Reviews
PRAISE FOR PATRICK FRENCH'STHE WORLD IS WHAT IT IS "A great writer requires a great biography, and a great biography must tell the truth. V.S. Naipaul wanted his monument built while he was still alive, and, sticking to his own ruthless literary code, he was willing to pay the full price….Now Naipaul has his monument, "The World Is What It Is" is fully worthy of its subject, with all the dramatic pacing, the insight and the pathos of a first-rate novel. It is a magnificent tribute to the painful and unlikely struggled by which the grandson of indentured Indian workers, born in the small island colony of Trinidad, made himself into the greatest English novelist of the past half century. It is also a portrait of the artist as a monster. How these two judgments can be simultaneously true is one of this book's central questions. Whether Naipaul himself understand the enormity of the story to which he contributed so much candor is another….rich narrative….impossible to put down….Pat's voice is faltering and uncertain where Naipaul's is relentlessly in command, but its small observations, evasions and sudden bolts of understanding haunt the reader up until her death of cancer, which gives this story its heartbreaking end." - George Packer, on the cover of theNew York Times Book Review "a prodigious achievement, a wonderful biography, a justification for the art of biography itself." - A. N. Wilson,Times Literary Supplement "astonishing (and astonishinglyauthorized)….With the aid of this exhaustive and efficient biography, one can make some more-educated surmises about the connection between Naipaul's rigidly maintained exterior and the many layers of insecurity…that underlie it….shrewd and intelligent." - Christopher Hitchens,The Atlantic "I doubted whether an honest book could be written by anyone while Naipaul was still alive. I was wrong. The truth is not skimped in Patrick French's excellent book....The great merit of a superb biography, such as this one, is that it can deepen our understanding of the literary character by telling us more about its creator....French…gets it right." - Ian Buruma,The New York Review of Books "extraordinary biography….French has handled an immense amount of materials with a deft hand, and the reader actually wishes he had extended the book's 487 pages of text and pursued his subject pas 1996….authorized but not compromised….It's hard to see how French could have been more objective if his subject had been dead for ten years….French is so thorough that it's likely no further biography of Naipaul, at least one covering the first sixty-odd years of his life, will ever be needed….French is very good on Naipaul's writing….The World Is What It Isadds depth and clarity to the discussion of Naipaul's work….French has met his own rigorous standards and, one feels, Sir Vidia's as well." - Allen Barra,Bookforum "one of the sprightliest, most gripping, most intellectually curious, and well,funniestbiographies of a living writer…to come along in years….Mr. French is a relative rarity among biographers, a real writer, and at his best he sounds like a combination of that wily bohemian Geoff Dyer and that wittily matter-of-factual cyborg Michael Kinsley. Even the cameos in Mr. French's biography are crazily vivid….crafty and inquisitive book….Mr. French quickly and adroitly steps back to give us a wide-angled and morally complicated view….vivid, praise from the UK: "French's character analysis is not flattering, but it does justice to its subject's complexity….French's book is a magnificent achievement….But the achievement is partly Naipaul's. For he did not have to agree to these conditions, or speak to French so openly. He has chosen to submit himself to the truth-telling and ruthless objectivity that have always characterised his own work." - John Cary,The Sunday Times "penetrating, wide-ranging and unflinching biography….The closing pages…are enough to draw tears." - The Economist "Patrick French has brought off something very difficult, so difficult indeed that I would have thought it impossible. He has written a biography of a living person that is every bit as honest, perceptive, compelling and plain good as if his subject was dead. It is a masterly performance, and if a better biography is published this year, I shall be astonished….It is rare to wish that a biography running to over 500 pages was longer, but this is an exception." - Allan Massie,Literary Review "a brilliant biography: exemplary in its thoroughness, sympathetic but tough in tone. Against Naipaul's own increasing 'tendency to caricature himself in public,' and against the distortions peddled by snubbed friends and ideological enemies, French has set down a complex and credible portrait. Reading it I was enthralled - and frequently amused (how incredibly funny Naipaul can be!). I was also continually aware of a great and unrelenting pressure on the developing writer; it suffuses the book like suspense….lovely to read….French's accounts…have their own entertainment value..." - Sebastian Smee,Spectator "Patrick French's brilliant and candidThe World Is What It Islays bare the demons that drove one of our greatest - and most controversial - writers….one of the brutally frank interviews that provide the backbone of this extraordinary book….a biography that reads on one level like a contemporary variation on Bluebeard's Castle, the kind of malign fairy tale at which, according to Naipaul, English writers excel….The World Is What It Ismust have taken nerves of iron to write. Its clarity, honesty, even-handedness, its panoramic range and close emotional focus, above all its virtually unprecedented access to the dark secret life at its heart, make it one of the most gripping biographies I've ever read." - Hilary Spurling,The Observer "Few people expected Patrick French's biography to be a full account of the writer's life … It turns out that doubters underestimated French, who appears to have won himself a free hand" - Christopher Tayler,The Guardian "A terrific achievement - in effect, an addition to the canon of Naipaul's own works. There is very much more to this narrative than this personal story that has been so seized upon. French portrays the Trinidad of Naipaul's childhood brilliantly; he discriminates finely between Naipaul's books; he deals sharply with the business side of Naipaul's literary career. The research, documentation and organisation of the material are admirable." - David Sexton,Evening Standard "Copiously detailed and largely sympathetic … French's method is phenomenological: he presents the evidence as he finds it, in his subject's words or the words of those who knew him,, A Best Book of the Year The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Time, New York Magazine, The Economist, People "Extraordinary. . . . Thrilling. . . . Full of intimate and moving revelations." -James Wood,The New Yorker "Vivid. . . . One of the sprightliest, most gripping, most intellectually curious, [and] funniest biographies of a living writer . . . to come along in years." -Dwight Garner,The New York Times "A superb, clear-eyed study, always sympathetic, balanced and thoughtful." -Michael Dirda,The Washington Post "Penetrating, wide-ranging, and unflinching." -The Economist "Excellent. . . . The great merit of a superb biography, such as this one, is that it can deepen our understanding of the literary character by telling us more about its creator. . . . [French] gets it right." -Ian Buruma,The New York Review of Books "Magnificent. . . . Impossible to put down. . . . Fully worthy of its subject, with all the dramatic pacing, the insight and the pathos of a first-rate novel." -George Packer,TheNew York Times Book Review "As haunting and harrowing a psychological document as you could ask for. . . . French pursues his prey with an acuity worthy of the man himself. . . . [He] grippingly develops an account of the writer's life as cool and undeluded as Naipaul's former friend Paul Theroux's was rivetingly emotional." -Pico Iyer,Time "Perhaps the most shockingly 'authorized' biography in the history of authorized biographies. . . . French handles the incendiary material with novelistic subtlety and grace." -Sam Anderson,New York Magazine "Astonishing. . . . It seems I didn't know half the horrors." -Paul Theroux,The Sunday Times(London) "A vivid, and sometimes enthralling, portrait of a deeply enigmatic writer. . . . French is alive to the nuances, quirks and contradictions in Naipaul's character, and he has an acute sense of his subject's displacement and rootlessness. . . . [He] navigates difficult emotional territory with a very high degree of compassion, subtlety and authority. . . . A formidable achievement." -Scott Sherman,The Nation "Astonishing (and astonishingly authorized). . . . Shrewd and intelligent." -Christopher Hitchens,The Atlantic "A prodigious achievement, a wonderful biography, a justification for the art of biography itself." -A. N. Wilson,Times Literary Supplement(London) "Harrowing. . . . Frank. . . . Naipaul's work will inevitably be read differently in light of this biography. . . . A major achievement." -Floyd Skloot,The Philadelphia Inquirer "French's engrossing biography never forgets Naipaul is a great writer. One hopes he will, in due course, go on to complete the life." -John Sutherland,Financial Times "Candid. . . . Well-researched and fair-minded. . . . French skews nothing and . . . illuminate[s] aspects of a life full of entanglements and opposing selves." -Alexander Theroux,Boston Sunday Globe "A magnificent achievement. . . . But the achievement is partly Naipaul's. For he did not have to agree to these conditions, o
