In A Free State by V.S. Naipaul

I had a bit of a dilemma with this book as when I searched the online database of one of the local libraries it turned up ‘In A Free State: The Novel’ and so I thought – great, that’s another one from the list!  However, when I read the preface written by V.S Naipaul I realised that the copy that I had obtained is not the edition that won the prize.  Apparently the 1971 winner was conceived as ‘a central novel, set in Africa, with shorter surrounding matter from other places.’ However he ‘grew to feel that the central novel was muffled and diminished by the surrounding material and (he) began to think that the novel should be published on its own’, in accordance with what his publisher had originally suggested.  Therefore I had a bit of a dilemma, I suppose if I was strictly reading the Booker prize-winning books I should have persisted in trying to find an original 1971 edition of the book, but instead I just read the copy I had.

It was rather an uncomfortable read due to the subject matter, following two English protagonists in an unspecified African country, as they travel to the safety of their compound, through the country as it progresses through tribal conflict.  The writing is vivid and conveys the vast mixture of emotions involved in such a transition of a country and its people.  It was unsettling to read how fear of the unknown future pervaded due to the upsetting of previously established hierarchy and behavioural code.  I think, as a white British person, colonialism makes me feel rather uncomfortable and yet so does the lawless violence and atrocities that are committed in the process of seizing power.  This book, although published 41 years ago, still maintains its resonance as countries in Africa still struggle with corruption of governments.  And yet, permeating the sensitive nature of the storyline and the interactions between the characters, is a huge sense of awe when faced with the vast scale of Africa and the draw it has on people that live, visit or settle there, despite all the challenges presented by geography and politics.