The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul

ThefirstmajorbiographyofV.S.Naipaul,thecontroversialandenigmaticNobellaureate:astunningwriterwhoseonlystatedambitionwasgreatness,inpursuitofwhichgoalnothingelsewassacred.BeginninginrichdetailinTrinidad,whereNaipaulwasbornintoanIndianfamily,PatrickFrenchskillfullyexaminesNaipaul’slifewithinadisplacedcommunityandhisfierceambitionatschool.Hedescribeshow,onscholarshipatOxford,homesicknessanddepressionstruckwithgreatforce;thewaysinwhichNaipaul’sfirstwifehelpedhimtocopeandtheirotherwisefraughtmarriage;andNaipaul’sstrugglesthroughoutsubsequentuncertaintiesinEngland,includinghistwenty-five-year-longaffair.Naipaul’sextraordinarygift—producing,uniquely,masterpiecesofbothfictionandnonfiction—ismostofallbornofaforceful,visionaryimpulse,whoserootsFrenchtraceswithasympatheticbrillianceanddevastatinginsight.