The first book of VS Naipauls which I read was The Mystic Masseur. A Vincentian flatmate had a copy of the then brand new paperback which was eagerly passed around. Not a book to read on the tube
The second was Mr Stone & the Knights Companion. A book which you rarely, if ever, see mentioned in articles or profiles of Naipaul
I have never reread the book but the impression which it made was profound. For one thing I was astonished that the young man who wrote such a side splittingly authentic (so my friends assured me) tale of a Trinidadian Hindu pandit could write such an affecting story of a lonely old English man
It was many years before I got around to reading Mr Biswas. Then I understood much better
Link: A Short, Painful Life
