The Mystic Masseur is a straightforward comic novel. Except for the handling of narrative point of view, there is nothing technically innovative in the book. Using traditional novelistic techniques, Naipaul has created a character, Ganesh, that is a target of comedy and the recipient of affection.

The narration is chronological, except for the narrator's introduction of himself and Ganesh at the novel's beginning, and shows a skillful use of the participant narrator. This young black man feels Ganesh to be a person much like himself, and yet, since the narrator is more clever than Ganesh, he can see his shams, lies, weaknesses, and petty vanities. The narrator's judgments, however, never drain sympathy from Ganesh, but allow the comic foibles of this pundit and politician to be delightfully exposed. Ganesh's own writing, such as his autobiography, The Years of Guilt, which the narrator quotes, cunningly...