Fireflies

by Shiva Naipaul

Follows the life of a strong Hindu woman who must adjust to an arranged marriage to a foolish man

Genres: Fiction, India, Comedy, Classics, Novels, Modern Classics, Literary Fiction

416 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Shiva Naipaul was a Trinidadian-born British novelist and journalist, known for his incisive fiction and travel writing. The younger brother of V. S. Naipaul, he studied at University College, Oxford, before publishing his debut novel, Fireflies (1970), which won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize. He followed with The Chip-Chip Gatherers (1973) before turning to non-fiction with North of South (1978) and Black & White (1980), exploring postcolonial societies. His final novel, A Hot Country (1983), marked a shift in his literary style. Despite mixed critical reception during his lifetime, his work has since been reassessed for its sharp prose and unique perspective.

Reviews

[Shreya Vaid · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading 4-5 books, I always dive back into a classic. The slow pace of the story, the deeper meaning of words, the grey areas where characters seek their energy, a classic has the power to take away all the heaviness. Last month, I picked up Fireflies by Shiva Naipaul as my classic, and I must say it was a complete roller coaster ride of emotions. From the characters to the situations they were pushed into, I was completely engrossed into it.

The story of Fireflies revolves around Trinidad's most respected Hindu Family, the Khojas, who are superbly orthodox and reside over acres of useless land that reaps the lowest quality of sugar cane and have hoards of jewelry fiercely guarded by Mrs. Khoja. The only silver lining they have is Baby, the protagonist of the story who is married off to a bus driver and who doesn't want to settle down like a regular Khoja.

The characters of Fireflies are pretty much a hateful lot but brilliantly portrayed by Naipaul. The mediocre Govind with delusional grandeur, his arrogant wife who has spent her life flattering her husband, the six malicious sisters, five of whom are widows and one of them who runs wild.

However, the only protagonist and the appealing character is Baby, a lesser member of the crazy Khoja clan and the one who doesn't expect much, as she has resigned to her fate and prepared for her duty to service of other always, including a drunk husband who beats her all the time. The one who leads her life with dignity, with two kids, husband's death and her struggle for independence to loss of her hopes and dreams. She is smart, loving, generous nd she is the one who single-handedly carries the story till the end.

Speaking of technicalities, the language of Fireflies is easy to understand and decipher. The characters are a bit tricky to understand first, but then Naipaul has given each character time to fold in front of you. The book is long, which may not be good for some, but then within the duration is the real beauty. Fireflies is not just a book to read and keep aside, it's an experience that will be with you always. So make sure to grab your copy soon.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I waited a long time to write the review of this book as I struggled to find anything meaningful in my own response to it.

The Khojas are The preeminent Indian family in Trinidad, not least in their own estimation, and the story starts with a minor family member being parceled out in an arranged marriage to a bus driver and then follows her life over the years.

Published by VS Naipul's younger brother Shiva in 1970, the book garnered a certain amount of acclaim and then was "rediscovered" more recently. The book reminded me a lot of "a house for Mr. Biswas" which I enjoyed much more perhaps for no other reason than I read it first. This made me feel rather sad for Shiva, who was described by Paul Theroux who to continue his streak as worst family friend ever described him as a drunken sot overshadowed by the towering presence of his brother.

Judging the book on its own merits I struggled to find anything funny about it at all, the humour felt awfully dated and more than a little sneering. The highlight for me was the slow development of affection and in the arranged marriage combined with the sadness that the lack of recognition of this contentment. This was the only part which felt rooted in a empathetic reality.

[Manoj Karki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an all and all family saga. One would have just find it boring had it not been brilliantly written by Shiva Naipaul. He has made a very ordinary story otherwise into a master piece. Story of Khoja family in Trinidad.
In its wholeness, it is a very sad story where nothing seems to be going right for any character in it. Still it is remarkably funny and witty. This narrative style takes it to different level of delightful reading. What a life Baby ( the central character here ) had to deal with !! How poised, how optimistic she had to be all the time amid nothing good but all turmoil. Enduring lady. The conversations, whether nice or violent or full of agony, have been treat to read throughout. There is an air of self pride in every character, demanding attention.
S Naipaul, wherever you are, you must be in peace. A gem of writer.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Khojas are the 'big fish' in the small pond of Trinidad's Hindu community, jealously maintaining their position as their fortunes slowly decline. Fireflies is the story of 'Baby' Khoja, married off to a bus driver, making her own path through life with a determination that her family regards as mere stubbornness.

This is an amazing read, the straightforward style is deceptive, as this story is both savagely comic and deeply poignant. The characters are endearing and infuriating, and family relationships are skilfully assembled and pulled apart. The setting of Trinidad is brought to life, the lively capital Port of Spain contrasted with the acres of sugar cane and the poor villages.

There are so many episodes from this book that stick in the mind. It's a book I will go back and reread with sorrow and delight.

[R.]

He reluctantly kneels in respect for Nabokov and bays at the moon for Bellow, but in a blink and you miss it footnote in the excellent selection of essays War Against Cliche, Martin gushes his Amisian admiration for this 1970 novel. In one of those silly twists of synchronicity, no sooner had I read the Enfant Terrible's Easter egg encyclical did I discover this very tasty treat on the public library's free-to-you cart.

[Carol Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half was hard to read, given all of the accepted violence in the family. I was , in the end, glad that I finished it. Incredible writer.

[Reet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Baby Khoja Lutchman's story. She is a Trinidadian Indian who is married off to a bus driver at the age of 15, an arranged marriage. Her husband is a brute who drinks, and beats her, and goes with sex workers, and eventually takes on a mistress.
P.58:
"when she thought of The other woman, she experienced neither bitterness nor jealousy, but found she could contemplate the image drawn in her mind with something approaching indifference. At first, this surprised her, but she was reluctant to probe further and in time grew completely accustomed to that other presence which seemed to have a much greater claim on her husband. Any considerations of Love or affection she would have considered an irrelevance. Her marriage, as she well knew, had had very little to do with either of these things. It was one of the laws of Life, a purely formal arrangement which was entered into at a suitable age, demanding duty, not love. And the performance of duty was not affected by betrayal. What was there to be betrayed? Betrayal could apply only if there had been love and affection and their marriage, so far, had been devoid of either of these.

Their culture's manner of raising children is not consistent, which, later on, causes behavioral problems.
P.75:
'no Khoja function was ever considered complete without a beating. Any infringement of the rules (they could be invented on the spur of the moment) could be made the occasion for one of these entertainments, and children who were rarely beaten at home would suddenly find themselves liable. The choice of the victim was, in the normal run of things, capricious. At such times the sisters became unpredictable forces and, a beating once administered, its influence percolated through the clan. Several more victims were hastily assembled, although none could surpass the grandeur of that first beating, whose Majesty echoed evermore faintly down the chain until, finally, the urge spent itself in a mother slapping her three-month-old baby. 'that's the first time I ever hit him,' she would announce proudly to the surrounding sisters and back would come the reply, relentless, unforgiving: 'they got to begin learning who's boss sometime. Spare the rod and you does spoil the child.' after that, everybody relaxed and the aunts relapsed into a milder, more inoffensive state."

The matriarch of the clan, Mrs khoja, is close to death. The sisters gather close to her side, at Mr Khoja's house, their brother's. Indrani is the widowed sister who has been taking care of mrs. KhOJA. The sisters are summoned to the bedside.
P.145:
"the old woman's Adam's Apple Rose and fell in slow, uneven movements. Spasmodically, she clenched and unclenched her fists. 'Mohun, Mohun,' she called after her dead husband, and the sound Rose from her lips and floated thin as a wisp through the window and out of the room. She mumbled incomprehensibly after that, her voice falling softer and softer, until there was only the soundlessly moving lips. Indrani put her ear close to her mother's lips.
'what is it you want to say, ma? Tell indrani. She here beside you listening.'
'she Spirit traveling already,' Urmila murmured. 'it not going to be long now.'
Indrani rubbed the towel feverishly over the old woman's head. Next door a little boy shouted as he went off to school. It seemed like a signal.
'oh God, oh God,' indrani shrieked suddenly. A wail Rose from the circle of sisters and they pressed forward to the edge of the bed.
'oh God, oh God,' indrani moaned, still rubbing the towel on the old woman's forehead. 'Ma. Ma. Come back to We. Come back to We.' she kissed her mother's cheeks, her shoulders heaving convulsively. Urmila grabbed her arms and attempted to pull her away from the corpse.
'Indrani, your crying won't help she now. She in another world already. She had a good, long life. It was time for she to go and join pa.'
the sisters wailed."

Now that all Mrs KhOJA has died, Mister KhOJA, the only boy in the family, is the head. He tries to take mrs. Lutchman sons under his tutelage, and at one time tells them a story about a doctor, who was so poor as a boy, that he had no electricity to study by.
P.247:
" 'and this boy I'm telling you about--well, he's a grown man now, of course - that boy, do you know what he used to do for light? Yes. You just try and guess.' mr. Khoja said this so challengingly and with such vehemence, that Mrs lutchman felt obliged to follow mrs. Khoja and open her mouth wide as well. She leaned forward expectantly.
'I'll tell you, since you can't guess. That boy used to catch fireflies and put them in an old jam - bottle.' mr. KHOJA, nodding his head, waved his fork at each of his listeners in turn. He lowered his voice. 'and he would study like that.' misses Khoja's jaw sagged, but she did not take her eyes off her husband.
'you don't believe me, eh? You think I'm making all that up? But take my word. He would go straight home from school - walking 3 miles and back everyday without shoes, take note - change his clothes, what clothes he had to change, that is, catch a few fireflies in the yard, put them in the jam - bottle, close the bottle, wap!'--mr. Khoja clapped his hands together at this point - 'and take them inside and begin to study. Today, that man is one of the most successful men in this community. A doctor with a big house and a rich wife to boot. And on top of all that, he is one of the nicest men I know. generous to a fault and honest as the day is long. You couldn't want a better doctor either.'
misses lutchman breathed freely again, but her look of wonderment did not lessen.
'but didn't the fireflies die being locked up in a bottle like that? They couldn't breathe inside of there I should think.' misses KhOJA was impressed but not entirely convinced.
Mr. KhOJA snorted and speared another slice of tomato with his fork. 'you don't kill fireflies as easy as that, Sumintra. Take my word. They are some of the strongest insects on this island. And anyway, even if they did die all he had to do was go out in the yard and catch some more, not so?' "

mrs. Lutchman's son Bhaskar earns a scholarship and goes off to study to be a doctor in India. He regularly writes letters to his mother, but in his last year of study the letters fall off. Mrs. Lutchman becomes frantic when none of her letters are answered. She asks her brother mr. KhOJA to write, and she finds out that Bhaskar has had a nervous breakdown and been hospitalized. The University cannot take him back, and they send him home.
P.381-2:
" 'I don't understand what it is you trying to say, Bhaskar. What was a joke?'
'the whole thing, ma. The whole thing was a joke.'
misses lutchman nodded. She half understood what her son was trying to tell her. They were both silent. After a while, she said, 'well, what do you want to do now then?'
'do? Do. Do.' he savoured the word as if it were some strange, exotic thing. 'what do I want to do? More like what do I want to have done to me. Another joke perhaps.' he laughed. Then becoming serious, he said. 'nothing, ma. I don't want to do anything.'
'perhaps your mamoo could find you another job.'
'no, ma. Mind you, that would be the best joke of all, if he offered me a job in that school. But I don't feel up to being one of his fireflies.'
'fireflies?'
'it's not important, ma. Don't worry.' "

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never heard of this book or author prior to picking it out at the library but I'm so glad I chose to read it. At times touching and at others infuriating, it was a brilliant novel. The characters weren't necessarily likable but their realness made them endearing and kept me hooked on the story. The dialogue between them cracked me up, though of course the way they were prone to treating one another was really sad. Overall this was a thoroughly enjoyable book that I can't imagine myself forgetting about in a hurry. Definitely an incentive to pick up less spoken about classics more regularly.

[Ida-maria Skavhaug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another gem on my bookshelf. I loved the pace of this book, it's well-defined characters (in particular the strong will-powered Mrs Lutchman) and their hopes and despairs and attempts at finding (and holding on to) identities in a changing world. There are funny moments, moments when you want to rip your hair out (and give Mr Koja or Romesh a good slap in the face!) and moments when you'll struggle to hold a tear back. There were definitely some surprises on the way, but not wanting to add any spoilers to my review I'll refrain from commenting :-)

[C.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was between 3 and 4 stars. Three because at some points it was really boring and slow. but 4 because the characters were really endearing and I appreciated their growth and commentaries on their lives.

[David Archer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wonder if it will be for everyone (out of print, I believe), but I love this novel just as much as I love his candid and cantankerous travel writing.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fireflies by Shiva Naipaul
10 out of 10


To have one genius in the family is extremely rare, but to find two brilliant brothers under the same roof it is already miraculous and this is the case of Shiva Naipaul, brother of the glorious V.S. Naipaul – A Bend in the River is reviewed here http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/04/a...
The younger brother lived under an “intimidating burden of expectation”, but the result is, among other, this outstanding novel, included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list - https://www.theguardian.com/books/200...

For some time, the reader might be under the impression that the main character of Fireflies is Ram Lutchman, a member of the Indian community living on one of the islands of Trinidad, in Port of Spain, but eventually, it is his wife, Vimla, also called Baby, who would dominate the story.
They are married when they are young and for the first part of their life in common, the husband is rather abusive, beats her and cheats, going the streets where prostitutes offer their services, albeit this is not unusual in the circumstances, at that time and in that place – not that we have the whole planet obeying standards of equality between men and women in the present.

Baby belongs to the powerful, famous family, the Khojas, notwithstanding the fact that their influence is fluctuating and with the death of the older matriarch of the clan, their prestige diminishes dramatically, and Govind Khoja would experience turmoil, with factions contesting his leadership, political adventures ending with rather disastrous results and some other of his endeavors attract mockery and at one critical point, the nadir has him attacked in his own house.
Mrs. Lutchman has to move out of her house for days, to escape the assault of her husband, who is prompted to be even more violent by one of the neighbors who drinks with him and accompanies him during the escapades to the districts with a very bad fame, until he decides to move near a central park, after he has been helped and has got a job with the government, when the head of the Khoja clan has used his multiple connections and his protégée can now live in better circumstances.

Ram has an affair with Doreen James, an outré character, a white woman who wants to write a book about the Indians living in Trinidad Tobago and thus her interest is augmented when she learns that the clerk she meets at the ministry had married into the seemingly most important group originating from India.

Their affair is awkward, initiated by the woman, who thinks that everyone is free to have sex with anyone else and in the case of an arranged marriage, as Mr. Lutchman mentioned his was, it is even more natural to search for a better connection and she establishes a deadline, giving her potential partner an ultimatum, either he decides to have an affair or stop the communication.
After they get close, it is perhaps inevitable that the mood changes and the self-described “bloodthirsty” Doreen would cease to interest the almost always reluctant man, who sees her for some time on friendly basis, to look for plants for his garden, for instance, a situation which is comical, as so much else in this phenomenal novel.

Ram and Vimla have two boys, Bhaskar, who wants to be a doctor – or at least he thinks he does for a good few years – and Romesh, the younger son, who would turn out to be not just a rebel, but a very difficult, stubborn and ultimately serious burden and source of trouble for his mother and many others.
When a woman from Scotland moves next door, Mrs. MacKintosh, she becomes the best friend of the protagonist, Vimla Lutchman, who would depend for many years on the reading of tea leaves, a talent that the Scotswoman is supposed to have and with time to transmit to a lesser degree to her client, who sees in the cups the letters and premonitions that are suggested to her, in exchange for flour and cream, weekly gifts which maintain this ambiguous connection.

Although dedicated, Bhaskar does not have the hoped for success when he applies to universities in England, America and even Russia – from where he receives pamphlets on…collective farming, that being the age when the country was communist…not that it is much different today, under the wild, crony capitalism controlled by Putin, his acolytes and crooked oligarchs.
He would study in India, where he travels and seems to be doing well for a few years, at the end of which alas, he has to return home, following a nervous breakdown that would continue to plague him to some extent, although his depression would be punctuated by sardonic, wise analysis on the head of the clan, the cheating fortune teller and so much more.

Meanwhile, Romesh has grown to be a troubled young man, obsessed with the motion pictures, from which he takes rather negative, preposterous models, determining to become a small – maybe big in his fertile, if inglorious imagination – gangster who is rude to his mother, violent with others, engaged in a rather incestuous relationship with another rebel of the family, cousin Renouka, living in an outrageous for the conservative Khojas ménage a trois with a native boy, whose color is anathema for the racist, fundamentalist group of relatives.

Quite a few of the sisters and their descendants are in conflict with Govind Khoja, but it is Romesh and Renouka who decide to take the fight almost literally, and they feel that the arrogance, the illegitimate, unfair manner in which this self-appointed head of the clan has divided the inheritance which has landed mostly in his hands has to be punished severely and almost cruelly.
Govind appears to be the author of the story that has given the title of the majestic, mesmerizing book, which he tells Bhaskar, with the obvious intent of making him abandon his dreams of becoming a doctor, narrative in which a very poor boy had to study at night, in a house that was so destitute that they had no electricity and hence, this poor hero went out to catch Fireflies which he would later use as “light” so that he could learn and ultimately become a very good doctor.

There is a feeling that this was invented and Bhaskar interprets it in his own way, saying that members of the family were the “Fireflies” for Govind Khoja, maybe meaning that he used the others to light his life, which was dark otherwise.
This is a splendid, deep, thought provoking book, which will make you laugh, but also meditate, dream and feel grateful for the better living conditions you surely enjoy, as opposed to many of the figures in this outstanding story.

Posted 23rd April 2019 by realini

[Casey (Myshkin) Buell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another remarkable novel from Shiva Naipaul. Fireflies is a devastating, slyly hilarious family epic, that through its characters explores the uncomfortable underside of the post-colonial era. Baby Khoja is a minor member of Trinidad’s most prominent Hindu family, but as a woman she is seen mostly as a burden to her wealthy kin. To ease this burden she’s married off at an early age to Ram Lutchman, a brutish bus driver. Their marriage is an unhappy one to begin with, with Ram drinking heavily, visiting prostitutes on a regular basis, and beating Baby fairly often. Sadly these types of problems are not uncommon in the world of arranged marriages, and leaving Ram is never an option for Baby. So she works diligently to bring about an equilibrium to their marriage that will eventually see Ram settle down and become less volatile, and even see a type of love grow between the two of them. But as Ram begins to trouble Baby less, her worries are transferred to their two sons, one of whom is deeply withdrawn, and the other prone to fits of violent anger. And on top of everything else Baby has to constantly contend with the intricate politics of her extended family. All of this adds up to Baby never really being allowed to live her life for herself.

Fairly or unfairly, when discussing Shiva Naipaul’s work it’s very hard not to compare it to the work of his older brother, V.S. Naipaul, and in particular when discussing Fireflies it’s nearly impossible not to compare it to Vidia’s masterpiece, A House for Mr. Biswas. This is because in these two novels the two brothers are both fictionalizing their own family history; specifically their father’s marriage to their mother, and the way in which their mother’s wealthy and powerful family dominated everyone in their orbit. Now it’s been at least fifteen years since I read Biswas (a fact I’ll probably remedy soon), but in it Vidia focuses primarily, almost exclusively, on the trials and travails of Mohun Biswas, a stand in for his father. In Fireflies Shiva takes a different route by making Baby Khoja, a stand in for their mother, the central character. And Baby’s story is heartbreaking in a way that Biswas’ story could never be. For while Biswas spent decades fighting to become an independent man, Baby is the product of a culture and society that never even considered her to have a right to independence. In this we see the starkest difference between the works of Shiva and Vidia. One of the hallmarks of Vidia’s greatness is the clear-eyed rage he brought to the page; but while that rage is evident in Shiva’s works as well, he tempers it with a compassion that Vidia never showed himself capable of. It is a literary tragedy that today Shiva languishes in relative obscurity, best known for his familial connection to the Great Man. I said it in my review of The Chip-Chip Gatherers, and I’ll say it again here; if Shiva Naipaul had not died so tragically young, he would today very likely be every bit as celebrated as his older brother.

[Mrs. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This would have been 5 stars for me had it not been for the ending. I wished things ended differently for Mrs. Lutchman but it is what it is.

Loved this novel for its Trini relatability and the sweet nostalgia I felt. The affluence of the Khoja family and the behaviour of those around them, whether the Rebels or Loyals, was comically realistic. Marital, work, family, neighbourly, gender, and political dynamics were well captured 🤌🏽

Of course it's hard not to compare Shiva Naipaul to his brother V.S. Naipaul. I found that though the novel was satirical, it was not cynical. It reminded me of V.S. Naipaul's "A House for Mr. Biswas", with similar themes and characters, however that critical stinging undertone, which Sir Vidiadhar is known for, was absent. "Fireflies" was more understated and discreet with its presentation of human behaviour which lead to a softer, more subtle type of humour. For me it was still effective allowing for Shiva Naipaul's novel to stand on its own.

The title "Fireflies" added another layer of interest for me. As I read, it became clearer. Mr. Khoja tells Bhaskar of a young boy who was so poor that his family "couldn't afford electric light". After school, the boy would "catch a few fireflies in the yard, put them in a jam-bottle, close the bottle, wap!...and take them inside and begin to study." The boy became a doctor. When Mr. Khoja's wife questions how the fireflies survived in a locked jar, Mr. Khoja goes on the explain that they are resilient and replaceable. This is one of the most powerful images in the novel. It represents the control and abuse of those with power in order to fuel their self aggrandisement. How this affects others is meaningless.

Many of the characters can be seen as fireflies, but ultimately, Mrs. Lutchman is the primary firefly. She is so caught up in the fact that she has been "chosen" [favoured by the Khojas] that she doesn't realise she is really controlled. In fact, she cannot realise her own entrapment even when her sons and late husband communicate this to her in their own ways.

A well written, though provoking novel which is authenically Trini 🇹🇹 : humourous, ironic, realistic.

[Ken Ryu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Naipaul shows us the Trinidad experience from an Indian viewpoint. The story centers on the niece of a wealthy and revered Indian man named Mr. Khoja. Known as Baby, she is wed to a bus driver named Mr. Lutchman. The book is divided into two halves. The first section deals with Baby and Mr. Lutchman’s tumultuous but ultimately successful marriage. They have two sons, the bookish and dour Bhaskar and their younger charismatic and rebellious son Somesh.

The wealth of the Khoja family was built by Mr. Khoja’s parents. At his mother’s passing, the bulk of the family wealth passes to Mr. Khoja with his many sisters and Baby left with a token inheritance. After losing his bus driving job after an accident, Mr. Lutchman finds a stable job in a governmental role thanks to the assistance of Mr. Khoja. The Lutchman family is able to get by financially with this desirable position. There is domestic violence and infidelity, but that seems indicative of the time and fashion of the Trinidad islands.

The family dynamics are interesting. Although all the Khojas are proud of their family prominence, only Mr. Khoja and his wife have the financial means to live in grandeur. Naipaul introduces the reader to the pidgin English of the Trinidadians, while telling funny stories such as Mr. Lutchman’s foray into photography and gardening.

A phenomenon of the Khojas is that the spouses of the Khoja women either die young or go insane. The younger generation including Somesh and Bhaskar are rebellious and disdainful of their prideful parents, aunts and uncles.

Naipul unwinds a colorful family story with all the quirks and flaws, of which the Khoja clan has plenty. Naipul shows his writing skills are equal to his more famous brother V.S. “Fireflies” is a good anthropological study of the Trinidad Indian experience. It lacks a climax and slows as it limply concludes, though that is somewhat by design. The slow fading ending serves to mirror the stagnation and decay of the Khoja and Lutchman families.

[Andre Bagoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE FIRST murder, according to the Bible, was between brothers. If the authors of the Book of Genesis did not feel the need to specify exactly why Cain killed Abel, perhaps it was because they felt readers would recognise, deduce or project their own understanding of the relationship between siblings, how it veers between love and hate, admiration and envy, playfulness and near-tyrannical exactitude. It is a relationship of promise and pain: promise of the self mirrored back in the near-perfect twinning brought only by blood or history, pain at the loss of one’s status, a loss that comes through the addition of a new object of affection which, by definition, renders one less special in the eyes of the parent. Bigheartedness and bloodshed – whether literal or metaphorical – are accommodated in equal measure. A brother is both a source of protection and someone in need of shelter; a blessing and a curse. And so it was with Shiva and Vidia Naipaul.

Whereas Biswas is an elegy to a father that centered on the male, Fireflies, published 50 years ago this year, is an elegy to a mother that centers around the female: it follows a widow as she struggles to make ends meet. Whereas Biswas presents an ultimately hopeful idea of the American Dream - of the notion that within a capitalistic society the individual may, through dint of hard work, achieve goals, succeed, Fireflies paints such a dream as a lie or at the very least misplaced: it ends with its female protagonist, after a series of attempts to earn a living, homeless. Whereas Biswas, published on the eve of TT’s independence, presents the exhilarating notion of the house as an emblem of freedom, a metaphor for the building of the new nation itself, Fireflies, published about a decade after independence and in the middle of the Black Power disturbances, presents a jaded view: its characters dream of fleeing Trinidad. And whereas sex and relationships across racial lines are not pivotal to the action of Biswas, sparks fly in Fireflies that raise more liberal ideas of sexuality even if these are not pursued.

[Lara · Rating 2 out of 5]

About the Khojas’ an extended Indian family who don’t much like each other, living in the West Indies in the 70’s. Specifically about Baby who is married off to a bus driver, and also Mr Khoja, the head of the clan, who has inherited wealth & has a high opinion of himself.
Described as a comedy, and if you find beating children for no good reason funny you might be amused, but I found this sad, dull & rather pointless.
The family vaguely try and fail in commerce, politics, hobbies. The end couldn’t come too quickly for me.

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent portrayal of time/place(Trinidad)/culture(Indian/Hindu), with wonderfully well-drawn characters, but all very straightforward so that it might have been a memoir. 5 stars for what it is, but only 4 as a novel.

[Diana French · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not even going to continue reading this book. It is just too bleak and I surely can find no humor. It is very very rare for me to stop reading a book, but there are too many good books I can read --so why waste my time on one I find so depressing.

[J L · Rating 5 out of 5]

You’re a hero, Baby Lutchman, the 20th Century’s Don Quixote; and I love you.

[Nikola · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first part was quite nice, but the second one was nothing special

[Christiane · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book we observe the inner workings of the Khoja Clan, one of Trinidad’s wealthiest and most traditional Hindu families , ruled with an iron and extremely stingy fist by old Mrs. Khoja who mercilessly marries off her 6 daughters to get rid of as many mouths to feed as possible. While prominent and rich, the Khojas are also backward, orthodox, semi-educated and proud of it.

When the matriarch dies, power is handed down to her son Govind who doesn’t share the inheritance equitably. The Clan quickly splits into scheming and back-stabbing factions hastening the family's disintegration.

These characters are quite a despicable lot and brilliantly portrayed : the vain, mediocre and pompous Govind with his Rousseau and his delusions of grandeur, his arrogant wife who is fairly dripping with adulation and flattery for her husband, the six selfish, malicious sisters, five of whom have happily buried their husbands, and the young daughter of one of them who breaks out and runs wild.

However, the protagonist of the story and the only appealing character is Baby, a lesser member of the Khojas. Devoted to the family and not expecting much of life she is resigned to her fate and prepared to do her duty in the service of others always. We watch her over the years from her arranged marriage to a lowly bus driver with a violent temper and a drinking problem, the birth of her two sons, her husband‘s death and her struggle for independence to the loss of all her hopes and dreams.

She is the only person in the book who leads her life with dignity, a dreamer with grand visions who after each disaster – and there is no end to them - picks us the pieces and finds a new reason for living. She is smart, loving, optimistic, tenacious, proud, loyal, generous, infinitely adaptable and she really carries the story.

Mr. Naipaul has created a gem of a book, lively, funny and finally heartbreakingly sad.

[Ambar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before seeing it on a friend's bookshelf, I wasn't aware of the existence of Shiva Naipaul. Which is a damn shame. V.S.' young brother is very much a skilled writer in his own right, particularly considering the fact that "Fireflies" is a debut.

The author clearly harbours no pretenses regarding the story and plot, which are, quite deliberately, rather mundane. Fireflies follows the life of Vimla, aka Baby, a minor member in the accidentally wealthy and powerful Khoja family, the preeminent Hindu family of Trinidad and in doing so, explores the hypocrisies, obnoxiousness, and falsifications of the Khojas (and the various other members of the motley ensemble of Fireflies) with a dry wit that, though understated, is often surprisingly sharp. Ultimately, the novel leaves the reader with the kind of caustic nihilism that Bhaskar Lutchmann comes to personify upon his return to the family home, which perhaps is the point of the novel, if it has any. Fireflies is a great book, but perhaps not one that every reader will enjoy.

[Valerie Lincy]

In this first novel by the younger brother of V.S. Naipaul we follow an established Hindu family in Trinidad through the eyes of a marginal member (Baby Lutchman) who is married off to an outsider. While at first Baby's husband seems to be the novel's unsympathetic protagonist, it's actually Baby's story: the arc of her marriage, the rise and fall of her financial security, her sons' failure to succeed in straightforward way...There are no great tragedies and no incredible victories in this novel. Instead it's a subtle, finely constructed narrative, with excellent dialogue, about the smaller moments in the life of a family.

[Karen]

* 1000 novels everyone must read: the definitive list

Selected by the Guardian's Review team and a panel of expert judges, this list includes only novels – no memoirs, no short stories, no long poems – from any decade and in any language. Originally published in thematic supplements – love, crime, comedy, family and self, state of the nation, science fiction and fantasy, war and travel – they appear here for the first time in a single list.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fireflies is an immediately gripping story with irresistible characters and an insight into all of their complex identities. Naipaul addresses important and intensely complex aspects of post-colonial literature- such as fate, individualism, tradition and modernisation- but still manages to maintain a fluent and unconstrained style of writing.

[!Tæmbuŝu]

KOBOBOOKS

Reviewed by The Guardian (23 Mar 2012)

[Aparna · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is like one of the strangest ways of writing I have ever come across. The characters are supposed to be based in Trinidad and suddenly you find references of Kolkata like places living you wondering whether you are loosing it!

[Theresa Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mrs. Lutchman was definitely a woman ahead of her time.

[Evan White · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started and finished: Malaysia, 2004