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V. S. Naipaul
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Guerrillas Paperback – September 12, 1990

by V. S. Naipaul (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 63 ratings
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From the Nobel Prize-winning author comes a novel of exile, displacement, and the agonizing cruelty and pain of colonialism, both for those who rule and those who are their victims.

“A brilliant novel in every way.… [It] shimmers with artistic certainty.” —The New York Times Book Review

Set on a troubled Carribbean island, where “everybody wants to fight his own little war,” where “everyone is a guerrilla,” the novel centers on an Englishman named Roche, once a hero of the South African resistance, who has come to the island – subdued now, almost withdrawn – to work and to help. Soon his English mistress arrives: casually nihilistic, bored, quickly enticed – excited – by fantasies of native power and sexuality, and blindly unaware of any possible consequences of her acts. At once Roche and Jane are drawn into fatal connection with a young guerrilla leader named Jimmy Ahmed, a man driven by his own raging fantasies of power, of perverse sensuality, and of the England he half remembers, half sentimentalizes. Against the larger anguish of the world they inhabit, these three act out a drama of death, hideous sexual violence, and political and spiritual impotence that profoundly reflects the ravages history can make on human lives.
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  1. Print length
    248 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Vintage
  4. Publication date
    September 12, 1990
  5. Dimensions
    5.15 x 0.59 x 7.95 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0679731741
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0679731740
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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

A novel of colonialism and revolution, death, sexual violence and political and spiritual impotence.

From the Back Cover

A novel of colonialism and revolution, death, sexual violence and political and spiritual impotence.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 12, 1990
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Reissue
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 248 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0679731741
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0679731740
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.15 x 0.59 x 7.95 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 63 ratings

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V. S. Naipaul

V. S. Naipaul

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4.1 out of 5 stars
63 global ratings

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Customers have mixed opinions about the book's readability, with some finding it a very good read while others consider it disappointing. The writing receives positive feedback, with customers describing it as well written.

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WriterReadability
3 customers mention "Writer"3 positive0 negative

Customers praise the writing of the book, with one noting it is among the best works of the last hundred years.

"Possibly the greatest writer of the last hundred years. You may not like the man, but the writer is truly extraordinary." Read more

"...It is a well written book and a generally compelling read.I did have to ask the question , what does it all amount too?..." Read more

"Well written but the story line is disjointed seems to go no where and approaches the unreadable...." Read more

8 customers mention "Readability"4 positive4 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's readability, with some finding it a very good and wonderful read, while others describe it as disappointing.

"Possibly the greatest writer of the last hundred years. You may not like the man, but the writer is truly extraordinary." Read more

"i can admit that this is not naipaul's best work, but it is still a very good read...." Read more

"Wonderful. Reminding me of black racism." Read more

"i can admit that this is not naipaul's best work, but it is still a very good read...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Oddysseus
    5.0 out of 5 stars outstanding
    Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2023
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Possibly the greatest writer of the last hundred years. You may not like the man, but the writer is truly extraordinary.
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  • kinopku
    4.0 out of 5 stars not his best, but...
    Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2009
    Verified Purchase
    i can admit that this is not naipaul's best work, but it is still a very good read. the book thrives on tension, of creating a feeling of decadence and an oncoming threat seen in every detail from the landscape to the people. reading this book will certainly make you want to read up on the current politics of a place before visiting it.

    i was not thrilled with the ending. i had been happy to read about the *threat* of violence and the deliverance on that threat was in a way anticlimactic. not that i am averse to violence in general, but i felt that the character had had her comeuppance, or could have had it in another way - although i guess part of the whole ethos of guerilla warfare and revolutions in general is that some people just wont listen if you are peaceful.

    definitely read this book. it takes a look at the role of the middle class supposed sympathizers in the face of revolt.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Jack M Englebrecht
    5.0 out of 5 stars Found what was lost
    Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    I have been looking for this book to replace one I lost - perfect
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  • JAK
    3.0 out of 5 stars Carribbean Dystopia
    Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2018
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    I think it's helpful to recognize that this is a very unpleasant book.It has a dank , claustrophobic feel to it.Everyone in it is unlikable and nothing good happens.There's a back story.Peter is a white South African refugee who was an anti apartheid activist , maybe even terrorist who was imprisoned , tortured and allowed to go to England where he meets Jane.He and Jane both move to an unamed Caribbean island where Peter has a job doing I'm not quite sure what.The island seems modeled after Trinidad with a small dollop of Guyana thrown in.There they become inolved with Jimmy Ahmed, who is half black and half chinese and very strange.In England , he reinvented himself as a Black Messiah and a Muslim.He is deported from England and back on the island he becomes leader of a commune that doesn't really do much.

    It is a well written book and a generally compelling read.I did have to ask the question , what does it all amount too? Well ,I'm not altogether sure.Naipaul is obviously out to puncture third world fantasies and even more the fantasies of Western third world romantisizers(sp?).He does a pretty good job with that.The world depicted is awful and squalid.Everyone in the book is pretty awful.It's definitely not his best book. A HOUSE FOR MR.BISWAS , for example , is greatly superior.The later Naipaul may be more interesting as an essayist than as a novelist.However, I don't wish to imply this is a bad book .It borders on being quite good.But it lacks something , a certain spark of life.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2017
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Wonderful. Reminding me of black racism.
    One person found this helpful
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  • dmiguer
    4.0 out of 5 stars The Remains of Empire
    Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2021
    Format: Kindle
    "I loathe all of these people. I hate this place."
    -A South African civil rights advocate in 'Guerrillas'

    This 1975 novel by V S Naipaul was informed by his 1972 article about black activist Michael X who had committed grisly murders in Trinidad, the author's birth country. The plot doesn't strictly follow those events however. As Naipaul wrote about Michael X's amateur novel, "Fiction never lies, it reveals the writer totally". The story is set in the West Indies, likely a version of Jamaica, "below the pink haze of bauxite dust" where he first visited in 1956. Details of the heat, the decay, slums, rum shops and reggae sounds are rendered in the vivid language that Naipaul had perfected.

    A new British employee Jane and South African Roche work for a company of former slave traders that donated land to a collective farm. They meet Jimmy, leader and manipulator of foreign funding, of mixed African and Chinese descent. He was well known in London as a black power activist. The commune is worked by abandoned boys from the city. There is tension between Roche and Jimmy, with both attracted to Jane. Each are flawed. Jimmy has delusions he is a savior to the locals and Roche enjoys his status over them. Jane imitates various belief systems she picked up from others.

    Jane stays at The Ridge, middle class enclave of ex-patriate business people. She regrets going there and being involved with Roche. She had come for the cause but bought a return ticket. She decides to go back to London, a security that her privilege affords, and find a man who is a doer. Outside the gates in the forest are guerrillas, wild and unseen. At the commune Jimmy is writing a story about Jane falling in love with him. As he writes his mania grows. He calls Jane and arranges to meet her alone. Unsatisfied with their encounter he returns to Bryant, one of the boys from the commune.

    Roche had been a political prisoner in South Africa and wrote a book before coming to the island. Now in a meaningless job and rejected by Jane he senses failure. Friends move to Canada, US or UK to escape the aimlessness and instability. A commune boy returns to his gang in the city and is killed by the police. Jimmy leads a protest, an emergency is declared. Fires burn as the government flies away. US helicopters circle and warships anchor in the bay. Jimmy retreats to the commune and order is restored to the city. Bryant, insane over Jimmy's betrayal with Jane, looks to avenge himself.

    As Naipaul said, you can't hide behind fiction. The plot and characters are an open door to the mind of the author. Non-fiction can claim to present events in a unbiased fashion. Reading 'The Killings in Trinidad' was a useful guide to look into his thought process. The bitterness and disillusion of natives and colonials is reflected well in this story. Since he experienced the period first hand there is an authenticity. Written shortly after his Booker award and meeting his long term mistress he felt freer to write. There are no inhibitions in this book. It is a good work but relentlessly dark and grim.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Christian Runkel
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic
    Reviewed in Germany on December 2, 2022
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Naipaul at his best.
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  • August Party
    4.0 out of 5 stars 異様なゲリラ！
    Reviewed in Japan on January 17, 2009
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    　『ゲリラ』は、『自由の国』の次なる創作として1975年に出版された。まず、題名のゲリラだけれども、この本のゲリラとは、ゲバラの『日記』におけるゲリラではまったくなく、また、ナイポールの『魔法の種』において主人公が身を投じたゲリラとも無縁だ。何に近いかと言うと、『エヴァ・ペロンの帰還』に納められている“トリニダットにおける殺人”に雰囲気が似ている、と僕は思う。

    　ロッチは、南アフリカにおける反体制活動家で、投獄・拷問にも耐えたヒーローだ。彼は次なる活動の場としてカリブ海に浮かぶこの島にやってくる。彼のあとを追って恋人のジェーンもこの島に着く。彼らが、この島に着いてまずゲリラ活動の拠点とおぼしき農場を訪ねるシーンから、この小説の異様さが際立ってくる。戦士でもあるかも知れない若い男たちは、虚ろにベッドに横たわっていてそのうちの一人、弁髪風の髪形をした少年は、ジェーンを認めると一ドルを恵んでくれという。宿舎は不潔で乱雑であり、ジェーンは自分がこの島に来たのは間違いだったのではないかと思う。ロッチは、新聞やラジオがゲリラの活動をいろいろ報道しているのはヒステリックな妄想で、騒ぎを起こしているのはギャングに過ぎないと直感する。

    この小説で僕が非常に気になるのは、ナイポールがロッチの恋人ジェーンを意地悪なくらいに悪し様に書いていることだ。彼女は、英国を腐っている、と言う。腐っていたとしても自分たちが安全でいられることに彼女が鈍感過ぎるとナイポールは考える。そして彼女の冒険心を、恵まれた者の特権としてしか認めない。彼女はハジであり中国系ブラックであるゲリラのリーダとみずから肉体関係をもつようになるが、ナイポールの彼女への筆致は、徹底的な侮蔑に満ちているのだ。・・・僕は、思うのだが、総じてナイポール文学の根底に、白人中産階級への軽蔑、あるいは差別感覚を読み取るのは僕だけだろうか。厄介なのは、ナイポールの差別感覚が僕らにとってかなりリアリティがあり、またおおきな魅力でもあることだ。
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  • Trevor Coote
    4.0 out of 5 stars The author's home ground: exile, and post-independence betrayal and decay
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 25, 2008
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Despite his well-documented irascibility and his unique ability to give offence to every community about whom he writes, V S Naipaul remains the finest living exponent of impeccable, clear, deceptively simple English prose. In Guerillas his characteristic disdain for black and white alike (and, despite what his critics say, Indian too, but not here) is again evident, but as ever is fully qualified (and almost justified) by their self-seeking actions and behaviour. Nobody describes better the post-independence decay of ex-colonies better than Naipaul: `The sea, when they came to it, gave no feeling of air and lightness: the fine red powder of bauxite, sheds of corroded corrugated iron, the reek of the burning rubbish dump: everything here, hillside, forest, sea, mangrove, turned to slum'. However, it is not just physical decay but ideological and moral.
    A petty anti-apartheid activist arrives on an unstable and unruly Caribbean island (despite the decoys Trinidad in all but name) where injustice and poverty abound and revolution simmers, though nobody has a coherent post-revolution strategy. Lacking understanding of the country and unsure of what role he will play there, he brings his lover who becomes transfixed by wannabe revolutionary Jimmy Ahmed, a half-black son of a Chinese grocer, who dreams of an agrarian revolution. Their presence stirs up a hornet's nest in a community already racked by suspicion, resentment and paranoia and ultimately ends in tragedy. But it is not really a story about personalities (never Naipaul's strong point); it is about a country still controlled by colonial and foreign interests but too divided, too corrupt and unstructured to bring about change and build a successful new post-independence country.
    A fine book, if somewhat dated now, but not the author at his best.
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