A Bend in the River
British and Trinidadian novelist, 1932–2018. Won the Booker Prize in 1971.
A Bend in the River is a 1979 novel by V. S. Naipaul. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1979.
On 5 of the 19 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- V. S. Naipaul
- First published
- 1979
- Length
- 336 pages (UK paperback)
- Awards
- Booker Prize shortlist, 1979
- Genre
- Literary fiction, Empire and colonialism, Political
Is A Bend in the River worth reading?
5 of the 19 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them 100 Best Novels (board's list) (Modern Library) and 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 100 Best Novels (board's list) (Modern Library, 1998) | No. 83 | See the list |
| 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph, 2009) | No. 67 | See the list |
| Booker Prize (winners and shortlists) (Booker Prize Foundation, 1979) | Shortlist | See the list |
| The 100 best novels written in English (The Guardian / Observer, 2015) | Listed | See the list |
| The 100 greatest novels of all time (The Observer, 2003) | Listed | See the list |
Best edition of A Bend in the River
The edition we link to is the Picador paperback (2024), 336 pages.
- Publisher
- Picador (paperback, 2024)
- Pages
- 336
- ISBN
- 9781035039258
How critics, prizes and readers rate A Bend in the River
Prize juries and critics rate it about equally: it earned 33% on prize lists and 29% on critics' lists, against 0% on readers' and booksellers' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like A Bend in the River
If you liked A Bend in the River, try A House for Mr Biswas.
