 First UK edition | |
| Author | V. S. Naipaul |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | André Deutsch (UK) Knopf (US) |
Publication date | 1975 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| ISBN | 0-233-96702-8 |
Guerrillas is a 1975 novel by V. S. Naipaul. The book is set on an unnamed, remote Caribbean island populated by a mix of ethnicities, but dominated by post-colonial British. Probably the island is modelled after Trinidad, Naipaul's birthplace. [1]
The main characters of the book are Jane, a woman from London, and her romantic partner Roche, a white South African man, who have recently arrived on the island. Roche is engaged with helping the poor on the island, which puts him in contact with a dishonest revolutionary opportunist named Jimmy. As they socialize with the privileged, Roche finds Jane contradictory and politically naive about her own place in the power structure, while also being challenged about his own motives and purpose. Jimmy has sexual fantasies about Jane, and has a perverse relationship with the boys he keeps in his commune. Amid the tumult of a societal crisis, the climax of the book is violent and tragic. [2] [3]
Some episodes in the book are based on the life of Michael X, a Trinidad revolutionary. Naipaul wrote about Michael X in his book of essays The Return of Eva Peron and The Killings in Trinidad.
In his review of the novel in the New York Times (November 16, 1975), Paul Theroux wrote:
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