ana, ultimately keep him at a distance him from everyone, including this reader.
Because Naipaul has mined the theme of displacement repeatedlyin his novels & non-fiction, one cannot avoid wondering how much of this book is autobiographical. Though that probably shouldn't matter, it is a distraction here. The book feels more like the nonfictional summing-up of a life,in which the reader is an objective observer, than a liberating fictional journey into a new world which the reader shares equally with the author. Mary Whipple
A beatufilly written, thought provoking novel - By: , 26 Nov 2002 Half A Life is an entertaining novel that transports the reader through three continents & an immense variety of characters & events. Far from the content & style being disjointed by the subject's broad tapestry, Naipaul's considerable & concise literary skill flows with ease through the various journeys that are made.
The novel certainly caused me to consider the multitudinous effects of colonialisation & posed more questions than proffered answers about this perpetually fascinating subject. The frustration I felt with the character of Willie Chandran was exacerbated by the very last few pages, although with later consideration, the hollowness & confusion of sentiment was one of the main themes of the book. A wonderful & subtle novel that deserves further thought, questioning, debate & certainly a second read.
Not Half! - By: Kaustav Bhattacharya, 24 Oct 2002 
....This is my first book by Naipaul. Having heard much about his writing, I was intrigued by the title of his latest work. Picking up a copy at London's Waterloo station, I was captivated from the moment I turned the first page. Naipaul's command of the English language makes this book a lucid & flowing pleasure to read.
What separates this book from many others I have readin the past by other authors is the way Naipaul describes the events which transpire during the lives of the various characters portrayedin the book through their very own eyes. You readin to the minds & thoughts of the main characters as if they've sat you down on a sofa & started telling you their personal life story.
The book manages to merge three distinct storiesin to one, blurring the boundaries between each & providing a fitting link between the parts. As you move from one chapter to another, you can carry over the emotions & feelings slowly being built up by the main characters & connect with the despair & futility of life which they put across as you continue to read.
This story is not one to read if you're looking for laughs, but you may well find yourself oddly grinning as you interpret the awkward moments put across as you progress through the pages. Naipaul captures the ideal & also short comings of societyin an exemplary way, though reframes from being antiseptically descriptive to the point of clean fact. You realise that this is indeed a story of fiction, not necessary fact.
The book had me turning pages to the very end & left mein one of those moods where I just said out loud, "damn" after reading the very last sustenance at the end of the book. It almost sets the scene for Half a Life 2, but why bother improving or extending a story which has already proven its point & peaked the imagination.....
Highly recommended if you're a first time reader of Naipaul's work. I certainly enjoyed it.
Misfit among misfits - By: , 22 Jul 2002 "Half a Life" is the fictional autobiography of Willy, the result of an accidental mismatch between a Brahmin & an 'Untouchable'in pre-Independence India. The theme of his tale boils down to a simple three-step sequence, reflecting the triple scenes of his life: India, London & Portuguese East Africa.
Willy is a mixed-caste misfitin India because he can not reconcile his high Brahmin aspirations with his confused adolescent longings. Then he remains a misfit among the weirdoes & hollow men of 1950s bohemian London. Finally, he thinks that he has found where he belongs among the mixed-race second-class Portuguese of Mozambique. At length, however, the realises that he is wrong. He can not escape from his own fragmented identity. Even among misfits a misfit remains a misfit.
"Half a Life" is easy reading. This is partly because of Naipaul's clean, clear prose, & partly because very little of Willy's internal thought is revealed. The reader is left to read them between the lines, producing a book that appears either inconsequential or profound depending on how much invention the reader is prepared to contribute. Naipaul's refusal to let Willy express his rather obvious reflections makes "Half a Life" seem more complex than it actually is, which is the oldest trickin the post-modern book. Once you see through this technique, it is a little irritating, like being flirted with.
Perhaps the best way to read "Half a Life" is to enjoy the comedy of Willy Chandran's bumbling self-discovery, & not to spoil the fun by discovering the underlying structure.
Disappointing, characters you'll want to forget - By: , 03 Nov 2001 
A well written but mercifully short book outlining the family background & life of a man struggling to come to terms with his disreputable origins & placein the world. The central charcter singularly fails to take any responsibility for his life & driftsin a frustrating, vapid way thru a world peopled by similarly insecure & uninspiring individuals. By the end of the book I was left feeling cold but for the thought that life needn't be like this.
