Preview

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

In a Free State

By: V. S. Naipaul
Narrated by: Vikas Adam, Neil Shah, Simon Vance
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.56

Buy for $15.56

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

No writer has rendered our boundaryless, postcolonial world more acutely or prophetically than V. S. Naipaul, or given its upheavals such a hauntingly human face. A perfect case in point is this riveting novel, a masterful and stylishly rendered narrative of emigration, dislocation, and dread, accompanied by four supporting narratives.

On a road trip through Africa, two English people - Bobby, a civil servant with a guilty appetite for African boys; and Linda, a supercilious "compound wife" - are driving back to their enclave after a stay in the capital. But in between lies the landscape of an unnamed country whose squalor and ethnic bloodletting suggest Idi Amin's Uganda. And the farther Naipaul's protagonists travel into it, the more they find themselves crossing the line that separates privileged outsiders from horrified victims. Alongside this Conradian tour de force are four incisive portraits of men seeking liberation far from home.

By turns funny and terrifying, sorrowful and unsparing, In a Free State is Naipaul at his best.

©2011 V. S. Naipaul (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Featured Article: It Was the Best of Scribes—The Best British Authors


With its esteemed history and bold contemporary scene, Britain lays claim to some of the most exciting literature in audio. With the hundreds of incredible British writers throughout the centuries, a person could devote their whole literary life solely to British authors and still never run out of amazing things to listen to. Whether you're an avid Anglophile or just want to discover the best English novelists for yourself, here’s a list of the best for you to choose from!

What listeners say about In a Free State

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    57
  • 4 Stars
    31
  • 3 Stars
    22
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    64
  • 4 Stars
    16
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    42
  • 4 Stars
    21
  • 3 Stars
    18
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Vivid

Naipaul’s writing has always been to me, vivid. With appropriate accents in the narration, the story comes to life. The third story with only 2 characters, is an unending discourse on landscapes and “feelings” that make it palpable and more interesting.

Yes it is three different stories. Don’t try connecting the dots- they are 3 different tastes of the mastery of VS Naipaul.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

DO NOT MISS

An other masterfully written and narrated book.
There are a series of short stories, each completely different and thought provoking.
I became a fan of V.S. Naipaul, thanks to the “included” books, JK




Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderfully descriptive

A Nobel prize winner. Do I have to say more. The narration is musical and a pleasure to hear.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Masterful

Naipaul's brilliance is in the capturing of moments in the most simplistic manner. In this work the Nobel laureate takes us on a long heart warming ride through moments in different personalities, from diverse free States of perceptions.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Magical Prose …

This is a biased review. I love Naipaul and his style of writing, His books are so beautifully threaded, they are impossible to put down. Of course this offering was the 1971 Booker prize winner. As many will know, there was controversy in the selection that year from the committee with many shenanigans. But the author and book won anyways.

The story – well 5 of them actually, are all wonderful. The first and last being a travelogue of sorts with the first leaving a bitter taste due to its subject matter of nauseating bullying. In between are some captivating stories that illuminate the pen strokes of Naipaul. Most revel in the novella that captures an automobile ride of two British nationals across the African plane. Some say in Uganda. I myself preferred the hilariously funny “One Out of Many” short story. In it, a backward Indian servant named Santosh is brought by plane to the USA by his employer with ridiculous results. There is also the short story of two Trinidadian Indian brothers who end up in London, suffering many immigrant disappointments.

This book is unlike any other from the author. Yet each story is vintage Naipaul. Loved them all.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping poignancy

This is a series of heartbreaking, intimately rendered separate short stories, dealing with the savagery with which the human species can treat one another. This brilliant author has created such vivid characters, that I feel as if I have just had dinner with each of them. It is the thought-provokingly timeless story of the oppressed, the unsung immigrant, the need to be seen and appreciated as a valuable citizen in this shared world. The narrator is simply magnificent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Excellent writing, and yet

The writing is excellent, however the story is tiresome and could been accomplished in many fewer pages.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

What the...? So strange

There are 3 stories, 3 Settings, 3 Protagonists as told by 3 narrators. They are not connected in any way, have no real plot that can be defined & no moral or point. What ever Naipaul was trying to convey was completely lost on this reader / listener.
Don’t waste your time or money.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful