Coming across this book was kind of an accident. At Calabash, Derek Walcott debuted a poem in which he called Naipaul a mongoose and criticized him for abandoning a Caribbean identity and solidarity with Afro-Caribbean populations. Naipaul was born in Trinidad of Indian heritage. (The mongoose is an animal brought to the Caribbean from India by the British). Anyhow, this made me want to read Naipaul who like Walcott is a Nobel Prize winner. Everyone says "don't read the last book," but I was at Bookophilia and this one only cost $345 J and I'm broke like a joke so "Magic Seeds" it was! I actually enjoyed it. The main character is on a quest for identity and ideals, and he joins a revolution in India. The book, for me, was sort of a cross between Voltaire's "Candide" and Nabokov's "Lolita" in that the main character is sort of perverse yet comic anti-hero and the story is in many ways as absurd as it is realistic. Although the narrative is dry and stiff at the beginning, it gets better. "Magic Seeds" is actually the sequal to "Half a Life," which I haven't read, so I wonder how my reading might have changed if I read the first one. Here is an excerpt from Walcott's poem (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/...Walcott's WordsAn extract from 'The Mongoose'I have been bitten, I must avoid infectionOr else I'll be as dead as Naipaul's fictionRead his last novels, you'll see justwhat I meanA lethargy, approaching the obsceneThe model is more ho-hum than DickensThe essays have more biteThey scatter chickens like critics, buteach stabbing phrase is poisonSince he has made that snaring stylea prisonThe plots are forced, the prosesedate and sillyThe anti-hero is a prick named WillieWho lacks the conflict of a Waugh or LawrenceAnd whines with his creator'sself-abhorrence
What do You think about Magic Seeds (2005)?
This is the most depressing book I've read since Revolutionary Road, which led me down a 5 year spiral to the bottom... I might not finish it. Well I did finish it, and it just got worse. I think not reading the prequel (Half Life) left me a bit lacking in insight regarding the main character, but that said, Willie is a cardboard presentation - just a vehicle for Naipaul to push out his angry, cranky politics and disregard for the working class and human struggle. So I probably won't go out looking for more Naipaul, but it is well-written, decently structured book. It had to be for me to get through it. Anyway, it is what it is - two stars.
—Adam
Magic Seeds begins in far distant Germany where the distraught and confused protagonist, Willie Chandran, is trying to come to terms with his identity. Chandran – a figure who I believe represents the 20th century Indian emigrant – has suffered from a broken marriage. He lives with his sister, a progressive, neo-liberal. On her urgings, Chandran takes up the cause of the lower caste in India. He decides to join the underground struggle. His journey to India and the initial contact with the underground is typical of a new acolyte; fervor, zeal and self-convincing monologue at every hurdle.Like Kafka’s many stories, Naipaul’s Chandran keeps treading the path of failure or gloom. Naipal paints an unflattering picture of the ‘freedom struggle’ and he is careful not to name this struggle.Despite the political overtures and the skepticism reserved for grass root guerilla movements, Naipaul insists that he is devoid of political leanings. Having grown up outside India, Naipaul says be belongs to the same class of ‘floating man’ that Willie Chandran belongs to. The book is a very trying affair to read. If one is not acquainted with Naipaul and the India he describes, one is bound to give up reading by the fourth chapter. The long convoluted prose is a sure put off as much as the naïve character that Chandran evolves into. “The more I saw myself getting into a mess, the more I would have pressed on,” says Chandran in Magic Seeds and this succinct line evokes pity at first but plain irritation by the end of it. Read the full review at The Sussegad Life
—Newton L
Hmm. What to make of this one? I guess it is sort of a continuation of another novel which I haven't read. Maybe that would have helped to ground it some. It's an odd book, in that there isn't much plot. I guess that's the point? Willie is just floating along, going in whatever direction someone points him in. In the process, he comes to terms with immigration, modernization and class differences in England, his home--of sorts. It's an interesting novel--well, no. The novel is a little slow. But there are bits of insights that Willie and his friend Roger share that are very thought provoking. The title, Magic Seeds, gives the whole novel structure, but I didn't figure that out until the last quarter. So, I think this book is probably much better than I give it credit for, but I'm not inclined at the moment to reread it and get to the goods. This would probably be a good book club book because you could get a lot of discussion out of it. But as something to read alone, it's a hair overwhelming.
—Isabel
