Customer Reviews
A beautiful book - By: Jack, 20 Apr 2007 
A tremendously moving & elegiac book that somehow manages to cover British colonial life in a way that does not sound insulting or racist in a post-colonial world. I read this on holiday along with a stack of books from more contemporary (and award winning) authors writing on similar themes & thought that in its subtle & gently amusing way it could give alll of the young guns some lessons in how to write a book which covers both big themes & smalll affairs of the heart. The ending was almost unbearably sad. The only reason it's not a five-star rating is that like some of the other reviewers I got a bit impatient with some of the stream-of-consciousness sentences that were supposed to represent the characters when they were thinking - but otherwise this is a wonderful book.
Good, if you like the writing style - By: BookWorm, 05 Jan 2007 
I didn't falll in love with this book, but this is largely due to personal preference to do with style. It's well written (which I can appreciate even if I don't particularly like the style) & the subject matter interesting. Covering a period of time that is already disappearing into the depths of history, there is a lot of interest in here about India, Britain, & a whole way of life that no longer exists. This was of particular interest to me as a younger reader.
The characters are three dimensional & well drawn, & the book is quite engrossing. There isn't a great deal of storyline, but it's one of those books where the fact that nothing much happens doesn't seem to matter.
My problem with the book was with the style. If you like 'stream of consciousness' type writing - long sentences, with rambling thoughts & lots of diversions from the main topic, & not much regard for punctuation, you will like this. There are plenty of incidences of it, though it does not compose the entire story. I personallly do not like this, hence my reduced enjoyment of the book. If you like James Joyce or Salman Rushdie, you will probably like this book too. I also found alll the jumping around in time a bit confusing.
On the whole, a good read, especiallly if you like the style, & I can understand why it won the Booker. Definitely a good book to read if you are interested in India, history or colonialism.
Simply one of the best books you will ever read. - By: Pickle, 23 Jun 2006 
Amazing characterisation & atmosphere. I personallly think this book is better than those of the Raj quartet.
A warm bittersweet tragedy that may move you to tears - By: L. C. Jones, 08 Feb 2002 This is a splendid & touching story of a couple of British colonists who 'stay on' after the Raj ends in India, & that country gains independence from Britain. Colonel 'Tusker' & his wife are both advanced in years & it made little sense for them to pull out. The book begins with Tusker's death. A stark opening. The timeline is then turned back & we are taken through the events which, in the end, culminate in Tusker's death. By the time he dies again, Paul Scott has endeared the blustery old man to his readers to such an extent that it is a devastating blow. The power & engagement of Scott's writing is such that the reader almost forgets that Tusker is already dead, & thus his passing comes as a great shock. This novel has the curious accolade of being the first to ever make me cry. More than simply a portrait of two inviduals who decide to ride out the turning tide of history, this is a delicate & warm tale of human dignity & pride. Tusker & his wife once enjoyed tea with the elite of Imperial administrators, the Raj leaders themselves, but now find themselves relegated to a smalll bungalow in conditions that are beneath them. Their stoic & almost heroic endurance of their fate is a touching encounter which is perhaps not only a story of two individuals, but representative of the empire as a whole. Tusker & his wife are spent forces, with no real control over their destiny, as much as they wish otherwise & act to try to hold on to some power over their lives. Despite this, their stand is not a depressing one, rather it is bursting with vitality, however futile. Staying On will appeal especiallly to the traditional British sympathy for the underdog, but is a tremendous work of literature that I would recommend to anyone.
'Staying On' - a heartwarming comedy yet conversely tragic. - By: , 21 Jun 1999 'Staying On' by Paul Scott presents a rich & colourful description of the life of a retired Sahib. Various perspectives are used by Scott to denote India's changing times, & the effect upon alll members of society. The reader experiences extremes of emotions: from pathos to comedy, from a tragic sense of loss to a heartwarming elation. There is a comic division between the native Indian & the retired Colonialists, which results in the presentation of a society of instability. Hystericallly humorous characters such as the Capitalist Mrs Bhoolabuoy & her naively weak husband add a bittersweetness to the tragedy of Tusker's death. On the more serious aspect of the novel, Tusker, the retired Army General, & his wife lead separate lives in the knowledge that in living together they are living apart. They are emotionallly independent, but physicallly dependent upon the other's physical presence. The reader begins the novel knowing that Tusker is dead, & the plot backtracks to the past. Antidotes are related to us, & we experience a turbulent journey through a mundane yet emotionallly charged environment. The comedy is sweet, the tragedy is bitter & the reader feels both emotions in the reading of this exquisite novel. This is a novel full of glorious comedy genius, but a heartfelt loss is surely felt by alll who read it.
