The Mystic Masseur

Fiction & Literature, Cultural Heritage, Literary
Cover of the book The Mystic Masseur by V. S. Naipaul, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: V. S. Naipaul ISBN: 9780307776518
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Publication: October 20, 2010
Imprint: Vintage Language: English
Author: V. S. Naipaul
ISBN: 9780307776518
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication: October 20, 2010
Imprint: Vintage
Language: English

In this slyly funny and lavishly inventive novel–his first–V. S. Naipaul traces the unlikely career of Ganesh Ramsumair, a failed schoolteacher and impecunious village masseur who in time becomes a revered mystic, a thriving entrepreneur, and the most beloved politician in Trinidad. To understand a little better, one has to realize that in the 1940s masseurs were the island’s medical practitioners of choice. As one character observes, “I know the sort of doctors they have in Trinidad. They think nothing of killing two, three people before breakfast.”

Ganesh’s ascent is variously aided and impeded by a Dickensian cast of rogues and eccentrics. There’s his skeptical wife, Leela, whose schooling has made her excessively, fond. of; punctuation: marks!; and Leela’s father, Ramlogan, a man of startling mood changes and an ever-ready cutlass. There’s the aunt known as The Great Belcher. There are patients pursued by malign clouds or afflicted with an amorous fascination with bicycles. Witty, tender, filled with the sights, sounds, and smells of Trinidad’s dusty Indian villages, The Mystic Masseur is Naipaul at his most expansive and evocative.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In this slyly funny and lavishly inventive novel–his first–V. S. Naipaul traces the unlikely career of Ganesh Ramsumair, a failed schoolteacher and impecunious village masseur who in time becomes a revered mystic, a thriving entrepreneur, and the most beloved politician in Trinidad. To understand a little better, one has to realize that in the 1940s masseurs were the island’s medical practitioners of choice. As one character observes, “I know the sort of doctors they have in Trinidad. They think nothing of killing two, three people before breakfast.”

Ganesh’s ascent is variously aided and impeded by a Dickensian cast of rogues and eccentrics. There’s his skeptical wife, Leela, whose schooling has made her excessively, fond. of; punctuation: marks!; and Leela’s father, Ramlogan, a man of startling mood changes and an ever-ready cutlass. There’s the aunt known as The Great Belcher. There are patients pursued by malign clouds or afflicted with an amorous fascination with bicycles. Witty, tender, filled with the sights, sounds, and smells of Trinidad’s dusty Indian villages, The Mystic Masseur is Naipaul at his most expansive and evocative.

More books from Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Cover of the book Mysteries of the Middle Ages by V. S. Naipaul
Cover of the book City of the Sun by V. S. Naipaul
Cover of the book Where the Money Went by V. S. Naipaul
Cover of the book The Intercom Conspiracy by V. S. Naipaul
Cover of the book Connect by V. S. Naipaul
Cover of the book All Rivers Run to the Sea by V. S. Naipaul
Cover of the book The Winshaw Legacy by V. S. Naipaul
Cover of the book Illicit by V. S. Naipaul
Cover of the book An Odyssey by V. S. Naipaul
Cover of the book Women and Jewish Law by V. S. Naipaul
Cover of the book The Glitch by V. S. Naipaul
Cover of the book Provence A-Z by V. S. Naipaul
Cover of the book Other Powers by V. S. Naipaul
Cover of the book Oscar and Lucinda by V. S. Naipaul
Cover of the book Cotton Comes to Harlem by V. S. Naipaul
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy