A House for Mr Biswas

A House for Mr Biswas is a 1961 novel by V. S. Naipaul, significant as Naipaul's first work to achieve acclaim worldwide. It is the story of Mr Mohun Biswas, an Indo-Trinidadian who continually strives for success and mostly fails, who marries into the Tulsi family only to find himself dominated by it, and who finally sets the goal of owning his own house.

Drawing some elements from the life of Naipaul's father, the work is primarily a sharply-drawn look at life in a fledgling postcolonial world.

Naipaul’s father, Seepersad, is the prototype forMr. Biswas. Both the real man and the fictional Biswas were born in a village; lived with wealthy relatives; worked as a sign painter; married into a conservative, well-to-do Hindu family; held a series of jobs; and wandered from home to home. LikeMohun Biswas, Seepersad Naipaul found work on a newspaper after moving to Port of Spain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_House_for_Mr._Biswas