A Turn in the South

By V. S. Naipaul

V. S. Naipaul’s first book about the United States is a revealing, disturbing, elegiac book about the hidden life and culture of the American South — from Atlanta to Charleston, Tallahassee to Tuskegee, Nashville to Chapel Hill.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Dec 14, 2011
• ISBN: 9780307370501

V. S. Naipaul

V.S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad in 1932. He came to England on a scholarship in 1950. He spent four years at University College, Oxford, and began to write, in London, in 1954. He pursued no other profession. His novels include A House for Mr Biswas, The Mimic Men, Guerrillas, A Bend in the River, and The Enigma of Arrival. In 1971 he was awarded the Booker Prize for In a Free State. His works of nonfiction, equally acclaimed, include Among the Believers, Beyond Belief, The Masque of Africa, and a trio of books about India: An Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now. In 1990, V.S. Naipaul received a knighthood for services to literature; in 1993, he was the first recipient of the David Cohen British Literature Prize. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001. He lived with his wife Nadira and cat Augustus in Wiltshire, and died in 2018.

Reviews for A Turn in the South

[admassu4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was a slow read for me. At times, I felt like I was trudging through it.The author sometimes uses phrases and sayings that may be common in England or Trinidad. But these phrases and sayings are awkward and almost out of place when used to describe the American South.Some reviews dubbed this book as an "even handed," almost objective look at the South by an outsider. But I thought the author frequently applied his experiences and values from a similarly agrarian former slave society, Trinidad. This made for great insight and comparisons but not the "even handed" approach described by some reviewers.I did enjoy the last chapter about Chapel Hill and tobacco road, where I thought the author was at his best: so descriptive you can smell the tobacco, feel the scorching sun, and see the red earth. One interesting technique he used was interweaving the work of a local poet, describing childhood on a tobacco farm.

[ben_a_11 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reading Naipaul always reminds me how well my background and upbrining predict the course of my life. Naipul, by contrast, is a marvel of self-creation.

[leowillemse · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I agree with my colleague who wrote: "This book was a slow read for me. At times, I felt like I was trudging through it."Compared to his great book about traveling in Islamic countries, this book is slow, slower, "slowst" and not like th living in the South. That's what I remember from reading, 20 years ago.