Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul’s magnificent Magic Seeds continues the story of Willie Chandran, the perennially dissatisfied and self-d...
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Nov 14, 2007
Malbadeen
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Dear Magic Seeds, I'm sorry - it's me, not you. Really, you are too good for me. you are sweet and patient but I'm just at a different place in my life. I need something more! Call it a midlife crisis, call it a terminal case of immaturity! but right now I need uproarious laughter or crass sex. I need words so beautiful they make me gasp and drop the pages. I don't have the patience for subtlety of plot or unfulfilled flirtations with characters. I will probably regret it someday but for now, I
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Feb 18, 2009
Gina
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What I learned from this book would take another book to explain. Naipaul is such a prolix writer with chameleon shifts of tone - and did I mention his incredibly drawn characters? Right now, the brain is swimming in his wonderful sea of words, so let me pick one example of each facet of fiction.
Character: Not fair, not fair. Willie would seem the natural candidate: the transplanted Indian whose father funs an ashram and who begins as a young man in London, writes a book, mee More...
Character: Not fair, not fair. Willie would seem the natural candidate: the transplanted Indian whose father funs an ashram and who begins as a young man in London, writes a book, mee More...
Feb 01, 2011
Christine
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Dear Mr. Naipual,
I understand you are one of the most regarded novelists of the 20th century but this book baffled me and, I do apologize, bored me. The characters didn't seem real--they seemed like platforms created to talk about class, politics and class, religion and class, sex and class, etc. After a while I finally understood that this book wasn't about real people--instead the themes of geo-political borders and social stratification fought to dominate the "story". I More...
Nov 05, 2010
Karima
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I chose this book because of the title, not realizing that it is a sequel to HALF I LIFE which I did not read. To be fair, I can't give this a just assessment. Suffice it to say, I couldn't get all the way through it. The idea of magic seeds is based on the magic of being able to produce a raceless society through miscegenation.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. At the end of Half a Life, Naipaul's previous novel, Willie, a young Indian in late 1950s London, travels to Africa. More...
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. At the end of Half a Life, Naipaul's previous novel, Willie, a young Indian in late 1950s London, travels to Africa. More...
Apr 10, 2010
Ritu
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As I began reading this book, I realized that this was a book that I had given up trying to read a few years ago. The main character Willie is portrayed to be a person who is drifting in life and searching for a cause to make his life more meaningful. He is pushed by his sister Sarojini to do something, make up his mind. He goes to India to join a guerilla movement, wanders around in forests with the wrong group. No one knows what the cause is, what the goals are, and in this process in between
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Feb 05, 2009
Half A Life (2001) might have been better been left without this sequel, which ruffles reviewers' feathers as only a grand old man of literature can. Though his trophy shelf holds a Nobel Prize, his past accomplishments buy him little sympathy. In fact, it's often difficult to tell if critics are more put off by Magic Seeds or their appraisal of Willie Chandran as a mouthpiece for Naipaul's politics. For an author whose greatest works have a heavy dose of autobiography, this reaction is not surp
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Apr 29, 2011
Cbj
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May 13, 2009
Shilpa
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Booooring! I picked up this book, because I had heard so much about Naipaul. I guess I should have started with the other book first. But if this is the same style he writes in, then I doubt I would have liked that one either. It's a story about a nobody, who goes like a nomad from one country to another, get's caught in a guerrilla movement that isn't his, nor does it mean anything or lead anywhere. comes out of it, and goes and meets a bunch of nobodies, and sees how their lives are screwed up
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Aug 07, 2011
Riet
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Jammer, maar dit boek doet geen recht aan Naipauls reputatie. Het is het vervolg op "Half a Life", wat ik erg goed vond. In dit boek gaat het verhaal van de hoofdpersoon, Willy, uit Half a Life door. Dat deel is zeker zo goed als het eerste boek, maar op driekwart van het boek, als het verhaal van Willy bijna is afgelopen, voegt Naipaul ineens een stuk toe, dat m.i. onnodig is en de kwaliteit van het boek niet ten goede komt. Dit gaat over de escapades van de engelse middle/upperclass
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Jan 04, 2011
Isabel
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Hmm. What to make of this one? I guess it is sort of a continuation of another novel which I haven't read. Maybe that would have helped to ground it some. It's an odd book, in that there isn't much plot. I guess that's the point? Willie is just floating along, going in whatever direction someone points him in. In the process, he comes to terms with immigration, modernization and class differences in England, his home--of sorts. It's an interesting novel--well, no. The novel is a little
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Jan 22, 2011
Shannon
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Gorgeous language and tremendously transporting, yet still somehow this story of a peripatetic man in search of a cause and his own purpose in life did not engage me, partially because he himself seemed so disengaged. Mush of the novel is given over to the stories of others as told to the protagonist, which further the basic tenet of the book but do nothing to further engage the reader. I was also a little disturbed by the final sentences in which the "moral of the story" is spelled
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Jul 31, 2008
Allison
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Coming across this book was kind of an accident. At Calabash, Derek Walcott debuted a poem in which he called Naipaul a mongoose and criticized him for abandoning a Caribbean identity and solidarity with Afro-Caribbean populations. Naipaul was born in Trinidad of Indian heritage. (The mongoose is an animal brought to the Caribbean from India by the British). Anyhow, this made me want to read Naipaul who like Walcott is a Nobel Prize winner. Everyone says "don't read the last book,"
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Sep 21, 2007
Ruth
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My first book by Naipaul--it was a real bargain on a Barbara's sale table. Definitely past time to become acquainted with the work of this Nobel Prize winner.
The story--or part of it--was originally written in the first person. How do I know? Because there is an orphan "I" on p. 120 where it should say "Willie," the name of the protagonist. :-)
Willie lives a rather dreary life, whether he is plotting to join a band of Marxist guerrillas in rural India More...
The story--or part of it--was originally written in the first person. How do I know? Because there is an orphan "I" on p. 120 where it should say "Willie," the name of the protagonist. :-)
Willie lives a rather dreary life, whether he is plotting to join a band of Marxist guerrillas in rural India More...
Mar 12, 2009
Paul
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This books is written wonderfully. Naipaul's descriptions of place and character are extraordinary. But the story of the the aimless (lost) Indian revolutionary reahes its peak in the jungles and prisons of India. When the story shifts back to London, after the misguided revolutionary is freed from prison, the narrative focus becomes fuzzy and the power of the story is lost.
Aug 07, 2009
Charlane
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I needed a book while traveling as I had finished the book I brought along and I recognized Naipul from the small choice of English books....this was my third book by Naipul and I liked it. I would not say it was terribly exciting but I found the writing through-provoking and motivating. Motivating to keep living out as many dreams as I can and to keep gratitude close by me.
Jul 27, 2010
Magda
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I'm going to put it down.... I'm just not in the mood for a book like that. Yes, it has deep thoughts, but I'm not enjoying the prose and I'm not drawn into the characters' (brother and sister) discussions on revolutionary ideas. It's depressing. I was expecting something more from Nobel price winning author.
Jan 09, 2009
I know there's a big book out now about what a creep VS Naipaul is. Big deal. Most creeps don't do anything good. This book is interesting, Naipual always has a lot of off the cuff insights on sociopolitical type topics. Like only middle class rebels don't know what the police really are. That seems true.
Aug 01, 2009
Milton
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Once you get to set the characters and their flaws in mind, the repetition is no longer such a challenge. Too little sain in too many chapters. - You need to be in the mood to follow it through. Such a surprise from a good writer...Nobel and all. Makes you wander at times how acolades are acquired.
Feb 22, 2009
Probably the most appealing book I could find in a "Power Books" in Manila. I considered exchanging it after a while, but now I'm in for the long haul. Very simply written -- too simple sometimes -- but there's still profound insight in there. Revolutions aren't so cut and dry.
Mar 05, 2008
Adam
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This is the most depressing book I've read since Revolutionary Road, which led me down a 5 year spiral to the bottom... I might not finish it.
Well I did finish it, and it just got worse. I think not reading the prequel (Half Life) left me a bit lacking in insight regarding the main character, but that said, Willie is a cardboard presentation - just a vehicle for Naipaul to push out his angry, cranky politics and disregard for the working class and human struggle. So I probably won't More...
Well I did finish it, and it just got worse. I think not reading the prequel (Half Life) left me a bit lacking in insight regarding the main character, but that said, Willie is a cardboard presentation - just a vehicle for Naipaul to push out his angry, cranky politics and disregard for the working class and human struggle. So I probably won't More...
Jun 05, 2011
Beth
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This was the usual excellent writing -- or listening in this case. I think I prefer to read Naipaul as I think I lost something in the transition from ear to brain rather than eye to brain. The story was sort of disjointed for me and the part at the end where Roger is telling the story seems odd because Willie has been telling the story all along. I also find his writing a bit dark -- I always thought I was a bit of a pessimist, but not compared to Naipaul.
Mar 04, 2009
Nancy
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This book follows a character from the author's earlier "Half A Life" who's still trying to figure out who is is. He joins a revolution to rid India of the caste system, becomes disillusioned with the revolution… A somewhat difficult read.
Dec 22, 2008
Shane
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After reading most of Naipauls books and being a loyal fan, I was disappointed in this book - it seemed to have been written in a hurry or perhaps the great writer doesn;t care as much anymore?
Nov 18, 2010
John
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Maybe this story was too deep for me but I never got interested. The characters were unlikable and I never really understood any of their motivations.
Apr 06, 2009
Janine
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Too dry? Not in the mood? I managed to finish it, but don't understand why he gets so much more attention than many other Indian authors.
Sep 07, 2011
Bethlehem
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Interesting ideas about identity and how we construct it...or have it constructed for us...or never construct it and just float along...
May 15, 2011
The
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Interesting read - however he lost me a few times on Willie's journey but enjoyed all the additional information on the various countries
Dec 02, 2009
Matt
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say goodbye to idealism and integrity during your midlife crisis because in india it'll only throw you in jail. pretty great fast read.
Apr 23, 2009
Lou
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I just love the man's prose. Doesn't seem to matter whether I care for the story opr not - I simply love reading his words.
Jul 07, 2011
Kaija
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Like a new-age Siddhartha. And I fiercely disliked the original Siddhartha.
