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The Mystic Masseur and Miguel Street
The Mystic Masseur, V S Naipaul's first novel, is the story of the rise and rise of Ganesh, from failed primary school teacher and struggling masseur to author, revered mystic and MBE. It is a journey memorable for its hilarious and bewildering success.
215 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
40 people are currently reading
1149 people want to read
About the author
V.S. Naipaul
190 books1,788 followersV. S. Naipaul was a British writer of Indo-Trinidadian descent known for his sharp, often controversial explorations of postcolonial societies, identity, and displacement. His works, which include both fiction and nonfiction, often depict themes of exile, cultural alienation, and the lingering effects of colonialism.
He gained early recognition with A House for Mr Biswas, a novel inspired by his father’s struggles in Trinidad. His later works, such as The Mimic Men, In a Free State, and A Bend in the River, cemented his reputation as a masterful and incisive writer. Beyond fiction, his travelogues and essays, including Among the Believers and India: A Million Mutinies Now, reflected his critical perspective on societies in transition.
Naipaul received numerous accolades throughout his career, including the Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded for his ability to blend deep observation with literary artistry. While praised for his prose, his often unsparing portrayals of postcolonial nations and controversial statements sparked both admiration and criticism.
He gained early recognition with A House for Mr Biswas, a novel inspired by his father’s struggles in Trinidad. His later works, such as The Mimic Men, In a Free State, and A Bend in the River, cemented his reputation as a masterful and incisive writer. Beyond fiction, his travelogues and essays, including Among the Believers and India: A Million Mutinies Now, reflected his critical perspective on societies in transition.
Naipaul received numerous accolades throughout his career, including the Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded for his ability to blend deep observation with literary artistry. While praised for his prose, his often unsparing portrayals of postcolonial nations and controversial statements sparked both admiration and criticism.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 127 reviews
December 18, 2021
“This life is a funny thing, eh.” She said, "one day somebody dead and you cry. Two days later somebody married and then you laugh.”
I bear no ill-will for this book as I jumped over to it under the fit of a fizzing rage mixed with a sort of mental flurry that emerged in me out of sheer curiosity to read one of the earlier works of the author, which I had no plan to read anytime soon. This book was fun. Its comic sense, with conversation in the Trinidadian dialect of Indians living there of early 20th century, was very funny. Though I was not much impressed with the story, as being an Indian having familiarity with the theme of Indian ways and beliefs, used in the novel, a few events seemed very predictable.
This is the story of Ganesh, who fails in the teaching life in a small Trinidadian village and returns home where his to-be father-in-law Ramlogan is impressed with his reading and writing abilities and he calls him “sahib”. He wants him to marry his daughter Leela and he agrees. He uses the money of Ramlogan to build a library and orders thousands of books. There are some very funny and hilarious scenes created when the understanding between both of them was misconstrued due to the misinterpretation of certain events, in such cases the role of Leela was also very interesting, who becomes a communicator between the two and proves a canny as well as an untaught communicator at the same time.
Ganesh, a book lover, wants to do 'a little bit' of massaging and 'a little bit' of writings. As massaging he carries from his forefathers and writing from his own passion. After a lot of effort, he publishes a book on Hindu religion titled 101 Questions and Answers on the Hindu Religion. Among one of those questions, at one place, asks someone who is the greatest living Hindu? And the reply comes… Mahatma Gandhi! There was a lot of fun in all the delivery of dialogues. Later He sent a copy to Gandhi but the outbreak of the war prevented the acknowledgment. At least this excuse was given to all around him. Yes! This story was taking place in the 1940s. And the war was a world war!
One day he heals a boy of a young lady who injured his ankle and since that day he begins his reputation as a “healer”. He got popular and becomes a mystic. Later he gathers a mass of wealth and becomes a political leader.
This is an interesting book and I have no doubt about it. The story is definitely funny and worth reading for those who are not familiar with the beliefs and ways of Indian lives. Those might have found freshness in it at the time of its publication if this book was written keeping the prospect of Trinidad and nearby English-speaking population.
My problem was timing too. I was reading it after I have already waded through some of his major and well-appreciated novels written almost 20 to 25 years later than this book, so I saw a clear-cut difference in both the writing and execution. A writer matures with the time, but more important than this I found his writing changed both in style and approach. I could perceive these changes. This was indeed the first novel of the author. I guess he was writing it when he was 23 or 24 years old, so an impressive effort for that age. He is very humorous and entertaining in this book, and in his later works he became intense, but the origin of that impending intensity of thought could be felt even in this book as I noticed he had been mentioning here also both political and religious tenets, though in a farcical manner!
I bear no ill-will for this book as I jumped over to it under the fit of a fizzing rage mixed with a sort of mental flurry that emerged in me out of sheer curiosity to read one of the earlier works of the author, which I had no plan to read anytime soon. This book was fun. Its comic sense, with conversation in the Trinidadian dialect of Indians living there of early 20th century, was very funny. Though I was not much impressed with the story, as being an Indian having familiarity with the theme of Indian ways and beliefs, used in the novel, a few events seemed very predictable.
This is the story of Ganesh, who fails in the teaching life in a small Trinidadian village and returns home where his to-be father-in-law Ramlogan is impressed with his reading and writing abilities and he calls him “sahib”. He wants him to marry his daughter Leela and he agrees. He uses the money of Ramlogan to build a library and orders thousands of books. There are some very funny and hilarious scenes created when the understanding between both of them was misconstrued due to the misinterpretation of certain events, in such cases the role of Leela was also very interesting, who becomes a communicator between the two and proves a canny as well as an untaught communicator at the same time.
Ganesh, a book lover, wants to do 'a little bit' of massaging and 'a little bit' of writings. As massaging he carries from his forefathers and writing from his own passion. After a lot of effort, he publishes a book on Hindu religion titled 101 Questions and Answers on the Hindu Religion. Among one of those questions, at one place, asks someone who is the greatest living Hindu? And the reply comes… Mahatma Gandhi! There was a lot of fun in all the delivery of dialogues. Later He sent a copy to Gandhi but the outbreak of the war prevented the acknowledgment. At least this excuse was given to all around him. Yes! This story was taking place in the 1940s. And the war was a world war!
One day he heals a boy of a young lady who injured his ankle and since that day he begins his reputation as a “healer”. He got popular and becomes a mystic. Later he gathers a mass of wealth and becomes a political leader.
This is an interesting book and I have no doubt about it. The story is definitely funny and worth reading for those who are not familiar with the beliefs and ways of Indian lives. Those might have found freshness in it at the time of its publication if this book was written keeping the prospect of Trinidad and nearby English-speaking population.
My problem was timing too. I was reading it after I have already waded through some of his major and well-appreciated novels written almost 20 to 25 years later than this book, so I saw a clear-cut difference in both the writing and execution. A writer matures with the time, but more important than this I found his writing changed both in style and approach. I could perceive these changes. This was indeed the first novel of the author. I guess he was writing it when he was 23 or 24 years old, so an impressive effort for that age. He is very humorous and entertaining in this book, and in his later works he became intense, but the origin of that impending intensity of thought could be felt even in this book as I noticed he had been mentioning here also both political and religious tenets, though in a farcical manner!
July 4, 2009
The Mystic Masseur is more subtle in its social criticism than I had come to expect from Naipaul's semi-autobiographical works and collected essays. The author does not break narrative to make explicit commentary about Indian culture in Trinidad, but the characters that populate this novel represent types that undeniably speak of the cultural experience of Indians living in Trinidad. Naipaul's portraits aren't unequivocally positive, or negative for that matter. They're starkly realistic, and when characters like Ramlogan, the main character's mercantile father-in-law, border on caricature, he is no less three dimensional for it. Even character's excesses are genuine.
The Mystic Masseur immerses the reader in a world that fades over the course of the novel, as Trinidadian Indians find themselves in need of a political leader more than a mystic. Naipaul successfully uses a single character to chart the evolution of an entire culture, in a way that not only succeeds as social commentary but also entertains.
The Mystic Masseur immerses the reader in a world that fades over the course of the novel, as Trinidadian Indians find themselves in need of a political leader more than a mystic. Naipaul successfully uses a single character to chart the evolution of an entire culture, in a way that not only succeeds as social commentary but also entertains.
June 8, 2010
I can't remember chuckling so much reading any book in the last few months.. Mystic Masseur by V.S Naipaul is one of the finest comic capers i have laid my eyes upon.It is the story of the rise of Ganesh Ramasumair,a failed Primary school teacher and struggling masseur to a writer ,mystic and finally a MBE(Member of executive council) in Trinidad.The book is written in the strangely hilarious English spoken by the Trinidadian people and is set in Colonial Trinidad. Sample some of the rioutous sentence constructions..
"The Pundit we looking for."
"I does read."
"It have man I want to see in oilfields."
Delightful, no?.
Add to that a motley crew of characters like Ramlogan,Ganesh's father-in-law ,who schemes to get him married off to his daughter and later tries to profit from Ganesh's meteoric rise; The great belcher,the elderly quintessential match-making relative who belches and burps like there was no tomorrow; Leela,Ganesh's wife who punctuates after every word;Suruj Mooma and Suruj Poopa,who motivate Ganesh to write his book and several others.
The first 100 odd pages were so funny that when i read that this was Naipaul's first book,i was in awe. He wrote this book when he was 25!!.However,I had to strain myself to finish the next 100 odd pages as the breezy,wry wit that was so abundant in the first 100 pages disappears without a trace.Despite the narrative being slightly disjointed after Ganesh becomes a Mystic,the book is hilarious.People who love self-deprecating wit,will love Mystic Masseur.The book is a glorious caricature of the people,the sounds and the sights of Trinidad.
Naipaul won the Nobel prize for Literature in 2001 and has scores of other prestigious awards in his kitty.For people who are starting out on Naipaul's books,Mystic masseur is highly recommended.As for me,i loved the book,despite the sagging,lack-lusture narrative after those 100 pages and am excited to start his third book,Miguel street.
November 9, 2008
Wonderfully written, with a dickensian flair for satire. At the end however I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth-- it's clear that the author didn't really like any of his characters very much. No hope for redemption. Understanding without empathy-- just exceedingly skilled mockery. Sort of a disappointment. But as the craft of writing goes this is pretty exemplary.
December 14, 2016
With only few brushstrokes Naipaul is able to get a character on his or her feet. Amused, I had to read some passages again to see how that works. A lot of it depends on the dialogue and how a character speaks, and the writer has a very good ear for it. The advantage is that he has to throw only scanty details here and there to make the whole thing work and not go into longish essays about what's going on. The use of dialect at hand is the key and it is gorgeously handled. There is a remarkable control over the narrative, the kind very few writers show, but that's what we have come to learn about Naipaul already.
It is a funny book and the restraint makes the joke work. Too much explanation, a word too may, and you won't laugh. In a way, The Mystic Masseur prepares you to meet Mr. Mohun Biswas.
It is a funny book and the restraint makes the joke work. Too much explanation, a word too may, and you won't laugh. In a way, The Mystic Masseur prepares you to meet Mr. Mohun Biswas.
December 29, 2010
This is Naipaul's first novel, which I found at my local library in a volume of his first three novels. Apparently Naipaul has had two phases in his writing: an early comic vision of which The Mystic Masseur is an example and a later disturbing darker period.
V S Naipaul was born in Trinidad, an island in the Caribbean, to which his grandfather had come from India. The island is a polyglot of races, nationalities and languages and has been ruled by various European nations since the 15th century. After slavery was abolished, the plantation owners brought in indentured labor from India.
Naipaul uses a combination of humor, magical realism and scenes from Indian/Hindu immigrant life to describe the coming of age of Ganesh Ramsumair, an orphan who makes it through some college education, fails as a school teacher and returns to his native village. In an effort to support his wife, he takes up healing as a masseur, though he is a complete quack. Mostly he studies the books he acquires, lining his walls and gaining knowledge until he gains fame as the "pundit."
The Indians from India who reside in Trinindad comprise a tightly knit and enclosed culture with their own foods, customs and competitions. Ganesh finally rises in the world and enters politics only to find disillusionment in the end. Naipaul's writing is lively and robust but I can't fully agree that his vision is comic. He makes some fun of his own people but what comes through is a rueful account of life as second class citizens in a post colonial world.
May 22, 2011
Naipaul creates a comic system full of characters mired in their petty motives, and lets it loose. The result is a funny read.
The refinery of the dialect, the technique of creating a sel-sustaining sytem, and the realization of tragedy as a greater force than out and out comedy -- add these three to The Mystic Masseur and you get very close to Naipaul's first masterpiece in 'The House of Biswas'. For Naipaul afficionadoes Massuer is a must read because not only does it do fairly well as a novel, it also exposes the components that were in creation before their final culmination in Mr. Biswas.
The refinery of the dialect, the technique of creating a sel-sustaining sytem, and the realization of tragedy as a greater force than out and out comedy -- add these three to The Mystic Masseur and you get very close to Naipaul's first masterpiece in 'The House of Biswas'. For Naipaul afficionadoes Massuer is a must read because not only does it do fairly well as a novel, it also exposes the components that were in creation before their final culmination in Mr. Biswas.
May 10, 2015
Sir Naipaul has such a formidable reputation, both as a scholarly writer & a curmudgeon that, readers/people are afraid to approach him(ask writer Paul Theroux!).
I feel lucky that I started my acquaintance with this writer through his first book, 'The Mystic Masseur' (1957) which is rather simple & approachable.
I think if you plan to read a writer's entire oeuvre then it's better to read them in a chronological order so as to enjoy more the gradual evolution of their worldview/artistic vision that inform & shape their work.
This work forms part of Naipaul's early Carribean novels yet it's about the Indian community in Trinidad (as most of his fiction is). You feel as if you are transported to some rural non-descript small town & village in India! The dialogues among these people sometimes read like literal translation from Hindi! It adds to the realism but gets discomfiting at times. I don't know how a native speaker will handle it.
It's a simple tale, simply told, but with a liberal dose of irony & humour: the novel traces the life of Ganesh Ramsumair, resident of a small town called Fourways, who receives an English education but fails as a teacher, attempts to follow his father's profession as a masseur but realises he is not cut out for it. All along, his one passion has been reading & collecting books & he aspires to be a writer. But success eludes him: explaining himself to his long-suffering wife, he says:
""Leela, is the thing. Everybody who want to write have to face. Poverty & sickness is what every writer have to suffer."
"But you ain't writing, man!"
Ganesh didn't reply."
He meets people who see 'an aura' & 'power' in him, they encourage him to write & ply him with more books.
Turns out all that reading & writing had not been in vain: it was a preparation for his true calling, that of a spiritual healer, the mystic masseur!
"we never are what we want to be," he wrote, "but what we must be."
An Indian dishing out spiritual mumbo-jumbo is as natural as a CPA crunching numbers! Of Course he becomes a Carribean sensation. To be fair to him, he is not a fake like the others:
"His prestige was secured by his learning...Ganesh elevated the profession by putting the charlatans out of business...he could speak on almost any subject...he was no bigot...but more than his powers, learning or tolerance, people liked his charity."
With providence favouring him, Ganesh prospers, so do the people around him & his backward village of Fuente Grove.
With such popularity, entering politics is only the next logical step, only there's a pesky nemesis called Narayan in the vein of The Fountainhead's Ellsworth Toohey, albeit on a lower narrative scale.
But now Ganesh is a man of the world, he crushes all opposition & becomes MLC & then M.B.E., a pucca brown sahib! The novel ends on a brilliant,cynical note.
This novel is a slice of life: readers get to see the sacred thread ceremony for a Brahmin boy(a coming-of-age event like the Jewish Bar Mitzvah), an Indian funeral, then a wedding. Naipaul merrily caricatures the two latter events.
Pls don't believe that Indian husbands beat their wives on their wedding night— they beat them afterwards!
Hee hee! Kidding.
See it in the context of the taming of the shrew. Of Course, Naipaul tells a lot in just a few lines about Indian sexuality: as chastity is prized, pre-marital sex is a big no no & permissiveness in general, is frowned upon. In such a scenario, youngsters get their carnal knowldge from equally clueless adults as is the case here.
One heartening thing esp. with reference to the Goodreads folks, is the supreme value placed on books in this novel: thus readers here with 2000+ books on their 'read' shelf, not only add heft to their profile but there is a good chance that, 'providence' smiling upon them, they might end up writing proper books.
Note to self: must add books, must add books......
December 23, 2014
Spoiler Alert
This is raw Naipaul much before the Indian trilogy, and before he polished all those edges of a genius. The book is about Providence, the meteoric rise of a teacher turned Masseur turned Mystic turned politician and finally into a brown English Sahib. This metamorphosis is fantastic, unapologetic except right at the very end, and destined. Good stuff!
This is raw Naipaul much before the Indian trilogy, and before he polished all those edges of a genius. The book is about Providence, the meteoric rise of a teacher turned Masseur turned Mystic turned politician and finally into a brown English Sahib. This metamorphosis is fantastic, unapologetic except right at the very end, and destined. Good stuff!
April 13, 2017
بعد از خانه ای برای آقای بیسواس ، این دومین کتابی است که از و.س.نایپل خواندم. برنده جایزه نوبل سال 2001 که در این کتاب با زبانی طنز روایتگر زندگی گانش است که از یک مشت و مالچی ساده به سیاستمداری موفق تبدیل می شود که در نهایت نشان امپراتوری بریتانیا را هم دریافت می کند.
May 26, 2018
Very funny. Set in a similar context to the not so funny (but superb) 'A House for Mr Biswas', i.e. Trinidad, in the 1930-1940's.
June 7, 2019
A great satirical look at Indians in Trinidad. The story follows Ganesh who turned failure and lack of ambition into eventual success.
August 5, 2021
THE GREAT COMPLETIST CHALLENGE: In which I revisit older authors and attempt to read every book they ever wrote
Currently in the challenge: Isaac Asimov's Robot/Empire/Foundation | Margaret Atwood | JG Ballard | Clive Barker | Christopher Buckley | Jim Butcher's Dresden Files | Lee Child's Jack Reacher | Philip K Dick | Ian Fleming | William Gibson | Michel Houellebecq | John Irving | Kazuo Ishiguro | Shirley Jackson | John Le Carre | Bernard Malamud | Cormac McCarthy | China Mieville | Toni Morrison | VS Naipaul | Chuck Palahniuk | Tim Powers | Terry Pratchett's Discworld | Philip Roth | Neal Stephenson | Jim Thompson | John Updike | Kurt Vonnegut | Jeanette Winterson | PG Wodehouse
Goodreads 2019 Summer Reading Challenge
6. Not from around here: Read a book set in a different culture from your own
V.S. Naipaul is one of the authors I'm thinking of adding to my Great Completist Challenge, so I thought I'd start with his early light comedies before moving on to the darker and more controversial writing he did later in his career. This 1957 book (his debut novel, although he published a story collection before it) fits right in the middle of that curious time in Mid-Century Modernist history when the old British Empire was being deliberately disassembled, and white middle-classers suddenly found themselves with a fascination for reading works from writers of color who were from these former colonies; this provided a perfect opportunity for Trinidadian-Indian Naipaul, who had received a scholarship to attend college at Oxford and was at the time a regular guest on a BBC show dedicated to Caribbean public intellectuals.
I found this book to be a strange one and hard to categorize, one of those titles that feels like you're missing something important by not being around in the '50s when it first came out, and understanding the full context of why Naipaul wrote it the way he did. It's the wacky, surreal tale of a "masseur" on that West Indies island (basically an unlicensed and uneducated doctor, who used quackery and sorcery just as much as traditional medicine to "cure" the maladies of the barely literate villagers around them), who becomes revered as a holy man because of being the only person in his town who actually collects books (and even goes so far as to sometimes read bits of them), a sort of Forrest Gumpian adventure that sees our hero Ganesh become a bestselling author, a powerful politician, and a business tycoon, earnest and humble in his ambitions but with all his successes nonetheless built on a web of lies and misunderstandings.
What makes this so hard to come to grips with for me, though, is that it feels a whole lot here like Naipaul is making vicious fun of his fellow Trinidadians, painting the entire population as basically backwards, inherently corrupt simpletons, and writing all their dialogue in valid local English creole, but in a way that would come across as shockingly racist if it was anyone else but a fellow Trinidadian doing the writing. (To give you some context, I finally realize now that this is what George Lucas was ripping off when he wrote the dialogue for Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars prequels, and look at how much hot water he got in from people of color for that.) That makes it hard to decide just what to think of Naipaul for writing a supposedly beloved look at his native country, but in a way that would quickly get him condemned if he was a white person writing the exact same prose. Is this a...compliment to Trinidad's simplistic way of life? Is he deliberately trying to insult his homeland? Is he attempting to achieve the same kind of magical realism that his peer Gabriel Carcia Marquez was penning in South America in these same exact years?
I don't know enough about Naipaul to know the answer, and I'm looking forward to reading other people's reviews after I post this to see if I can understand the book in a better context; but certainly from just a personal aspect as a pleasure reader, I definitely enjoyed the book, a whimsical tale that really puts you in a specific time and place that just doesn't exist anymore. It's easy to see with a book like this why the white middle-classers of the Mid-Century Modernist years were starting to clamor for this kind of work to begin with, especially in the post-war years when everyone had had just about enough with smartypants European intellectuals, thank you very much. Of course, Naipaul is much better known for his withering attacks on colonialism and third-world existence in his much more serious work starting in the '70s; so after this, I might just skip forward straight to something like In a Free State or A Bend in the River, just to see how early Naipaul and later Naipaul compare and contrast.
Currently in the challenge: Isaac Asimov's Robot/Empire/Foundation | Margaret Atwood | JG Ballard | Clive Barker | Christopher Buckley | Jim Butcher's Dresden Files | Lee Child's Jack Reacher | Philip K Dick | Ian Fleming | William Gibson | Michel Houellebecq | John Irving | Kazuo Ishiguro | Shirley Jackson | John Le Carre | Bernard Malamud | Cormac McCarthy | China Mieville | Toni Morrison | VS Naipaul | Chuck Palahniuk | Tim Powers | Terry Pratchett's Discworld | Philip Roth | Neal Stephenson | Jim Thompson | John Updike | Kurt Vonnegut | Jeanette Winterson | PG Wodehouse
Goodreads 2019 Summer Reading Challenge
6. Not from around here: Read a book set in a different culture from your own
V.S. Naipaul is one of the authors I'm thinking of adding to my Great Completist Challenge, so I thought I'd start with his early light comedies before moving on to the darker and more controversial writing he did later in his career. This 1957 book (his debut novel, although he published a story collection before it) fits right in the middle of that curious time in Mid-Century Modernist history when the old British Empire was being deliberately disassembled, and white middle-classers suddenly found themselves with a fascination for reading works from writers of color who were from these former colonies; this provided a perfect opportunity for Trinidadian-Indian Naipaul, who had received a scholarship to attend college at Oxford and was at the time a regular guest on a BBC show dedicated to Caribbean public intellectuals.
I found this book to be a strange one and hard to categorize, one of those titles that feels like you're missing something important by not being around in the '50s when it first came out, and understanding the full context of why Naipaul wrote it the way he did. It's the wacky, surreal tale of a "masseur" on that West Indies island (basically an unlicensed and uneducated doctor, who used quackery and sorcery just as much as traditional medicine to "cure" the maladies of the barely literate villagers around them), who becomes revered as a holy man because of being the only person in his town who actually collects books (and even goes so far as to sometimes read bits of them), a sort of Forrest Gumpian adventure that sees our hero Ganesh become a bestselling author, a powerful politician, and a business tycoon, earnest and humble in his ambitions but with all his successes nonetheless built on a web of lies and misunderstandings.
What makes this so hard to come to grips with for me, though, is that it feels a whole lot here like Naipaul is making vicious fun of his fellow Trinidadians, painting the entire population as basically backwards, inherently corrupt simpletons, and writing all their dialogue in valid local English creole, but in a way that would come across as shockingly racist if it was anyone else but a fellow Trinidadian doing the writing. (To give you some context, I finally realize now that this is what George Lucas was ripping off when he wrote the dialogue for Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars prequels, and look at how much hot water he got in from people of color for that.) That makes it hard to decide just what to think of Naipaul for writing a supposedly beloved look at his native country, but in a way that would quickly get him condemned if he was a white person writing the exact same prose. Is this a...compliment to Trinidad's simplistic way of life? Is he deliberately trying to insult his homeland? Is he attempting to achieve the same kind of magical realism that his peer Gabriel Carcia Marquez was penning in South America in these same exact years?
I don't know enough about Naipaul to know the answer, and I'm looking forward to reading other people's reviews after I post this to see if I can understand the book in a better context; but certainly from just a personal aspect as a pleasure reader, I definitely enjoyed the book, a whimsical tale that really puts you in a specific time and place that just doesn't exist anymore. It's easy to see with a book like this why the white middle-classers of the Mid-Century Modernist years were starting to clamor for this kind of work to begin with, especially in the post-war years when everyone had had just about enough with smartypants European intellectuals, thank you very much. Of course, Naipaul is much better known for his withering attacks on colonialism and third-world existence in his much more serious work starting in the '70s; so after this, I might just skip forward straight to something like In a Free State or A Bend in the River, just to see how early Naipaul and later Naipaul compare and contrast.
July 13, 2013
This book got to me for a number of reasons, got to me for mainly good reasons. Firstly though, it is described, on the rear cover, as "...one of the authors finest comic creations....." I find the book humorous on times but this is not a belly laughter book - and presumably not meant to be either - but the characters certainly do have a comic nature. In this way it reminded me of Stella Gibbon's novel, "Cold Comfort Farm" which was written in 1932 and I described as "Slowing you down to the speed of the day" Something that "The Mystic Masseur" also does.
I had a feeling of uneasiness at the beginning of the book as it seemed to be disparaging toward the people of Trinidad and the way they spoke. Seeing that the author was born in Trinidad, of Indian extraction, seemed to justify the books actions. Then the feeling progressed into slight confusion. Firstly, showing my own ignorance, I had no idea that there were Indians and people of Indian extraction, in Trinidad. This led, for me, to a confused reading of the dialect. It started to come off the page and into my head as an Afro Caribbean / West Indian dialect, as that seems to be the way in which it is written. Later, I was reading the dialect as Caribbean with a slight Indian inflection to some of the words. Whether right or wrong, it added to, rather than diminished my enjoyment.
"You know she, then?"
"Know she! Is I who take up King George. Mark you, I think I was very lucky coming across she. Now I take she everywhere with me."
"She related to us?"
"You could say so. Phulbassia is a sort of cousin to King George and you is a sort of cousin to Phulbassia."
The aunt belched, not the polite after-dinner belch, but a long, stuttering thing. "Is the wind" she explained without apology. "It have a long time now - since your father dead, come to think of it - I suffering from this wind."
The above, read on its own, might seem a bit of a chore but, on the contrary, this is a book that meanders at a slow pace, even though it depicts the rapid rise of Ganesh. I am only sorry that I bought and read it in November as it would be a nice holiday book, or at the very least a book to read on a hot sunmmer's day.
I had a feeling of uneasiness at the beginning of the book as it seemed to be disparaging toward the people of Trinidad and the way they spoke. Seeing that the author was born in Trinidad, of Indian extraction, seemed to justify the books actions. Then the feeling progressed into slight confusion. Firstly, showing my own ignorance, I had no idea that there were Indians and people of Indian extraction, in Trinidad. This led, for me, to a confused reading of the dialect. It started to come off the page and into my head as an Afro Caribbean / West Indian dialect, as that seems to be the way in which it is written. Later, I was reading the dialect as Caribbean with a slight Indian inflection to some of the words. Whether right or wrong, it added to, rather than diminished my enjoyment.
"You know she, then?"
"Know she! Is I who take up King George. Mark you, I think I was very lucky coming across she. Now I take she everywhere with me."
"She related to us?"
"You could say so. Phulbassia is a sort of cousin to King George and you is a sort of cousin to Phulbassia."
The aunt belched, not the polite after-dinner belch, but a long, stuttering thing. "Is the wind" she explained without apology. "It have a long time now - since your father dead, come to think of it - I suffering from this wind."
The above, read on its own, might seem a bit of a chore but, on the contrary, this is a book that meanders at a slow pace, even though it depicts the rapid rise of Ganesh. I am only sorry that I bought and read it in November as it would be a nice holiday book, or at the very least a book to read on a hot sunmmer's day.
July 12, 2020
I fell in love with "A House for Mr. Biswas" by Naipaul. Since that time I have read several of his books. They all have a certain mood or feeling that is unique to Naipaul. However, I do believe that he spends a lot of time on small things that get a little boring or repetitive, especially in this book.
I'm glad that I read it because I just wanted to read another title by the author. There was some humor, and the local mood was described well. The character's were not so endearing so perhaps that is the connection for me that was missing.
I'm glad that I read it because I just wanted to read another title by the author. There was some humor, and the local mood was described well. The character's were not so endearing so perhaps that is the connection for me that was missing.
July 18, 2021
This slim novel was Naipaul’s debut. Set in the countryside of Trinidad among the Indian population, it is the humorous story of a man of mediocre ability unlikely rise to power. It did remind me some of Naipaul’s later, much longer novel, A House for Mr. Biswas.
While I particularly enjoyed the comical rivalry between the protagonist, Ganesh, and his wily father-in-law, Ramlogan, I don’t think I always got the satire or intended criticism, since Trinidad and that era are both so foreign to me.
While I particularly enjoyed the comical rivalry between the protagonist, Ganesh, and his wily father-in-law, Ramlogan, I don’t think I always got the satire or intended criticism, since Trinidad and that era are both so foreign to me.
November 14, 2024
Whimsical story.
December 15, 2015
(Relectura. CARBONE TE ODIO. Bueh mentira pero odio este libro.)
August 29, 2015
köstliche Guru Parodie
September 15, 2023
Feels like a first novel
July 3, 2021
It's almost unimaginable that a work of fiction like this came out of Naipaul at the tender age of 25. Scary even, the monstrous talent that he was in the making, considering the acute social commentary on display in this book. You can consider the mystic massuer a precursor to the now modern cult - a house for mr biswas. I assume this is the book he used to warm up for his magnum opus. And it's almost telling how many Naipaulesque traits this book lays out one after the other which would eventually become a staple of his, as his career progressed. An almost deplorable base of characters, each seemingly annoying, petty almost hilariously aspirational yet the kind you wouldn't want around you. Then the characters really take shape and make you take notice of them. All main naipaul characters carry the wound of civilization, a wish to be recognised as an equal in an unequal society where your lineage matters when compared to colonial masters. Each tug of ambition pulls at that thread, and people like Ganesh always know within them that they are made for better things in life than the shithole they're usually born in. It's almost ironic that all his main storylines have the undercurrent of being good/knowing English which was the benchmark for being a "gentleman" in those post colonial years. This personal wound informs all his work and it is no different in his first book.
But a few things that get firmly established as you read this book. First, Naipaul has a comic ear that's second to none for a writer of his seriousness. Maybe all that caustic cultural hurt found its way in his writing which is inimitable especially in the following books like AHFMB. Second, that like future main protagonists, Ganesh is a genuine character, someone that doesn't change shape with growing successes even though the world and people around him want him to. Being stuck in that space of being accepted by the wider world yet trying to build a name in the milieu you're born in. He wants to please someone, but is never sure who that is. Respect is non-negotiable. It wasnt enough for him to be the most famous mystic/learner person within the Hindu community in Trinidad, but what what eventually took shape is his progression towards British acceptance. The last line of the book is almost astonishing yet expected!
From something that started seeming like a 2 star book, I feel it turned into something truly wonderful. I was laughing most ways through and can certainly recommend this to anyone who's ever read Naipaul before.
"It got many many book here and the prose not prutty prutty" but you'll sit and chuckle nevertheless.
But a few things that get firmly established as you read this book. First, Naipaul has a comic ear that's second to none for a writer of his seriousness. Maybe all that caustic cultural hurt found its way in his writing which is inimitable especially in the following books like AHFMB. Second, that like future main protagonists, Ganesh is a genuine character, someone that doesn't change shape with growing successes even though the world and people around him want him to. Being stuck in that space of being accepted by the wider world yet trying to build a name in the milieu you're born in. He wants to please someone, but is never sure who that is. Respect is non-negotiable. It wasnt enough for him to be the most famous mystic/learner person within the Hindu community in Trinidad, but what what eventually took shape is his progression towards British acceptance. The last line of the book is almost astonishing yet expected!
From something that started seeming like a 2 star book, I feel it turned into something truly wonderful. I was laughing most ways through and can certainly recommend this to anyone who's ever read Naipaul before.
"It got many many book here and the prose not prutty prutty" but you'll sit and chuckle nevertheless.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 31, 2020
The Mystic Masseur, follows the life of Ganesh Ramsumair; where the plot is set in Trinidad, in the 1940s. Ganesh came from a humble Indian village and was sent to the city to be educated. He, however, despised being in the city and found it comforting whenever he came back to his little home town - a feeling I can relate to as I gained my tertiary education in the city, but can never quite feel at home there, the mentality and the culture of the town folk is starkly different from the humility and simplicity of the county folk. Ganesh loved to read, spent most of his money on books, much to the annoyance of his wife, he marveled at the printing press and stationery shops - another sentiment I can share with him, as I also feel excitement browsing the selves of bookstores and flipping though artsy stationery. He was resilient in his pursuit of becoming a masseur, even though his wife tried to get him to give up on this dream, he buried himself in books of psychology, Hinduism, indology, religion and Greek philosophy. As time progressed, Ganesh sold his house and moved to Port of Spain, where he dropped his books on psychology and religion, and instead picked up books on political theory. He believed that it was Providence that guided him, just as it told him to take up mysticism, it also told him when to give it up, additionally he believed strongly in predestination and circumstances which conspire to elevate him to be providential: should he be born 10 years early, he would've been a mediocre pundit, had he been born 10 years later, he would've been sent to a 1st world country to get a profession. He was also thankful for adversity and his enemies, because if it wasn't for Narayan, he wouldn't have become a politician; he also gave favor to any member of the public, for which his fees were never high, "you must give only what you can afford."
Paragraph that stood out to me:
... Happiness was only possible if you cleared your mind of desire and looked upon yourself as part of Life, just a tiny link in the vast chain of Creation. 'Lie down on the dry grass and feel Life growing out from the rocks and earth beneath you, through you, and upwards. Look at the clouds and sky when it isn't hot and feel that you are part of all that. Feel that everything else is an extension of you. Therefore you, who are all this, can never die.'
Paragraph that stood out to me:
... Happiness was only possible if you cleared your mind of desire and looked upon yourself as part of Life, just a tiny link in the vast chain of Creation. 'Lie down on the dry grass and feel Life growing out from the rocks and earth beneath you, through you, and upwards. Look at the clouds and sky when it isn't hot and feel that you are part of all that. Feel that everything else is an extension of you. Therefore you, who are all this, can never die.'
May 3, 2021
প্রথম উপন্যাস দি মিসটিক মসিউরে (১৯৫৭) আমরা দেখি গণেশ নামে একজন ভারতীয় গুরু ঔপনিবেশিক ত্রিনিদাদে রাজনৈতিকভাবে শক্তিমান হয়ে উঠছে। ত্রিনিদাদে বসবাসরত পূর্ব ভারতীয় জনগোষ্ঠীকে উপজীব্য করে উপন্যাসটি লেখা। উপন্যাসের কথক বলছেন যে, গণেশের (উপন্যাসের কেন্দ্রীয় চরিত্র) ইতিহাস, আমাদের সময়ের ইতিহাস। কাজেই আমরা ধরে নিতে পারি, গণেশের মধ্য দিয়ে ত্রিনিদাদে ভারতীয় জনগণের উত্থান-পর্বের ইতিহাস রচিত হয়। গণেশ হলো পশ্চিমা শিক্ষায় শিক্ষিত হওয়া পূর্ব ভারত থেকে আসা প্রথম প্রজন্মের প্রতিনিধি। প্রথম প্রজন্মের ভারতীয়দের জন্য সাংস্কৃতিকভাবে আত্মপরিচয় নির্মাণের কাজটি আরো কঠিন ছিল। গল্পের কথক কিশোর গণেশের প্রতি সহানুভূতির সঙ্গে তার সে-সময়ের সংগ্রামের কথা উঠিয়ে এনেছেন। স্কুলে প্রথম দিনই গণেশ সাংস্কৃতিকভাবে নিগৃহীত হয়। অন্যান্য শিক্ষার্থী তার ভারতীয় আচরণ ও পোশাক নিয়ে হাসিঠাট্টা করে। সেই প্রথম গণেশ ভারতীয় হিসেবে নিজেকে সমাজের প্রান্তিক মানুষ বলে মনে করে। সে লজ্জিত হয়ে ভারতীয় পরিচয় আড়াল করার চেষ্টা করে। নাইপলের ভাষায় : ‘সে (গণেশ) তার ভারতীয় নাম নিয়ে এতটাই লজ্জায় পড়ে যায় যে একটা পর্যায়ে বলে বেড়ায় যে আসলে তাকে ডাকা হতো গরেথ নামে।’ গণেশ তখন অন্যদের সংস্কৃতি নকল করার চেষ্টা করে। সে ভারতীয় গুরুবিদ্যা প্রচার করলেও ভারতীয় তান্ত্রিকদের পোশাক না পরে, পরে ইউরোপীয়দের পোশাক। তার খাবারের টেবিলে ভারতীয় ডাল-ভাত-রুটির পাশাপাশি চলে আসে পশ্চিমা খাবার। এভাবেই নতুন দেশে পূর্ব ভারতীয়রা দ্বৈতজীবন যাপন করতে অভ্যস্ত হয়ে পড়ে। তারা ভালো করে ইংরেজি বলতে পারে না, আবার অন্যদিকে হিন্দি ভাষা একেবারে ভুলে যায়। প্রাচ্যের সঙ্গে পশ্চিমের এই সাংস্কৃতিক দ্বন্দ্বের মাঝে আটকা পড়ে গণেশ। সে যখন তার প্রাচ্যের আধ্যাত্মিকতার সঙ্গে পশ্চিমের জ্ঞানকে মেলাতে পারে, তখনই সে সফল হয়। সে যখন বলতে শেখে, ‘সব ধর্মই এক’, তখনই সে হিন্দু-মুসলিম-খ্রিষ্টান সকলের মানুষ হয়ে ওঠে। গণেশ ভারতীয় ত্রিনিদাদি হিসেবে নয়, কলোনিয়াল প্রোডাক্ট হিসেবে নির্বাচনে জয়লাভ করে। এরপর যখন গণেশকে আমরা লেখক হয়ে উঠতে দেখি তখন আমাদের বুঝে নিতে সমস্যা হয় না, গণেশ একইসঙ্গে নাইপলের জীবনী ও ইতিহাস।
June 9, 2019
Caribbean literature often addresses serious issues. Lately, I found myself looking at titles and thinking, not another sad story, not another story about the struggles. And thank goodness that I picked up this book, not knowing what this legendary Trinidadian author had in store for me.
The story is about a bright boy from a poor village who becomes a powerful statesman through a chain of odd and unlikely events. The people are hilarious without meaning to be and it made me realize something. It’s so common to read a book that incites feelings of sadness, intrigue or just mere tranquillity, but it’s so rare to read a book that makes you laugh out loud. The Mystic Masseur came just in time because I simply couldn’t read another sad story.
Of course, some relevant themes are addressed, such as the role of religion in politics and the status of the English language in the Caribbean, especially during that era. V.S. Naipaul communicates his views in a subtle and comical way that is a welcomed change from the typical political novel.
The story is about a bright boy from a poor village who becomes a powerful statesman through a chain of odd and unlikely events. The people are hilarious without meaning to be and it made me realize something. It’s so common to read a book that incites feelings of sadness, intrigue or just mere tranquillity, but it’s so rare to read a book that makes you laugh out loud. The Mystic Masseur came just in time because I simply couldn’t read another sad story.
Of course, some relevant themes are addressed, such as the role of religion in politics and the status of the English language in the Caribbean, especially during that era. V.S. Naipaul communicates his views in a subtle and comical way that is a welcomed change from the typical political novel.
October 28, 2022
The Mystic Masseur is about a young man, Ganesh, born in Trinidad of Indian descent, who initially becomes a teacher but moves on to other pursuits, including publishing of short pamphlets, mystic healer, and politician. He kind of stumbles through life, often with an inflated opinion of himself, but is ultimately successful. They call this a “comic”novel that skewers the culture and morays of 1950s Trinidad. I found it mildly interesting but also kind of a slog. Ganesh is not a very likable character and the writing style and use of local dialect (not the right word but I can’t come up with something better at the moment) make it a very slow read. I wasn’t looking for a potboiler but some flow to the plot would have helped. If you find yourself asking “what was mid-20th century culture like in small villages of Trinidad like” and find “comic” novel actually funny, then this book is for you. Otherwise, seek out one of Naipaul’s later novels.
September 17, 2019
A story that reminds us that while destiny and self drive are 2 starkly contrasting concepts, they are hopelessly intertwined in human lives. Where we land up is a little bit of a personal struggle as well as serendipity. This is peppered with some simple, easy going humour, the laid back pace of life in a little town in Trinidad and the black & white of relationships. More a biography rather than a novel, but a light & easy one.
Why I wouldn’t give this a 4 star is only because I find Naipaul’s prose very impersonal/low on warmth. There is something about it which always reminds the reader that he is only an observer, a person with access to the story as a chain of events rather than someone who feels like the character is his friend, his alter ego even, with a story that’s left a bit to interpretation.
Why I wouldn’t give this a 4 star is only because I find Naipaul’s prose very impersonal/low on warmth. There is something about it which always reminds the reader that he is only an observer, a person with access to the story as a chain of events rather than someone who feels like the character is his friend, his alter ego even, with a story that’s left a bit to interpretation.
June 29, 2021
A great book of humour, strive, reading and writing with sparkles of destiny!!
Genre - humour
On the globe - Trinidad
A rare story that speaks of humour in a very different note. It talks of hope, destiny, perseverance and above all the weird and enduring life of a writer who cherishes until the end to be successful.
Reading habit and writing practices, the good, bad, ugly and the funny side of it.
I could relate to a great extent and a smile did come up to my face throughout the reading experience!
How we entail of being someone and then our reading obsession changes it all for all the good reasons..
Loved the book.
Target - anyone can feel free to explore this one, yet a word of caution - not a casual read😉
Genre - humour
On the globe - Trinidad
A rare story that speaks of humour in a very different note. It talks of hope, destiny, perseverance and above all the weird and enduring life of a writer who cherishes until the end to be successful.
Reading habit and writing practices, the good, bad, ugly and the funny side of it.
I could relate to a great extent and a smile did come up to my face throughout the reading experience!
How we entail of being someone and then our reading obsession changes it all for all the good reasons..
Loved the book.
Target - anyone can feel free to explore this one, yet a word of caution - not a casual read😉
November 25, 2020
This was V.S. Naipaul's debut effort - his first novel, and what a cracking success it is. The comic novel is a difficult thing to write - I should know, having attempted and failed to bring off anything remotely humorous in my own writing. But Naipaul sustains the comedy by mixing in a dash of social realism in this magnificent tail of Ganesh, a so-called mystic masseur in the backwoods of Trinidad. We follow his rise and rise (not quite the rise and fall one would expect), though there is nothing predictable about this story. The telling is wonderful as well - the language is, superficially, simple enough, but there is art to complement the wit, making this a delightful read.
February 27, 2021
This book was actually pretty good. I got invested very quickly and it’s the first time that a book genuinely made me laugh. I got so busy and caught up with work and desires to read other things though, and I felt that at some parts the book just kind of dragged on. It was nice to get a glimpse into Ganesh’s life. To see how spiritual he was and how he solved problems, and super unfortunate to see how he turned out successful yet miserable. I guess a good takeaway from this book is that success doesn’t yield happiness.
May 15, 2022
Naipaul is an exceptional writer. This early book (published in 1957), known as one of his "earlier comic novels", reads like a writer's notebook. It's a good study in how to write dialogue. I read it in hard-copy version around 2001 when the Merchant Ivory film version of the story came out. I thought the audiobook would be better, and while it's amusing (thanks to the excellent narrator and solid accent/language usage), it's still an annoying book. Indulgent. Naipaul won the Booker Prize in 1971. Much was learned between 1957 and 1971 and readers are fortunate for that.
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