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HALF A LIFE: A Novel

HALF A LIFE: A Novel

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HALF A LIFE: A Novel

by Naipaul, V.S

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Fine/Fine
ISBN 10
0375407375
ISBN 13
9780375407376
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Seller rating:
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Los Angeles, California, United States
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About This Item

New York, NY, U.S.A.: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 2001. First American Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. A devastatingly moving and often very funny novel from a masterful voice. In a corner of India untouched by anti-colonial agitation Willie Chandran's father stood at odds with the world - aspiring to greatness while living the dreary life marked out for him by his ancestors. In an attempt to defy his past he lives with a low-caste woman, only to find himself at the mercy of his own fury. From this unhappy union the compelling character of Willie Chandran emerges: oddly like his father, naively eager to find something that will place him both in and apart from the world. Willie is drawn to England and the immigrant community of post-war London, its dingy West End clubs and sexual encounters. But it is his first experience of love that may bring him the fulfillment he so desperately seeks. His wife Ana leads him to her homeland in Portuguese Africa, whose inhabitants are uncertainly living out the last days of colonialism. Naipaul delineates the relationship between father and son with wonderful clarity and compassion; and the comic brilliance of the London scenes and penetrating descriptions of Africa are hard to beat. Author of A BEND IN THE RIVER, THE MIMIC MEN, A HOUSE FOR MR. BISWAS, and THE WAY OF THE WORLD, among many others. Fine, unread, first edition, first printing, in fine, mylar-protected dust jacket.[Not remainder-marked or price-clipped] L24

Synopsis

Half a Life is the story of Willie Chandran, whose father, heeding the call of Mahatma Gandhi, turned his back on his Brahmin heritage and married a woman of low caste–a disastrous union he would live to regret, as he would the children that were a product of it. When Willie reaches manhood, his flight from the travails of his mixed birth takes him from India to London, where, in the shabby haunts of immigrants and literary bohemians of the 1950s, he contrives a new identity. He buries his self-doubt in sexual adventures and in the struggle to become a writer–strivings that bring him to the brink of exhaustion, from which he is rescued, to his amazement, only by the love of a good woman.  Together they return to her home to live out the last doomed days of colonialism, while Willie remains a passive bystander in yet another life that is not his own. (Summary from Publisher-Random House)

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Details

Bookseller
Joe Staats, Bookseller US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
11486
Title
HALF A LIFE: A Novel
Author
Naipaul, V.S
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
Used - Fine
Jacket Condition
Fine
Quantity Available
1
Edition
First American Edition 1st Printing
ISBN 10
0375407375
ISBN 13
9780375407376
Publisher
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Place of Publication
New York, NY, U.S.A.
Date Published
2001
Size
8vo - over 7¾" - 9&f
Keywords
LONDON ENGLAND FICTION AFRICA BRITISH General
Product_type
2

Terms of Sale

Joe Staats, Bookseller

Books shipped in secure packaging via USPS Media Mail, Priority Mail or Global Priority Mail, upon receipt of payment, unless customer requests another method of delivery. Shipping is within 24 hrs. of receipt of payment for money orders, and after three business days for personal checks. All book jackets are protected in mylar covers from Brodart. Customers have three business days within which to contact us with complaints about merchandise by e-mail. Returns must be approved, in original packaging material, and in the same condition as when shipped. Because we make every effort to have the best possible merchandise in the best condition, to describe it accurately and to package it securely, we will in most cases accept approved returns. Approved returns will be cheerfully refunded, or credit given toward other books. Our aim is to please, and to earn your return business with superior service and prompt delivery.

About the Seller

Joe Staats, Bookseller

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 2 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2003
Los Angeles, California

About Joe Staats, Bookseller

Modern Literature, Mysteries, and More!
We specialize in collectible, contemporary signed first editions. First edition means the first printing. (Later printings of the first edition are typically not printed on acid-free paper, and should be avoided by collectors.) Signatures are obtained by us in person. Inscribed books sold by us may contain a line, a phrase, or a sketch that the author has chosen to add. Our signed books are not dedicated to anybody in particular (not to your grandmother, your Aunt Gladys, your ex-lover or your former cellmate), except in the rare case of a presentation copy from an author to a noteworthy person. All our books are hardcover, unless the book is an Advance Reading Copy, Uncorrected Proof, or PBO. You can expect that the books we send you will be as described, and in a physical condition worthy of the author’s having signed them. We do not sell remainder-marked books, signed or otherwise

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Jacket
Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
First Edition
In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
Fine
A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...

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