A House for Mr. Biswas was the fourth novel and first critical success of Nobel Laureate V. S. Naipaul. It gained acclaim as #72 on Modern Library's list of 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century, and it was featured on Time's list of 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005. The story is generally understood to be somewhat autobiographical in nature, with Mr. Biswas representing Naipaul's father and Biswas' son, Anand, representing Naipaul.
The novel follows the life of the titular Mr. Biswas as he struggles to claim self-determination and modern success by securing and maintaining a house of his own. From birth, Biswas is marked with hardships: a pundit claims that Mr. Biswas' extra finger portends that he will be unlucky to his parents and those around him. Indeed, Biswas inadvertently effects his father's death when he wanders off with a neighbor's calf, causing his father to fear he has drowned and go searching for him in the nearby stream—the stream in which his father subsequently drowns. The family dissolves thereafter.
As Mr. Biswas sets out to try to make his own way and advance in the world, he finds himself falling into a marriage with a member of the vast Tulsi household, which represents an older, communal way of life. While this family presents an opportunity for Biswas to settle and be relatively comfortable, his lust for modern self-determinism prevents him from being subordinated to this other household. He wants a house of his own. He struggles to establish himself as his own man through a career in journalism and the success of his children—especially Anand, who earns a scholarship to England. While he does end up achieving the goal of acquiring a house of his own, he goes into debt in order to give his family the luxury of only a very shabby house. He dies after a cardiac event, on an ambiguous narrative note of optimism (at the success of his lifelong quest) and pessimism (with the question in the air of what it has really added up to).
