From Publishers Weekly
An Indian writer from Trinidad who lives in Canada, Bissoondath offers a series of short stories marked by alienation, terror and homelessness. PW commented: "The author's manifest despair, his quest for a solution, is poignant enough, but the writing is too self-conscious and the theme too repetitive."
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
First published in Canada, this collection of 14 stories deals mostly with the Third World and particularly with Trinidad, where the author was born. (He is the nephew of V. S. Naipaul and the late Shiva Naipaul.) The shorter stories, about half the collection, are primarily character sketches. They are pleasant and generally well done but lack fire. The longer stories are broader in context and far more successful. Extremely moving, even harrowing, the title story and "Counting the Wind" effectively present characters trying to survive anarchy and the overpowering shadow of unknown authority as they suffer the indignities and terror of civil war and revolution. These poignant portraits of "pawns of the unpredictable" more than compensate for the weaker stories and make the overall collection well worth acquiring. Thomas Lavoie, formerly with English Dept., Syracuse Univ., N.Y.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
