Product Description

“A stranger could drive through Miguel Street and just say ‘Slum!’ because he could see no more.” But to its residents this derelict corner of Trinidad’s capital is a complete world, where everybody is quite different from everybody else. There’s Popo the carpenter, who neglects his livelihood to build “the thing without a name.” There’s Man-man, who goes from running for public office to staging his own crucifixion, and the dreaded Big Foot, the bully with glass tear ducts. There’s the lovely Mrs. Hereira, in thrall to her monstrous husband. In this tender, funny early novel, V. S. Naipaul renders their lives (and the legends their neighbors construct around them) with Dickensian verve and Chekhovian compassion.
Set during World War II and narrated by an unnamed–but precociously observant–neighborhood boy, Miguel Street is a work of mercurial mood shifts, by turns sweetly melancholy and anarchically funny. It overflows with life on every page.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70867 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-23
• Released on: 2002-07-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review
“One of the few contemporary writers of whom we can speak in terms of greatness.” –Mel Gussow, Newsday

“Miguel Street is the Bowery, the Tenderloin, and the Catfish Row of Trinidad’s Port of Spain–its citizens a loony multitude whose knavery often rises from real kinship with pathos and tragedy. . . . Naipaul is at his best in these swift caricatures of human depravity.” –San Francisco Chronicle

“Amusing and poignant. . . . Excellent reading.” –Chicago Tribune

“Naipaul does not tell stories. By some miraculous sleight-of-hand he takes you to Port of Spain and shows you the rich, bawdy, consequential lives of the Trinidadians, as though there were no intervening veil of words. . . . I rather suspect the mantle of Chekhov has fallen on Mr. Naipaul’s shoulders.” –Robert Payne, Saturday Review

Review
?One of the few contemporary writers of whom we can speak in terms of greatness.? ?Mel Gussow, Newsday

?Miguel Street is the Bowery, the Tenderloin, and the Catfish Row of Trinidad?s Port of Spain?its citizens a loony multitude whose knavery often rises from real kinship with pathos and tragedy. . . . Naipaul is at his best in these swift caricatures of human depravity.? ?San Francisco Chronicle

?Amusing and poignant. . . . Excellent reading.? ?Chicago Tribune

?Naipaul does not tell stories. By some miraculous sleight-of-hand he takes you to Port of Spain and shows you the rich, bawdy, consequential lives of the Trinidadians, as though there were no intervening veil of words. . . . I rather suspect the mantle of Chekhov has fallen on Mr. Naipaul?s shoulders.? ?Robert Payne, Saturday Review

Inside Flap Copy
?A stranger could drive through Miguel Street and just say ?Slum!? because he could see no more.? But to its residents this derelict corner of Trinidad?s capital is a complete world, where everybody is quite different from everybody else. There?s Popo the carpenter, who neglects his livelihood to build ?the thing without a name.? There?s Man-man, who goes from running for public office to staging his own crucifixion, and the dreaded Big Foot, the bully with glass tear ducts. There?s the lovely Mrs. Hereira, in thrall to her monstrous husband. In this tender, funny early novel, V. S. Naipaul renders their lives (and the legends their neighbors construct around them) with Dickensian verve and Chekhovian compassion.
Set during World War II and narrated by an unnamed?but precociously observant?neighborhood boy, Miguel Street is a work of mercurial mood shifts, by turns sweetly melancholy and anarchically funny. It overflows with life on every page.

Customer Reviews

Unforgettable characters
If you enjoy Alexander McCall Smith's characters, you will certainly enjoy this book. Each person comes alive in his own special way and I read more and more slowly to make the book last just a little bit longer.

HIS BEST WORK
I fully agree that this is Naipaul's best work before he went over to the dark side.His work in the recent years have been full of dark humour.Miguel Street is the begining of Naipaul's love of dark humour.It's about a young man and all the people that are a part of his child hood.It shows you that even the lest likely person in your neighbourhood can have an impact on your life.From each new charater he introduces us to our protangonist gets something.From lessons in biology to lessons in literature.......he acquires his knowledge from the people around him.In the end it makes him a man.

I read this book while attending school in Trinidad and since then it has always stuck in my mind.Whenever i feel home sick(since I live in Japan now)I pick up Miguel Street and have a good laugh.No matter where in Trinidad you live you can always find a Miguel Street.This book is a wonderful master piece and I encourage all to read.Even if you don't know where Trinidad is you will want to visit there by the time you read the last page.Enjoy!

Little gems on a necklace
It feels extremely lighthearted and enjoyable to read this magnificent collection of short stories! You just don't want to put this book down. The language is so smooth-flowing despite the use of some local slang. Naipaul should write more short stories! Although all these stories are set in the same place, Miguel Street, and some or all the characters are mentioned in each short story, every character/story is unique and is itself a gem on a necklace!