Word: naipaul
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...South Asian from Trinidad traveling abroad, Naipaul is particularly aware of difficulties that accompany this diaspora. Consoling his mother over the growing incidence of affairs among Trinidad Hindus, for instance, Vido writes, "The reason is this: the old Hindus married their daughters off at an early age. We have grown modern--we decide to let them choose, but at the same time our Hindu prudery is struck by the grossness of a courtship in a Western way. We put our foot down. Result: clandestine intrigues. Marriage is always the solution...
...Between such analyses, the book provides a compelling portrait of a young Naipaul driven by a tremendous desire to succeed, who nevertheless vacillates between prideful confidence and fear of the future. He rejects financial help from his family but must turn to them after a reckless spending spree in Spain; he works himself so hard that he is constantly ill and even suffers a nervous breakdown; he becomes depressed following the rejection of his first book by the publishers. These details remind us beyond doubt that there is a fallible human being who exists behind the mystique of the writer...
...Indeed, at times the rawness of these letters threatens to expose a Naipaul more human than we might want to believe. Naipaul's friend and contemporary Paul Theroux published a memoir in 1998 about their rocky relationship since the two met in Africa in 1966. Theroux's depiction of Naipaul's egoism and reputation for being difficult is only confirmed by Family Letters. Cynical about the intellectual capabilities of his fellow Oxonians, close to very few people at the university, Naipaul comments to his sister, "It is difficult to exaggerate the dangers of a place like Oxford--the retarding influence...
...Still, such details only add to the power of the book as an intensely truthful memoir, and the selections often bring home the emotion of certain events in a fashion that is admirably heightened by the book's particular form. When the elder Naipaul dies, the first indication we get of the tragedy is Vido's frantic wire home, "He was the best man I knew stop everything I owe to him be brave my loves trust me." Vido's urgent need to connect with his family upon hearing the news comes through clearly in the wire, even...
...whole. Letters are an anomaly in the age of information technology; how many times have we heard the complaint that letter-writing has become a lost art? This book is a testament to the intimacy that a two-line e-mail could never replicate. For devotees of Naipaul's work, Family Letters provides a fascinating portrait of an artist as a young man that could not be captured in any other...