Miguel Street

Naipaul's novel about daily life on Miguel Street is a masterful piece of literature. The characters are colorful and believable, the writing style is fluid and very readable, and the issues raised about (post)colonialism and neocolonialism are oh so real. Entertaining at times; thought-provoking at others--Naipaul's MIGUEL STREET is a must read for any fan of literary genius.

This book was a standard for Literature when I was going to high school. Ten years later, the characters are still as colourful, the prose just as lyrical, and Naipaul still weaves a wonderful story.

i agree with alejandro's review: what you bring to this collection of short stories greatly affects how you perceive it. as someone who has (temporarily) left a post-colonial country, i can understand the yearning of the characters to escape, to find a better life, even though most of them aren't quite sure of how to escape and what exactly a better life entails. does the narrator really escape, though? the last paragraph describes him (or at least his shadow) as a dwarf on the tarmac, as though he were deformed (no offense meant to small people) or permanently marked by his efforts to leave somehow. i read "a way in the world" before "miguel street" and it's almost frightening to see how much "miguel street" is a portent of the despair, isolation, and desire in "a way in the world."

I first read this book in 1978. Twenty years later, it is still serious, funny and most importantly is a pungent reminder of times past.Highly recommended.

This is a collection of inter-connected stories and character sketches set in the island of Trinidad, the author's birthplace, years ago when he was a boy. The tales are charming, some funny, some sad, some both, and all are told in Naipaul's short, mostly (if not completely) perfect sentences. Anyone interested in the life and culture of the Caribbean would do well to read and re-read this little gem of a book.