Product Description

Customer Reviews (76)

He is getting tiresome
I'm taking the pledge."Ghost Train" is the final Theroux effort I'll spend good money to buy (although this time I went for the Kindle edition so my investment was limited, thank goodness).Read two or three of the author's books in a row and you'll find that he's merely a caricaturist now, with near-identical personalities, attitudes and behaviors appearing at his side on every station platform and in every four-person train compartment.Particularly if they're white, Christian or American Republicans, his characters will be grossly overweight, will chew with their mouths open, will spout racist or sexist screeds, and will offend our noble (bien-pensant) author enough that he will put them in their places with his contemptuous and often ugly "wit."Yes, Theroux's descriptions of people and places may occasionally be apt and interesting, but not enough for the reader to tolerate his enormous self-regard -- nor his dredging up of characters, book after book, that I believe are either imaginary or whose behavior has been embellished beyond credulity.

Too old to Rock n Roll, Too Young to Die
Poor Mr. Theroux.After all these years, he still hasn't found himself.I read all his travel books when I was in my expatriate stage and found them a good read.You cannot deny his eye for detail and his determination to chronicle mundane events and transform them into something larger than life but I'm surprised the author hasn't just hung himself by now.He makes fun of Christian missionaries in Asia, tells a Russian that on the Trans-Siberian express that he likes Obama (insinuating his favoritism towards socialism) yet painfully describes the demoralization that Socialism has brought to the countries he travels through.In my youth, I thought he was simply a curmudgeon with an eye for detail and a wicked sense of sarcasm and humor but after finishing this book, I have come to the conclusion that he is a lost soul and a hypocrite, subtly praising the exoticness of faraway lands stuck in third world time yet living the good life in a successful, Christian country.Still, his prose is invigorating and some of his personal insights into the life of a writer are noteworthy but he's certainly no Mark Twain.At least he's consistent in his inconsistency.

Theroux's Authority and Experience Make Ghost Train a Strong Account
In Theroux's new book, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, he retraces a route he took 33 years ago, when he was 33 years old. Part of that trip goes through India. And so Theroux, now 67, is in a good position to judge the changes in India. He is mostly unimpressed. "We drove through the streets of Mumbai, past the slums, the sidewalk sleepers, the lame and the halt. Was the miracle, I wonder, just an illusion?"

Theroux writes about the constant presence of the poor. "Unlike the poor in Europe or America or even China, the poor in India are a constant presence. Where else do people put up with plastic huts on the sidewalk of a main road - not one or two, but an entire subdivision of humpies and pup tents? They inhabit train stations, sleep in doorways, crouch under bridges and railway trestles."

Review by a writer for Agora Financial, publisher of economic and financial analysis including Financial Reckoning Day Fallout: Surviving Today's Global Depression, The New Empire of Debt: The Rise and Fall of an Epic Financial Bubble, and I.O.U.S.A.: One Nation. Under Stress. In Debt.

********DID NOT RECEIVE ITEM********
I order three books from this seller.I ordered them all from the same seller thinking they would be shipped together, however I read that the seller does not do this.I decided to go with this seller anyway since they had all three books that I wanted and were located in the same state.I chose USPS Media Mail as my shipping method.I waited a month for the books to arrive.After three weeks, I contacted the seller and informed them that my order had not arrived.They explained to me that it could take up to 21 business days when using the shipping method I had selected and to contact them again after that time period if I had yet to receive the order.Almost exactly as that period elapsed, I received and email from amazon stating that my order had been cancelled because the post office had returned my shipment and I would be receiving a refund shortly.I did receive the refund, however, I was not refunded for the shipping I paid which was $11+ (quite abosorbant for three books sent via media mail).I never had any notification from the USPS that I had a shipment waiting for me at the post office or else I would have simply went and picked it up.Further, when I contacted the seller asking if I could have the books reshipped or my shipping amount refunded to which they responded with:

"As the cost of shipping your items as wells as the return shipping fees
were still incurred, we are unable to refund the shipping cost.The
order has already been cancelled and refunded so we are unable to reship
the order. "

I then explained that I had no idea the USPS tried to deliver my order, as there was never any notification left at my post box.To this, the seller responed with

"Normally they leave a notice and hold the order for 15 days.If this is
not the case, you should make a complaint with your local post office."

This information would have been a lot more helpful had it been provided to me by the seller when I inquired as to my shipment wherabouts at the three week point.Further, I ordered a product and a shipping service from the seller so I do not feel the complaint should go to the post office.I am quite dissatisfied with my purchase and have been left with a bill for no product and no service.I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS SELLER TO ANYONE simply because of the way in which they have handled my dispute and the lack of information provided to me throughout the process.

Great Adventure worth reading about.
I travel as often as I can and read this while taking a trip to Belarus so it felt a bit like a companion while spurring my desire for more travel. His fearlessness (in most places) is quite admirable and inspiring. This is the first book I've read from Paul Theroux though, and I feel like I've got lots of catching up to do as I thoroughly enjoyed this. I wonder if it makes sense to read 'The Great Railway Bazaar'? Anyway, I found this book very humorous, with many very funny parts. His astute sense of people and cultures, keen eye for nuance and beneath the surface observations gave me insight to certain countries and people and traditions which added to the enjoyment of reading this.The writing is very high quality with a nice flow making the book seem much shorter than it is (I read the kindle version and was surprised to see afterwards that the paper version is about 500 pages). I had some preconceived ideas about the author being cranky, arrogant, misanthropic, and a bit misogynist from several reviews here and things I had heard previously. I didn't find any of this (maybe a slight crankiness towards the end). He's just not very politically correct which I appreciate, has some strong opinions and seems comfortable with who he is, warts and all. He seems like he knows himself quite well and since he is a central character of the book that adds depth and cohesiveness for me. More than anything I felt his compassion for most of the people he met and the citizens of the country. His theory about the connection between a country's sex industry/trade and the general emotional health, and values and outlook of the country is an interesting one. I particularly enjoyed the sections on Vietnam, Central Asia, Thailand, Burma and Russia. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
In the travel-writing tradition that made Paul Theroux"s reputation, Dark Star Safari is a rich and insightful book whose itinerary is Africa, from Cairo to Cape Town: down the Nile, through Sudan and Ethiopia, to Kenya, Uganda, and ultimately to the tip of South Africa. Going by train, dugout canoe, "chicken bus," and cattle truck, Theroux passes through some of the most beautiful — and often life-threatening — landscapes on earth.
This is travel as discovery and also, in part, a sentimental journey. Almost forty years ago, Theroux first went to Africa as a teacher in the Malawi bush. Now he stops at his old school, sees former students, revisits his African friends. He finds astonishing, devastating changes wherever he goes. "Africa is materially more decrepit than it was when I first knew it," he writes, "hungrier, poorer, less educated, more pessimistic, more corrupt, and you can"t tell the politicians from the witch doctors. Not that Africa is one place. It is an assortment of motley republics and seedy chiefdoms. I got sick, I got stranded, but I was never bored. In fact, my trip was a delight and a revelation."
Seeing firsthand what is happening across Africa, Theroux is as obsessively curious and wittily observant as always, and his readers will find themselves on an epic and enlightening journey. Dark Star Safari is one of his bravest and best books. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (82)

land trip Cairo to Cape Town
Paul Theroux was in the peace corps as a teacher in the late 1960s in Africa so he has history and a relationship with the area of south central africa. Knowing some of the local language was also useful for this journey. It is terrifically interesting reading his insights into some of the changes and the evolution of the various countries through which he traveled.
In hind sight I couldn't help but to reflect what he chose to edit out of this adventure? After you read Dark Star Safari you will understand my question.
I recommend this read.

Thoroughly enjoyable travelogue
Paul Theroux' Dark Star Safari is an engaging thougtful descripotion of the author's journey from Cairo to Capetown in 2000.He travels by bus, train, minivan, truck, riverboat and describes his encounters with chance meetings with people in all walks of life in each of the countries he visits.He is perceptive and often critical of the state of affairs in all the lands.He particularly chastises the aid and relief organizations who start idealized projects and often abandon them without reaching any meaningful goals.He compares the state of affairs in this trip with what he saw as a young Peace Corps volunteer and teacher in Malawi in the 1960s, and finds most institutions, including schools and infrastructure to have become deplorable in the intervening generation.His critial stance is convincing.

A long journey, lacking transformation
If someone spends months on the road, catching rides where he can, alone and without a local guide, he might be transformed at the end of the journey. Not Paul Theroux. I do not mean that as a put-down. I enjoyed this book immensely and was eager to read more of it each day as I carried it with me on a short touristic trip through Egypt.

Theroux lived in Africa while in his 20s, so probably its main effects on him occurred then. Here he recounts his return visit, decades later. It's especially interesting to read his perspective as an American who was well acquainted with parts of Africa, and with African people, 30 or more years earlier. He's fluent in at least one African language (I've forgotten which one, but I envied him his ability to communicate), and he looks up old friends in several places. Everywhere he goes, much has changed. Like anyone returning to a place he loved and from which he has long been absent, he experiences many disappointments.

Some readers might find the book to be too negative. I thought it was, in the early chapters -- Theroux was especially rough on Egypt and the Egyptians, and I felt annoyed with him while I was reading that chapter, because I was having a good experience in Egypt at the same time! Then Theroux travels south, crossing through some desperate territories, and the book continues on the bleak side. It becomes increasingly better. Gradually I came to see how Theroux had brought the baggage of his earlier experiences, those of his young manhood, spent as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, and I appreciated how those memories, and all that Africa has lost since those days, made him feel rather grouchy and short-tempered much of the time.

One of the best things in this story is the accumulation of encounters with foreign aid workers. This is another example of how at first I thought Theroux too much a curmudgeon, and even mean-spirited -- in his harsh judgments of aid workers he met up with, he is almost without exception quite critical. As with the book overall, my attitude became more positive as the story continued. Theroux is especially admiring of one aid worker in particular, a Catholic nun, in spite of his harsh treatment of other aid workers. He also brings in some outside data sources to add context to what he observed personally, with the end result that I felt better informed about why all the millions of dollars in aid sent to the African continent seem to have done so little good.

Another very satisfying aspect of the story is that although Theroux is not transformed by his experience, he seems to reach a level of acceptance. In losing some of his material goods and then measuring that against a friend's loss of much more, he comes to terms with himself, with his entry into the final phase of his own life, with the reality that the promises to and for Africa have not been fulfilled. I know that sounds like a big downer, but that's not how I felt as I was reading it. Instead I felt that much of that anger and tension, regret, frustration, has drained away from him, like pus being purged from a wound. He opened it to the air, he cleaned it out. I felt happy for him, but sad for Africa. Sad -- but far from hopeless.

I felt lucky to have the paperback edition, in which a new chapter has been appended telling how Theroux returned again to Africa after the first edition of this book had been published. The new chapter is quite good and well worth reading.

Theroux in Africa
Paul Theroux's "Dark Star Safari" is his own "Heart of Darkness". Theroux, who had worked in Malawi and Uganda for a number of years, revisited the African continent at the start of the new Millennium. Full of expectation, he mostly finds misery, backwardness, and deterioration. Theroux is not a traveller easily intimidated - he visits such areas as Sudan and upper Kenya, which most visitors avoid. But even he gets frustrated and worn down by the relentless poverty and misadministration in so many African countries, and he shows it.

What's more, the book is also highly skeptical about the uses of foreign aid and aid organizations in Africa, both religious and nonreligious, which has been controversial (as the reviews show). I think Theroux has some good insights here, which are not refuted by pointing out that most aid organizations do employ many local Africans, since he sometimes implies to the contrary. In fact, his main point is not about whether or not Africans get hired, but to what purpose - he emphasizes the folly of foreign aid and modernization programs that implement labor-saving technology in a continent where most countries are full of unemployed men. And when foreign aid organizations do hire locals, Theroux points out these often tend to be relatively qualified people who are thereby drawn away from jobs like teaching and medicine, things sorely needed. In this way, countries become in various ways permanently dependent on foreign support, which gives moral hazard, allows their corrupt and sometimes dictatorial governments to get away with malfeasance, and creates further unemployment. These are serious issues and one does not need to be a supporter of the Washington Consensus to see them.

And Theroux does love Africa, this is clear from the book. As relentlessly cynical as he is about its institutions, so positive is he about many people he meets, from his drivers in Ethiopia to the fishing villagers on the Zambezi. One can have some doubts about the final leg of his trip, in South Africa, where he mostly hangs out with rich white people and attends parties, but Theroux trademark overland type of travel lends itself in Africa as elsewhere to a good insider's view of the continent, with not much left out. Theroux is not shy for example about depicting the great number of prostitutes, and quite correctly remarks that for many of the women involved, as long as they can be independent operators, this about the only steady income of their own they can have. It is of course dangerous and much of East Africa is dying of AIDS, but the women of Africa are endlessly more active and independent-minded than the men, and it is the women who do the work that makes Africa possible.

"Dark Star Safari" is a cynical but heartfelt journey through Africa, and neither romanticizes nor denigrates that mighty continent. Very recommended reading for fans of Africa and/or travel writing.

Grumpy view of Africa
Paul Theroux is grumpy, but I don't mind. I like his laconic style and astute observations. He is generally very well informed and has done the background research for his travel books. And he writes well. In Dark Star Safari he returns to Africa where he used to live as a Peace Corps volunteer and teacher four decades earlier. He travels overland--on bus, truck, matatu, train, boat--from Cairo to Cape Town taking numerous detours en route. He encounters hardships, although he tends to make a bit too much of them dramatizing the dangers to his own wellbeing. Along the way he observers and talks to a variety of people, both African and foreign, ranging from shopkeepers, ship engine men on Lake Victoria and evicted white farmers in Zimbabwe to missionaries and aid workers (`agents of virtue,' he calls them disparagingly). He meets old friends from the 1960s, some of whom have become powerful, like a minister in the Ugandan government. He spends time with Nadine Gordimer, the courageous South African writer, and her husband.

Theroux paints a rather bleak picture of Africa. His general observation is that virtually everything has gotten worse in the decades since most of the countries became independent. Corruption is rampant virtually everywhere. Foreign aid has tended to make things worse, creating dependence on aid. Government to government aid supports the dictators and thieves in power. For charities and NGOs, aid is business and they do not even plan to exit. Theroux explains:

"It is for someone else, not me, to evaluate the success or failure of charitable efforts in Africa. Offhand, I would say the whole push has been misguided, because it has gone on for too long with negligible results. If anyone had asked me to explain, my reasoning would have been: Where are the Africans in all this?" (p. 272)

Christian missionaries get their share, too, and rightly so. Theroux doesn't mince words, meeting a particularly dogmatic missionary on a train in Mozambique:

"Mozambicans were not sufficiently unhappy, not poor enough, not sick enough, not adequately deluded; they needed to feel worse, more blameworthy, more sinful, abused for merely having been born, for original sin was inescapable. And like other missionaries, Susanna was determined to bully Africans into abandoning their ancient pantheism, which had been inspired by the animals and flowers of the bush, by the seasons, and by their long-held hopes and fears." (p. 433)

Theroux summarizes Africa as he sees it:

"It is so much worse for Africans. The most civilized ones I met never used the word `civilization.' The wickedest believed themselves to be anointed leaders for life, and wouldn't let go of their delusion. The worst of them stole from foreign donors and their own people, like the lowest thieves who rob the church's poor boxes. The kindest Africans had not changed at all, and even after all these years the best of them are bare-assed." (p. 472)

This edition of the book contains a postscript from when Paul Theroux returned to Africa in 2003, two years after his original trip. During the second trip he witnesses the brutal consequences of superstition in Malawi, the total collapse of rule of law and economy in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, and the corruption in relatively stable Zambia. He summarizes his relationship with Africa as follows:

"I love the African bush--I missed it; but I hate African cities. I swore I would never return to the stinking buses, the city streets reeking of piss, the lying politicians, the schemers, the twaddlers, the crooks, the moneychangers taking advantage of weak currency and gullible people, the American God-botherers and evangelists demanding baptisms and screaming `Sinners!'--and forty years of virtue-industry CEOs faffing around with other people's money and getting no results, except Africans asking for more." (p.473)

Theroux' Africa is not an optimistic place. Yet the book is full of humanity and Paul Theroux meets many good people on his travels trying to make the best of a bad situation. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (11)

********DID NOT RECEIVE ITEM********
I order three books from this seller.I ordered them all from the same seller thinking they would be shipped together, however I read that the seller does not do this.I decided to go with this seller anyway since they had all three books that I wanted and were located in the same state.I chose USPS Media Mail as my shipping method.I waited a month for the books to arrive.After three weeks, I contacted the seller and informed them that my order had not arrived.They explained to me that it could take up to 21 business days when using the shipping method I had selected and to contact them again after that time period if I had yet to receive the order.Almost exactly as that period elapsed, I received and email from amazon stating that my order had been cancelled because the post office had returned my shipment and I would be receiving a refund shortly.I did receive the refund, however, I was not refunded for the shipping I paid which was $11+ (quite abosorbant for three books sent via media mail).I never had any notification from the USPS that I had a shipment waiting for me at the post office or else I would have simply went and picked it up.Further, when I contacted the seller asking if I could have the books reshipped or my shipping amount refunded to which they responded with:

"As the cost of shipping your items as wells as the return shipping fees
were still incurred, we are unable to refund the shipping cost.The
order has already been cancelled and refunded so we are unable to reship
the order. "

I then explained that I had no idea the USPS tried to deliver my order, as there was never any notification left at my post box.To this, the seller responed with

"Normally they leave a notice and hold the order for 15 days.If this is
not the case, you should make a complaint with your local post office."

This information would have been a lot more helpful had it been provided to me by the seller when I inquired as to my shipment wherabouts at the three week point.Further, I ordered a product and a shipping service from the seller so I do not feel the complaint should go to the post office.I am quite dissatisfied with my purchase and have been left with a bill for no product and no service.I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS SELLER TO ANYONE simply because of the way in which they have handled my dispute and the lack of information provided to me throughout the process.

The Seedy Side of Travel
This book is a downhill ride after the first beautiful sentence.My expectations for "The Great Railway Bazaar" were high because I had read reviews of other travel books that were compared to Paul Theroux's book.I thought perhaps this was the benchmark by which all other travel writing was measured.

The notion of someone travelling across Asia by train seemed interesting.I was disappointed that Mr. Theroux spent so much effort describing the sexual anecdotes and proclivities of those he met.And how many times is it necessary to be told that people are defecating by the tracks?And just how interesting is it to hear Mr. Theroux's difficulties in securing whatever the local grog may be?

This book does describe some interesting people and interesting situations, but it certainly is not a classic to me."The Great Railway Bazaar" simply spends too much time repeating the same bits of ugliness encountered at the various stops along the way for me to recommend it to anyone.

One of the best travel books ever.
What a pleasure to read. The writing is crisp and entertaining. The tales are fun without being hyperbole. Only a few chapters in and I feel that I am on the trip with the author.
Highly recommended.

NOTE: This book is even better on audiobook to help recreate the voices and inflection of the author. The sarcasm and irony comes through even better in the spoken word. Loved it.

Where's The Beef?
Combine train travel, Asia and a talented writer and you expect an interesting book.It may be the day to day travelogue style or the boring time in history, but this book did not resonate for me.The writing was adequate, but I learned little about the author or his views, train travel, the countries (a bit), the travel companions or the cultures.

By this book, unless you don't like good reading...
I like trains, and now I like Paul Theroux!I picked up this book because I was interested int the travel itinerary.After reading it, I bought all of his travel books, even those that didn't have a train in it.I have every one of his books that I can find and have read them all, and loved them all.Do yourself a favor; if you haven't read any of his books, read this one to start with and I assure you, you will be hooked on Mr. Theroux.Now, if I could only pronounce 'Theroux' properly...
... Read more

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Customer Reviews (7)

Three Ws: Wry, Witty Writer!
This is the first book I've read of his. Really enjoyed it. Never had been into travel writing before (though I love to travel). I am so pleased to have found an author that brings places to life from a perspective I can relate to. Anne Fadiman is, to me, a rather similar, female author, if you've read her.

Bucket of dead eels, anyone?
Welcome to Paul Theroux's idiosyncratic brand of travel writing. The opening chapters are hilarious - Theroux joins a tour but spends most of it trying to avoid his fellow travellers, whom he dislikes. They become suspicious of him in turn when he is constantly seen to be writing.

There are many moments of dark humour, such as when Theroux answers the call of nature on a train at midnight, only to find a bucket of dead eels on the floor next to the (very dirty) toilet. The next day in the dining carriage he asks what's on the menu, and receives the disturbing reply: "Eels!"

It should be remembered that this book was written back in 1988, but while dated it provides an interesting and perceptive snapshot of a country on the threshold of change between Maoism and capitalism.

The book contains many interesting insights, for instance: "One of the weirder Chinese statistics is that 35 million Chinese people still live in caves. There is no government program to remove these troglodytes, but there is a scheme to give them better caves. It seemed to me a kind of lateral thinking. Why rehouse or resettle these cave-dwellers? The logical solution was to improve their caves. That was very Chinese."

Or: "Mao was once asked what he thought of the French Revolution, and replied: "It's too early to say."

Other insights are more humorous: "Perhaps John Maynard Keynes to [the Chinese] was like D.H. Lawrence for us, and I tried to imagine what forbidden, dark, brooding supply-side economics might be like."

Or disturbing: "It is the belief of many Chinese I met that animals such as cats and dogs do not feel pain. They are on earth to be used - trained, put to work, killed and eaten."

The differences between northern and southern China strangely parallel those of northern and southern Germany; northerners are stereotyped as "imperious, quarrelsome, rather aloof, political, proud noodle-eaters", while southerners are "talkative, friendly, complacent, dark, sloppy, commercial-minded and materialistic rice-eaters."

But Theroux find the emptiest parts of China the most beautiful. He journeys to the far north of Heilongjiang in Manchuria, because he heard there was wilderness there: "real trees and birds." The most interesting parts of the book deal not with China itself, but these outlying areas it has attained sovereignty over: Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Xinjiang and especially Tibet.

Theroux's trip into Tibet is a mixture of sublimity and farce, as he is forced to take over the car from his inept Chinese driver, who nearly gets them killed. Theroux clearly admires the Tibetans (although not their enormous and rabid mastiff dogs). "The Tibetans found a way of distancing themselves from the Chinese, and in the most effective way, by laughing at them."

But Theroux was unfortunately wrong in his assertion that Tibet would be safe from the ravages of mass tourism because it had no railway. In fact, the railway went through in 2006, some eighteen years after this book was written.

********DID NOT RECEIVE ITEM********
I order three books from this seller.I ordered them all from the same seller thinking they would be shipped together, however I read that the seller does not do this.I decided to go with this seller anyway since they had all three books that I wanted and were located in the same state.I chose USPS Media Mail as my shipping method.I waited a month for the books to arrive.After three weeks, I contacted the seller and informed them that my order had not arrived.They explained to me that it could take up to 21 business days when using the shipping method I had selected and to contact them again after that time period if I had yet to receive the order.Almost exactly as that period elapsed, I received and email from amazon stating that my order had been cancelled because the post office had returned my shipment and I would be receiving a refund shortly.I did receive the refund, however, I was not refunded for the shipping I paid which was $11+ (quite abosorbant for three books sent via media mail).I never had any notification from the USPS that I had a shipment waiting for me at the post office or else I would have simply went and picked it up.Further, when I contacted the seller asking if I could have the books reshipped or my shipping amount refunded to which they responded with:

"As the cost of shipping your items as wells as the return shipping fees
were still incurred, we are unable to refund the shipping cost.The
order has already been cancelled and refunded so we are unable to reship
the order. "

I then explained that I had no idea the USPS tried to deliver my order, as there was never any notification left at my post box.To this, the seller responed with

"Normally they leave a notice and hold the order for 15 days.If this is
not the case, you should make a complaint with your local post office."

This information would have been a lot more helpful had it been provided to me by the seller when I inquired as to my shipment wherabouts at the three week point.Further, I ordered a product and a shipping service from the seller so I do not feel the complaint should go to the post office.I am quite dissatisfied with my purchase and have been left with a bill for no product and no service.I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS SELLER TO ANYONE simply because of the way in which they have handled my dispute and the lack of information provided to me throughout the process.

read and laugh at the stereotypes
Theroux comes across as an old curmudgeon with an acid view of humanity. Perhaps this is the result of having observed human nature all over the world and finding it wanting. Although some portions may seem like blown up cynicism you have to admit that many of his observations are spot on. The comments on the arrogant and simple-minded Hong Kong tourists to China is hilarious as is his recounting of his experiences with a couple of young babushkas out to make a buck in Russia. Forget being PC and hop on the train for a down-to-earth trip through Europe and on to the Middle Kingdom.

Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through China
I actually read this book nearly twenty years ago and have never forgotten it. I was so pleased to find it available at Amazon.com. One of the things that especially stuck with me was the eating habits of the Chinese at that time---fascinating! Never forgotten was the pail of eels in the "bathroom" ready for the evening meal.
This reading I was able to take more time with the book and get more out of it because I wasn't working and raising three children. I even looked up Paul Theroux on Encarta to get a feel for his personality.
This is a fabulous armchair travel of China, a detailed description of the beautiful, the ugly and the strange parts of that vast country. I highly recommend it! ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (4)

An American comes to Mumbai
PT's love-hate relationship with India continues with this collection of three powerful, inter-related novellas of 80 to 100 pages each. As in earlier novels and travel books,it is about Americans visiting India and their take on what they experience. Take Audie Blunden, a no-nonsense businessman, combining pleasure (a stint at a high-class yoga resort with his wife) with business, trying to outsource the manufacturing part of his business empire. He, or PT, reflects on the squalor and stench below the hill-top resort and muses:
`Like a living, billion-strong festival of futility, India was the proof that you could not do anything here that hadn't been done before. India was a reminder of the extravagance of human self-deception, and the fundamental lesson of Indian life was that people and even animals have previous existences, other lives, past incarnations; they'd lived on earth before, they'd been through all this--they had to have done so, for otherwise how could they stand it?'
Audie and his wife Beth become enchanted with the routines of their luxury resort but soon, first together, then separately, they begin to venture across the big divide between extreme wealth and hopeless poverty...
The book's title concerns the best suite in the best hotel of Mumbai. The Blunden couple spent one night there, but Boston-based contract lawyer Dwight Huntsinger makes it his refuge. He is totally scared of India. He negotiates dozens of outsourcing deals on behalf of US industry with local entrepreneurs, who know they are squeezed and suffocated, but still want a deal. But boredom turns the suite into a base from which Dwight crosses the divide to investigate and enjoy (?) India's seedier sides...Readershave to interpret the third novella for themselves. This collection is another great achievement of PT.
PT sketches a world of stark contrasts in which US dominance in finance and technology cowers Indian subcontractors into signing poor deals (`pair of blue jeans, one dollar nineteen, delivered'), but Mr. Shah, Dwight's assistant makes all the right moves and sounds behind Dwight's back to the Boston office. Dwight and his ilk are surely facing redundancy...
I have read most of his books and consider Paul Theroux one of America's 10-20 best living or dead writers. Fellow Americans surely do not care about the venues and heroes of his 40-50 novels and travel books. But he has a terrific ear for language, writes great dialogues, is a good plotter and has a keen eye for what is going on, building up, beyond the US. A rich Mumbai divorcee's take on New York makes this collection a fine example of cross-cultural bigotry. Challenging and well written.

not what iIexpected from reading previous books
i am accustomed to Mr. Theroux's travel books. I did not expect this weird, somewhat scarey novel.It was my fault for not finding out that it was a novel.

Great Stories
I loved these stories. I could not put this collection down. Theroux is a favorite of mine. His "The Happy Isles Of Oceania" is one of my favorites. Now "The Elephanta Suite" joins that book.

Strange and wonderful tales of visitors to India
Theroux, long a master of the short story about people in faraway places (The Consul's File should be on everyone's must-read list), again shocks, enchants and leaves us gasping more more. Theroux's India is a dark funhouse. Lust with consequences, ashrams closer to Charles Manson than Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, monkeys and people acting like monkeys. Fabulous stories. ... Read more

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Starting with a rush-hour subway ride to South Station in Boston to catch the Lake Shore Limited to Chicago, Theroux winds up on the poky, wandering Old Patagonian Express steam engine, which comes to a halt in a desolate land of cracked hills and thorn bushes.But with Theroux the view along the way is what matters: the monologuing Mr. Thornberry in Costa Rica, the bogus priest of Cali, and the blind Jorge Luis Borges, who delights in having Theroux read Robert Louis Stevenson to him. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (40)

disappointing trip with Paul
I enjoyed the Dark Star Safari with Paul very much and carried that level of expectation with me on this trip through the Americas.
It was an unfair comparison because of Paul's history with Africa his insights there were based upon his Peace Corps experiences there.
The trip through the Americas seemed to be a struggle for Paul and didn't have the historical awareness and intimate connection with the areas covered so the depth that I was hoping for was lacking.

Paul Theroux
I like the way this rather sour-puss writer tells it like it is on his travels, on a shoe string budget. In our current culture of materialism, where everything is hyped up into a commercial product, and sanitised and censored, it is refreshing to read Theroux, who tells it like it is. His descriptions of places can be very poetic and vivid, lasting in your mind, about countries far away, that havemuch beauty and much ugliness, but above all they are raw and real, in the travel writing of Theroux.

The Old Patagonia Express
Great book..arrived in a few days.No issues at all.

In fact, I have never had any issues with ordering anything through Amazon!

Unlikable
In the "new" introduction, the author talks about this opinion out there that travel books always end up being about the author him/herself. He goes on to imply that his book won't be like that. He also says he intended the book to teach us and illustrate to us the countries he visited. Well, he failed on both counts.
It's full of condescension, self-absorption, and odd, racism-tinged comments.

If you like Paul Theroux
Though I owned a copy for years, I never read this until now, and it's vintage Theroux. He boards in Boston and is soon stopping in godforsaken outposts in the wilds of Central America, seemingly having an awful time and taking notes along the way. This formula has served him well for decades, and this was one of the earlier efforts. I wonder what's changed today along the route? Probably not much. It didn't make me want to take the same trip, so thanks Theroux for saving me the trouble. ... Read more

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"Travel writing at its best."

THE HOUSTON POST

Author and travel writer Paul Theroux does what no one else can: he travels to the isolated, unusual, and fascinating spots of the world, and creates an elegy to them that makes readers feel they are traveling with him.Evocative, breathtaking, intriguing, here is the armchair traveler's guide to the sites of the world he makes us feel we know.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Impersonable
I enjoy reading of some places that are familiar to me from my travels, but reallydont like his dry, dry style. There are too many gaps in the story, lack of luster as well as never having any real praise for the majority of the places he sees.There is a real lack of human element. I am dont have a real desire to read any more of his books.

A taste.....
An unfair introduction to Theroux travels. It whets the appetite for those who have read just one or two of his books. For someone who has not read any of his books - well, unfortunately this book would not encourage them to buy the full texts. I don't think it does justice to his writing or his travels. Too short - each story.

The books in their entirety draw you in and make you live the experiences with him. I adore his books and his writing style. I love his full texts. By the time you're half drawn into one of these segments, they are over already. Too bad.

Irritatingly wonderful
I write that as my intro because this is a collection of selected works from several of the author's travels.Just as he is pulling you into one adventure the book moves on to another.You definitely will want to read the full books if you have any interest whatsoever in travel.

This author takes you on a round the world trip.You get to visit "guesthouses" with frozen feces and vomit in the stairway.You will meet possibly the worst driver ever.You wil have the chance to see if he exchanges a radio for sex with a woman before her husband gets home.Even though one vhinese woman says "don't get your hopes up", along with a lot of other English phrases, you definitely can have high hopes with this one.

Hauntingly Seductive
This romantic comedy by Paul Theroux was absoloutely superb. The character of baby Alexandra was my favourite as she was a talking baby with a strange disability, having the misfortune of wheels instead of legs. There were other interesting characters such as Bessy the poisonious mark, which could talk and fly.

Even though this book was fantastic it was great.

The Globetrotting Non-Tourist
This book is a collection of episodes, usually not connected, from six previous Theroux books published in the 70's and 80's. His travels in five different continents are highlighted here with varying degrees of detail. Since his other books describe distinct journeys from beginning to end, Theroux explains in the intro here that this book is meant more as a celebration of the art of traveling itself. He also has some snide insights into the art of travel writing, especially annoying authors who give only a tourist's eye view of the destination but don't bother to say how they got there. Getting there is Theroux's passion and the fragments in this volume usually show him encountering all kinds of intriguing characters and situations around the world, all while on his way somewhere else. That includes the good, the bad, and the ugly - and describing all of these with equal insight is Theroux's greatest strength as a globetrotting non-tourist. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (8)

Great Insights Into Great Britian in the 1980's
Paul Theroux gives good information and descriptions.He meets people one would not meet on an ordinary trip.The book gives insights into what people do in different cultural and social situations.He describes the various peoples of the British Isles.I can't travel - so this is my travel.

Less than what I wanted
I ordered this book inorder to be better informed about traveling to the southwest coast of England this year...
It was seemingly a personal journal of someone who was traveling via train along the coast. The reading experience was that thewriter was very negative and critical of the people and places visted.....It wasn't very informative about the scenery, people or towns visited......Very disappointing to my desire for information.

I love Paul Theroux!
I love England and I love Paul Theroux so I have only wonderful things to say about this book. I'm there with him as he walks the coast of England.
I'm also a people person, as is he, and the things he writes about touch my soul. I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes fine writing, England, travel, walking tours, people.

vintage theroux
This is a terrific book.The author is simply sharing HIS observations of life along the British coastal cities and towns.It's a great read!Even if it's not all peaches and cream, it's what he felt, and you can't help but feel like a traveling companion.

The Kingdom Is Much More Than The Seacoast
This book was not as much fun as I expected it to be, namely because Mr. Theroux (whom I seriously began to dislike here) seemed to take any excuse to disdain the British as a people, a culture, and a nation. He chose to visit the most run-down of locales and then ballishly complained about them, and in so doing presented the image that his experiences were representative of an entire nation as a whole. Imagine someone touring the coastlines of America, especially the rust belt, and then presenting this as a valid exercise in seeing all there was to see of the place. This is just about what happened in The Kingdom By The Sea.

Paul Theroux said straight off "no castles" making this his mantra and meaning he was concerned with discovering Britain of the moment rather than of the past, which is a fine and worthy undertaking, but as I slogged through chapter after chapter of his complaints about damp and dank boardinghouses, slovenly humanity and bad food, I kept wishing he jolly would include the occasional castle, battlefield, cathedral or treasure house. Theroux made his trek by foot, bus, train and sometimes private car (he was brazen enough to hitchhike on occasion) in 1982, the year that gave Britons the Falklands War, a homicidal madman in Yorkshire, a threatened transit strike, and the joyous birth of a presumably future king, Charles and Diana's son, William. It was a year mired in an era that represented both a relative low point in modern British history and a also a stepping stone to present-day recovery. Yes, Thatcher's Britain was a tottering welfare state that had seen better days, but did Paul Theroux, who cuts the Third World every conveyable bit of slack when he visits it, really, truly HAVE to always see England's glass as half empty?

I actually found myself growing depressed as a read his dreary memoir of what could have been a fascinating journey, and that's just not the sort of experience I was looking for. What could have been a travel journal that uplifted and enthralled instead became a melancholy series of bellicose dreariness.

Four stars for a number of introductions to interesting people Theroux met along the way, especially those old-timers born in the nineteenth-century, but without them popping up here an there as they did, this was barely a three-star read.
... Read more

Product Description
Paul Theroux returns to India with a stylish and gripping novel of crime and obsession in Calcutta.

In A Dead Hand, Paul Theroux brings to dramatic life a dark and twisted narrative of obsession and need. When Jerry Delfont, a travel writer with writer’s block, receives a letter from a captivating and seductive American philanthropist with news of a scandal involving an Indian friend of her son’s, he is sufficiently intrigued to pursue the story. Who is the boy found on the floor of a cheap hotel room, how and why did he die — what is it that pulls Delfont into this story, and will he ever find the truth about what happened?


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Dead Hand: A crime in Calcutta
I am disappointed in Paul Theroux's writing. He is redundant and at times quite boring. He describes his feelings for this woman over and over and it always the same until nearing the end of the book. He also paints a horrible picture of India, a place where I live six months of every year, and I find that too one sided to be interesting, plus the mystery is macabre and boring in the end. He describes himself in the book and it must be a very accurate description of a self centered uninteresting person. Avoid this book. If you want to learn about India and be entertained at the same time, read a book called, Holy Cow. It is really a hoot and it gives a more well rounded perspective to this mysterious and compelling country. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (62)

Fear and Loathing in Polynesia
This is overall an enjoyable read.It's considered maybe the best travel book by maybe the best travel writer; in it Paul Theroux visits 50 islands in the Pacific, including the biggest in the world (hint: it has kangaroos.)It's hard to find fault with the scope: he kayaks and camps on islands both inhabited and empty.He's Robinson Crusoe with an enormous bank account.

ButI still don't know what to think of Paul Theroux as a writer.I appreciate that he has embarked (it was written in the early 90's) on such an adventurous tour (one that many of today's travel bloggers wouldn't even think of.)His prose is never overly flowery but it's always descriptive.

On the other hand, he seems to hate everywhere he goes (especially Australia), complains endlessly when the natives are too uppity to carry his luggage, bemoans his ex-wife, waxes poetical about a luxury suite, and nearly faints in fear when confronted by a drunken spectator.He's afraid of nearly everybody and everything.As some of the other commenter have noted, his racism really shines through as well.

There's a real dichotomy about him that I can't resolve.I think the book is worth reading, but it's almost despite it being his narrative.

Very enjoyable
I can't remember if it was this book or Kingdom By The Sea that was the first of Theroux's travel books I ever read. 'Kingdom by the Sea' turned out to be one of may favorite books and I have read it several times. This book, though, is also quite good and I have read it twice now.

A lot of people have been very critical of Mr Theroux's travel writing but I do not share their opinions for the most part. I am not a happy traveler so I like to hear about somebody else's experiences in places I will likely never visit. I don't require a thorough, properly researched and documented sociological study in these books... I just want to be entertained. Theroux does so in this book and quite a few of his others that I have read.

After reading this book I had a fuller appreciation that many of these pacific islands are considerably less like the paradises they have elsewhere been held out to be. Perhaps Theroux rather crankily overstates this, as some have suggested, but I recognize people will come away from a given place with different impressions than others. That is only to be expected and should in no way diminish one's enjoyment of a good read.

C John Thompson

Perhaps his least enjoyable work
Most people, when they think of Polynesia, think of warm weather, pleasant beaches and overall bliss. Not so with this Paul Theroux travel book through Oceania, despite the book's title: the book was written directly after the author's painful breakup with his first wife. Since Theroux is generally not a man to be easily impressed by what he sees, one can imagine the general tone of the work. Indeed its sombreness together with the rather repetitive nature of his island trip, where for most pages he does not much else than paddle in his kayak and occasionally talk to uninterested locals and eat taro, make for less invigorating reading than some of Theroux's other travel novels.

This isn't to say the book is no fun at all. His descriptive qualities did not suffer, so the amazing island landscapes are vividly pictured as ever as he travels by them. His analysis and depiction of the island societies is very interesting, in particular in how he emphasizes the differences between those islands. Not only are the islands of Micronesia quite different from Polynesia as their societies and attitudes go, but the internal differences are sizable too. Theroux had also not lost his critical edge, and he unfailingly captures the negative consequences of many islands' dependence on foreign states (New Zealand, France) or the still almost feudal nature of Tongan social relations. Sometimes he goes a bit overboard on this: his hostility towards Japanese is remarkable in this book (and not at all as pronounced in later works). Although indeed there is much to be said against the tourist exploitation of these islands and the destructive nature of such enterprise, and Theroux quite well points this out, his specific hostility towards Japan takes on almost racist forms. Another such thing is his litany against French colonialism and nuclear testing in the Pacific; this indeed is terrible and disgusting, make no mistake, but he does not mention in context for example the British-American exploitation of Diego Garcia in a similar manner.

Nonetheless, Theroux shows very well how many of these paradise islands are, if they are still such, paradises despite the influx of visitors. The introduction of a monetary and commodity economy in societies that used to be based around gift relations has made things much worse, breaking social ties and reducing many islanders to drunks dependent on handouts from colonial owners or dubious salesmen with a total loss of interest in their traditional culture. Now this is always historically the case, and sometimes is justified in the name of Progress. But in the case of the islands Theroux describes, not much good comes in its stead: the living standards and life expectancy are still generally low, and there is not much use for cars, telephones, or other such accoutrements of modernity. While it does nobody any good to want to preserve Noble Savages as if their societies are mere open-air musea, in the case of Oceanic tourism there is good reason to be morose.

On the whole, though, this book lacks some of the energy and variety that make Theroux's other works such page-turners. This is probably not really the author's fault: it is just in the nature of his camping trip by boat that most time is spent in and around fairly similar island landscapes, however beautiful, and talking about little of interest with lethargic locals. This frankly gets somewhat boring to read after a while, although it is impossible to imagine this being boring in real life. There are some interesting tidbits that change the atmosphere temporarily, such as when he meets the former Prime Minister David Lange and converses with him, or the interviews with luminaries such as the King of Tonga and the Governor-General of New Zealand. Also Hawaii, the final stage of his trip, gives an interesting window back onto the 'regular' world, and it is no coincidence that the book ends on a happier note there, as Theroux (now remarried) spends half his time living there. For Theroux fans, I can certainly recommend reading this book as part of the collection. But for those new to the author, I would not start here.

Living on a happy island...
I just finished this book and I loved every chapter!
I read Darkstar Safari over the summer and loved it too.
I plan on reading another Paul Theroux book next.I just love the
way this man writes!He is able to shed light on an experience
I would never be brave enough to venture on but I don't mind
reading about his travels (I don't think I could kayak all alone
in the ocean!).I have been living on an island for
three years now and its time to go.P.T. has been right on the money in his descriptions of Oahu. I love this place and it will be forever in my heart.
I think this has been the
perfect book toread as my island living experience comes to an end.

Interesting
This book is certainly interesting. While the author does his fair share of whining, as previous reviewers have mentioned, I think it is important to remember how he traveled. He chose to see the islands of the Pacific by kayak - certainly not an easy task, and probably a task which colored some of his views. Having said that, his descriptions of the islands I've been to were right on. I can't speak for all of them, of course, but I can say I did enjoy the book. I especially liked his account of his time in Tonga. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (41)

Paul Theroux repeats himself
Paul Theroux (PT) is an acute observer with awesome descriptive powers and able to write from almost any perspective. His capacity to evoke context (London's squatter scene, US diplomats and aid workers, American businessmen at home and abroad) is unsurpassed. Apart from many novels PT also wrote best-selling travel books, collections of reviews and short stories and even a quite good science-fiction novel called "O-Zone"(1986).

This reader found "A Dead Hand" hard to finish to the end because of the suffocating, adulatory writing style of the alter ego author, prompting memories of PT's rather awful "Millroy the Magician".

Since 1968, when his second novel "Fong and the Indians" was published, PT has been fascinated by India and Indians. He has portrayed V.S. Naipaul twice, positively in the early 1970s, very negatively almost three decades later. To date, about ten of PTs books of different genres have focused on India. In his novels, Americans visiting India often succumb to this dirty, noisy, smelly, rat- and germ-infested subcontinent, by trespassing from privilege into destitution.

The raconteur of this novel is a middle-aged US globetrotting hotel reviewer with writer's block ("a dead hand"). Early in the novel he describes rich American ladies as vulnerable to falling victim to a goddess complex. In Calcutta he is contacted by the enchanting, mysterious Mrs. Merrill Unger, a fellow American, who seeks his help in a murder case. They meet. They hardly discuss the case, but Mrs. Unger, a major local entrepreneur and philanthropist clad in Indian dress takes instant control of the sorry travel hack's life by enchanting him first, massaging him in the tantric tradition the next day, then taking him to dinner to a shop serving only cooked green vegetables and brown rice. No salt or spices, no fat, no meat. He is smitten beyond rescue. And more mystery and greater enchantments follow...

Has PT run out of themes? Is he recycling earlier work? Does PT still eat hamburgers and steak or has he been on yoghurt, brawn, green vegetables, brown rice and nuts for decades? Is this novel a warning or more propaganda? What bothers this reader is repetitiveness in PT's writings on the subject of food, because where have we read this before? Dr. Lauren Slaughter in "Half Moon Street"(1984), serial killer Parker Jagoda in "Chicago Loop"(1990) and the prophet of pure, healthful food glorified in "Millroy the Magician"(1996) all performed rather crazily after indulging in such weird diets for extended periods of time.

As for Mrs. Unger's murder mystery, towards the end of Part 1 the book's raconteur receives evidence in the form of a small hand in a plastic bag. Another "dead hand".
For readers the novel's main problem is that it is written from the point of view of a boring, intrusive, feeble, dissembling male, hard to bond with. But he is Paul Theroux's alter ego. They meet face to face in chapter 9 when the raconteur's name is finally dropped, Jerry Delfont (JD). JD shivers at the prospect of meeting this devious Theroux character, who is reputed to use each and every contact and meeting as material for his books. Like Howard from the US Calcutta consulate, PT is curious to learn more about the saintly Mrs. Unger and JD is a prime source... As for Paul Theroux, his cameo appearance is evidence of his penchant for living a double life: if his career had taken an early wrong turn, PT would have been Jerry.

For readers to find out about Mrs. Unger's true objectives, it is necessary to suffer through a book written by an a disciple, a follower. It is the account of the only kind of person she would trust and allow to come close, a desperate believer in a saint, a magician to save at least a small part of horrible India .

Wonderfully evocative in an Escher-like sort of way
Even if you are a big fan of Theroux, you can quibble about one thing or another, but you won't be disappointed in the totality of this extremely evocative and beautifully written piece.

His seemingly endless redundancy in describing Mrs. Unger, while somewhat tiresome, can only be attributed to his total obsession with her. However the lively descriptions of his encounters in and around Calcutta, the temples of Kali, and his travels to the backwaters of Assam are Theroux writing at his best.

Finally, Jerry Delfont's meeting with Paul Theroux, and the book's focus on a "dead hand" -- both literally and and figuratively -- kept reminding me of M.C. Escher's "Drawing Hands" put into words.

A Murder Mystery in Calcutta
What can I say - Paul Theroux continues to outdo himself. In this latest work, A Dead Hand: A Crime in Calcutta, he presents us with a locale and characters you can see viscerally- and as with much of his writing - you learn. You learn about the city of Calcutta, the language, things you never knew ... and he continues to toss tidbits at you and hopes you bite.

The premise is an interesting one and one that not many could pull off. Although somewhat disjointed in the telling of this unusual story, Theroux does succeed and he does it in spades. Although my favorite work of his is Hotel Honolulu, especially for the unbelievable way he captures the local detail, and specific types of people - a masterpiece...and parts that cause belly laughs..., this one grabs you also. His level of people analysis is unmatched. He has an uncanny eye for the components of people.

This story is different than Hotel Honolulu. In "A Dead Hand" which without ruining the story is about a writer who is at a standstill - facing a dead hand - and can't find the story, writer's block. He does find the story and Theroux takes you down a very interesting route in Calcutta, deconstructing it, and his path is quite unusual in many respects. He touches the city's poverty, the castes, child prostitution, a murder mystery, tantric sex, and one most unusual person - Mrs. Unger -- who is the focal point of the book. He teases us with Mrs. Unger complexity and unfolds her like a slowly peeled onion.

If that weren't enough, he adds a different dimension to the book by having himself in it - similar to a cameo role in a film. For some reason, that part bothered me but he did pull it off, and as always when you reach the last sentence, the last word of his book, you say - wow...another good one.

Flimsy like the architecture of India
The best aspect of the book was the author's portrayal of India. I felt the heat, the smells, the press of humanity, the tumbledown buildings, all woven into a complicated pattern.

The main character offered very little to like. His obsession with the mystery woman, Mrs. Unger, was pathetically maudlin. He halfheartedly sleuths a murder mystery. Calcutta is oppressively depressing. Any sane person would have gone home.

There is a clever insertion of the author in the story - something I had never encountered before. And our writer with the dead hand (writer's block) does show character development close to the end. That was too late for me. The book just didn't hang together well.

Rich scenery marred with dark twists
This was my first time reading Thoreaux but I absolutely loved it. The breath taking cover adorned with haunting blue's, fuchsia and gold made me feel like I was closer to India and the story itself was rich and decadent, it unfolded lazily at its own speed, oozing mystery and sultriness like a melting camembert, it captured my interest but it's not a lightning fast read, it's not meant to be. Not every story has to be a nonstop bucket of ice cream, the melting thrill screams to be eaten before it dissolves, this took some time to read, but it was satisfying, elegant and bit naughty at the same time.

The tale is a mix of mystery and old fashioned travels that are long forgotten in this new modern era.Jerry Delfont is an author who has just finished giving lectures in exotic Calcutta, his time seems to stretch endlessly but his boredom is suddenly stalled by a mysterious letter, one that arrives praising his talents and asking for his help in solving a murder mystery, a letter that is the beginning of it all. Mrs. Unger is a beautiful and very opinionated woman who's charities have saved many children from poverty and life of crime, she asks desperately for Jerry's help in clearing her son's friend from murder charges, a body of a nameless child has been found in his hotel room, and when he flees from the scene of crime it creates more questions than answers but Jerry is so blinded by her charms and beautify that he takes on this task, making new friends and enemies on the way and discovering the dark, rotten dirty secrets camouflaged by an exotic face of a foreign country.Mrs. Unger takes him under her wing and makes him desperate for her attention, she bewitches Jerry with her many talents and adds a rich layer of spice to the story, I had a great time solving the mystery which seem to take a back seat to the relationship that seemed to unfold between this perfect proper woman and a man who lusted after her. Things that happen are surprising and not as innocent as one would expect but the incoming discord and feeling of "something is wrong" make for a great read. Jeffry's lust and desperation were more interesting than the mystery itself, and I followed that road greedily, waiting to find out the truth.

I really enjoyed the language and the writing, the backdrop was amazing and the mystery was interesting but it clearly was not the main vein in the body of this work. I loved the character development because it made me feel close to what was going on, I felt connected to the the food and the people, the places and the décor, discovering the good and the ugly in each person was immensely enjoyable and I had a great time reading this book, it makes me want to read more of Paul Theroux and the journeys hidden between his pages, I definitelywant to read more of his stories, there is an old fashioned charm to them with a modern edge that makes for an irresistible read.

- Kasia S.
... Read more

Product Description
Paul Theroux's first collection of essays and articles devoted entirely to travel writing, FRESH AIR FIEND touches down on five continents and floats through most seas in between to deliver a literary adventure of the first order, with the incomparable Paul Theroux as a guide. From the crisp quiet of a solitary week spent in the snowbound Maine woods to the expectant chaos of Hong Kong on the eve of the Hand-over, Theroux demonstrates how the traveling life and the writing life are intimately connected. His journeys in remote hinterlands and crowded foreign capitals provide the necessary perspective to "become a stranger" in order to discover the self. A companion volume to SUNRISE WITH SEAMONSTERS, FRESH AIR FIEND is the ultimate good read for anyone fascinated by travel in the wider world or curious about the life of one of our most passionate travelers.Amazon.com Review
Paul Theroux may be pompous, self-important, cynical, andgrumpy. He may even be, as accused by a heckler in Australia, "awanker." So what? The man is prolific--having penned 36 books--andwhen he's inspired, his insights and sparkling writing are sostartling that it's easy to forgive him for his occasionalcrankiness. Besides, as he reminds readers frequently, he is a man whotakes pen to paper for a living; as the title essay points out:"Normal, happy, well-balanced individuals seldom become imaginativewriters...."

In Fresh Air Fiend, Theroux's pen serves himwell with astute, lively pieces that stray far beyond simple "travelessays" and reveal his self-inflicted lifestyle of compulsive travel,writing, and alienation. In this collection--containing mostlypreviously published magazine pieces written over the past 15years--there's a strong autobiographical streak, as well as historicalperspectives and a sardonic view on aging. "One of the morebewildering aspects of growing older," he writes in "'Memory andCreation,'" "is that people constantly remind you of things that neverhappened."

Now nearly 60, Theroux has lived a rich, varied life:the book jumps from post-Mao China and years spent as an Africa-basedPeace Corps volunteer in the '60s to turtle watching in Hawaii andkayaking on Cape Cod; the jumbled collection even includes pieces onother travel writers (Bruce Chatwin, Graham Greene, and William LeastHeat-Moon) and the film adaptation of his novel The MosquitoCoast. A chronic sense of aloneness permeates all these pieces--beit the lost traveler paddling through fog, the lone writer livingwithout a phone, or the hermetic trekker who can't speak the nativelanguage. Most touching: a short sketch of a road trip when he's lost,his wife is anxious, and the children are fighting; Theroux doesn'twant the moment to end and soon enough he returns to his self-imposedalienation. It's that perpetual sense of loneliness and not fittingin that seems to motivate Theroux in many of these essays. Theroux maybe getting older, even nostalgic, but as these vibrant essays show, hesure isn't getting stale. --Melissa Rossi ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

A Delicate Balance
Paul Theroux says normal people don't become writers. It is just not healthy to sit in a room for hours staring intently into your own mind. He counter-balances this basically inward condition by paddling thousand of miles in a kayak. In Fresh Air Fiend he explains why and how this type of therapy has become an intrinsic part of his life. This pot- pourri of his experiences and reflections, is more about Paul the human being rather than Paul the observer, than any his other books. He explains why he wrote the books he has, and why he took the trips that inspired them. He never intended to be a travel writer. Like Mark Twain, another great travel writer who needed to make a living as a writer, he did it out of necessity. The fact that he has always been an outsider--just the unhealthy prospective you need to succeed in his line of work--helped him become one of our best contemporary commentators.

Linda Ballou-adventure travel writer and author of
Wai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawai'i-Her Epic Journey

THE WRITER COMES THROUGH AGAIN!
I usually search for a Paul Theroux book when I'm travelling, be it a plane, ship or carriage, probably living vicariously through some of his adventures and watching for people and things along the trail that he noticed. I liked the way the book was broken up into quick-reading chapters and about places that I was interested in.Two of my favorite places, being a quasi-islander, are Hawaii and the Philippines, especially Palawan Island. He was right-on with his reviews, particularly Palawan, which I always consider a series of islands of mystery, unpredictability and never-ending beauty. I enjoyed his characterization of Bruce Chatwin, the funeral, and Chatwin's endless chatter and mimicry. It's gotta be interesting to go from the Maine Woods and down the Zambezi and then a trip to China, and demanding for the body's digestive system - many strange foods and customs. An excellent book that should be read by travellers, even if your "boat" happens to be an armchair.Buy it!

Hodge Podge of a Book
Theroux gives us a literary delicatessen of vignettes and experiences from his writings and from personal experiences.Some of the chapters are great, some exceedingly boring.Every journalist has pieces of stories and experiences which, in themselves, would not constitute books, so they look for ways to package them in a saleable fashion.This is what Theroux has done here.This book seems to be less about his travels than about his opinions on a wide range of subjects.On the other hand, we learn a lot about this able and prolific author and how he thinks.It was a worthwhile read, but I did a lot of chapter skipping.

'Real' Travel
Paul Theroux's travel books differ from most travel books;
he does not plop the reader down before a grand & famous site to behold it in silent and contemplative wonder. Theroux takes the reader with him on the train ride to the location which can be unbearably uncomfortable, tedious -- and delayed; and often interrupted by unpleasant if interesting men and women. This is travel as it really is not as we would wish it to be. This first-rate writer of fiction and non fiction, compulsively readable, is like the portrait painter whose portraits of the famous include 'warts and all.' Highly recommended.

A mixed (overstuffed) (travel) bag
Tackling a 25-hour cassette book is challenging enough without this narrator, whose gasping intake of breath is audible before nearly every sentence on most of the tapes. Perhaps he had a cold. I have not heard Theroux's own voice, so I will hear Dietz in my head from henceforth when Theroux is mentioned. When reading dialog spoken by Chinese or Filipinos, Dietz affects a high-pitched sing-song voice, although he is reading English. He does not do this for other non-English speakers. As for the book itself, a collection of travel-related essays is fine. However, such a huge portion of the book deals with Theroux's travels in China that these should have been made a separate collection. The essays on other travel writers and Theroux's own writing history could have been collected in yet another volume, though they're not out of place here. The essays on Defoe, Thoreau, and the polar explorers were enjoyable surprises. The couple on Bruce Chatwin were not. One essay on unusual social practices is particularly interesting. Nonetheless, after this behemoth, I'm through with Theroux for a while. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Africa in Black and White
Dark Star Safari is indeed dark. The deep disappointment felt by the master of travel writing, Paul Theroux, pervades this heartbreakingly honest look at decaying societies.
The landscape itself though scarred with dilapidated human settlements remains beautiful in its vast immenseness, but a sense of hopelessness pervades the text. Paul travels overland from appalling dirty and dangerous Cairo to Cape Town where white farmers are being hacked to bits by liberated South Africans who feel the land belongs to them.
From taxi's that breakdown in bleak backwaters, to buses that are nothing more than rolling death traps, to trains that are rocking shells of their former selves the modes of transport he takes range from laughable to downright dangerous. The muddy villages along the way are filled with derelict populations who are often "bad people".
I think Paul in his quest to unplug and go someplace his fans could not find him forgot the old adage that you can never go back. In his idealistic youth he served in the Peace Corp and taught at a school in Malawi. He feels sadness about the fact that not only have things not gotten better for the African people in the last forty years, they have gotten much worse! Corrupt leaders have milked millions from the generosity of countries trying to help the African people. They do not want real development to take place because children with distended bellies and flies in their eyes engender more sympathy and foster larger handouts than healthy communities.
I selected this book because I want to go to Africa to see the gigantic fireball sunsets, the herds of grazing beasts and the last of what can be considered wild, and because Paul Theroux ranks high on my top ten writers list. After reading it I feel silly and insincere because I am not going to see the suffering masses. I will be wearing the tourist kaki with birding glasses slung over my shoulder and be the safari slut Paul finds so insensitive to the plight of the African people. I will sidestep the atrocious slums of Nairobi on my way to the game parks and try like hell not to get killed or robbed in Joburg. Still, I do care and hope that Africa, the birthplace of mankind, will find a way out of the dark abyss of hopelessness and the people will stand tall in the sun once more.

What most of us don't know about Africa
I found the Audio book to be exceptionally well done. Norman Dietz, the reader, is terrific. He "acts" the narratives using his voice, making the 23 hours wonderfully listenable.

Paul Theroux's means and mode of travel, ability to communicate in native languages, description of landscape, and encounters with peoples, police, bureacrats, etc. extremely interesting and educational.
Theroux at one point says an author's greatest accomplishment is tell the story so the reader feels he is there and experiencing what is being described.Theroux acomplishes this beautifully.I see vividly the scenes and feel I know personnally the people he meets.
Terrific book to learn about the countries of Africa, their politics,different cultures between African countries, the institutionalized violence andhistories.
His views on the various "charity industries"of Africa is compelling.His view of their self-interest overiding any good that is accomplished by them. In fact they are counter productive and to so some degree responsible for the lack of any real educational, economic or political progress in most African countries.
It is not a "happy" story that will leave readers with an optimistic view of the future for the continent. You will,however, have a feeling for Africa's potential withleadership.Leadership capable of providing education for the masses, developing economic resources for the benefit of their countries rather than thepoliticians in power at any given time.

"Hoping for the picturesque, expecting misery..."
Forty years after being a Peace Corps worker in Malawi and a teacher in Uganda, Paul Theroux returns to Africa and finds things changed--for the worse. Now approaching his sixtieth birthday and wanting to escape from cell phones, answering machines, the daily newspaper, and being "put on hold," he is determined to travel from Cairo to Cape Town. He believes that the continent "contain[s] many untold tales and some hope and comedy and sweetness, too," and that there is "more to Africa than misery and terror."

Traveling alone by cattle truck, "chicken bus," bush train, matatu, rental car, ferry, and even dugout canoe, he tries to blend in as much as possible, buying clothing at secondhand stalls in public markets, carrying only one small bag, and avoiding the tourist destinations. He is an observant and insightful writer, and his descriptions of his travails are so vivid the reader can experience them vicariously. His interviews with residents are perceptive and very revealing of the political and social climate of these places, and his character sketches of Sister Alexandra from Ethiopia (a nun who "has loved") and of two charming Ethiopian traders, a father and son, who take Theroux to the Kenyan border, are delightful.

For most of the countries of Africa, however, he has no kind words. Kenya is "one of the most corrupt...countries in Africa," everything in Kampala, Uganda, has changed for the worse, and in Tanzania "there was only decline--simple linear decrepitude, and in some villages collapse." At the U.S. embassy in Malawi, he finds an "overpaid, officious, disingenuous, blame-shifting...embassy hack" and, in pique, he wonders, "Had she, like me, been abused, terrified, stranded, harassed, cheated, bitten, flooded, insulted, exhausted, robbed, browbeaten, poisoned?"

Theroux has become waspish, and it is difficult to "travel with" a man who sees himself as a hero for making the trip at all, especially after he refuses to give a half-eaten apple to a hungry child when she begs for it. He makes snide remarks and demeans other writers. He admires Rimbaud, who lived in Ethiopia in the 1880's, he visits Naguib Mahfouz in Egypt, and he spends his sixtieth birthday with Nadine Gordimer, an old friend. But Hemingway ("bent on proving his manhood"), Isak Dinesen ("a sentimental memoirist"), Kuki Gallman (a "mythomaniac of the present day"), and V.S. Naipaul ("an outsider who feels weak") are abruptly dismissed. When he ultimately refers to his own "safari-as-struggle," it is hard not compare his temporary and entirely voluntary "struggle" to those of the African people he meets along the way. "Being in Africa was like being on a dark star," he says. His book reflects this darkness--and his own.Mary Whipple
... Read more

Product Description
This heartfelt and revealing account of Paul Theroux's thirty-year friendship with the legendary V. S. Naipaul is an intimate record of a literary mentorship that traces the growth of both writers' careers and explores the unique effect each had on the other. Built around exotic landscapes, anecdotes that are revealing, humorous, and melancholy, and three decades of mutual history, this is a personal account of how one develops as a writer and how a friendship waxes and wanes between two men who have set themselves on the perilous journey of a writing life.Amazon.com Review
In several of his recent fictions, Paul Theroux has visibly mined his ownexperience for raw material, going so far as to provide the protagonist ofMy Other Life with his own name and curriculum vitae. Now, in SirVidia's Shadow, he casts a cold and cantankerous eye on his friendshipwith V.S. Naipaul. The two first met in Uganda in 1966, when the23-year-old Theroux was teaching at the local university and trying, withonly limited success, to transform himself into a writer. The arrival ofNaipaul--at 34 already a world-class novelist, with A House for Mr. Biswasunder his belt--was a signal event in Theroux's life: "I had been workingin the dark, just groping, until I had met Vidia."

After being squired around Uganda, Kenya, and Rwanda by the author, Naipaulreturned to London. Their correspondence continued, and therelationship--in which Theroux was very much the junior partner andacolyte--deepened. During a holiday visit to London the next year, herealized that their rapport "was as strong as love. He was my friend, hehad shown me what was good in my writing, he had drawn a line throughanything that was false." And indeed, over the next three decades the twoexchanged a steady stream of letters, visits, phone calls, and authorialconfidences. Yet this most productive of literary friendships came to anabrupt end in 1996, when Naipaul--now knighted and recentlyremarried--burned a number of bridges and tossed his relationship withTheroux into the conflagration.

All of which brings us to Sir Vidia's Shadow, a peculiar mixture ofautobiography, Boswellian chronicle, and poison-pen letter. In many ways,it's a fascinating and devilishly skilled performance. For starters,Theroux spent more time in his subject's company than Boswell ever spent inJohnson's, which gives his portrait a widescreen verisimilitude. Hedocuments Naipaul's loony fastidiousness, his passion for language, "thelaughter in his lungs like a loud kind of hydraulics," and the very soundof his typewriter (which, just for the record, goeschick-chick-chick). Theroux also gives a superb sense of how suchliterary apprenticeships can function to the mutual benefit of master anddisciple--and how they can erode. By 1975, after all, Theroux had becomethe bestselling author of The Great Railway Bazaar, while Naipaul remainedan under-remunerated critics' darling. Out of habit, Theroux stayed in theolder man's shadow. Still, as the book progresses, it becomes harder andharder to tell precisely who's got the anxiety and who's got the influence.

It also becomes harder and harder to ignore Theroux's late-breaking animustoward his subject. His goal--stated not only in the book but in varioustailgunning replies to his critics--was to write an accurate account of along, rich friendship. "This narrative is not something that would beimproved by the masks of fiction," he declares. "It needs only to be put inorder. I am free of the constraint of alteration and fictionalizing." Yetevery book has a tendency to break free of the author's intentions, andSir Vidia's Shadow is no exception. For each reverent (andconvincing) passage about his subject, there's another in which Therouxseems to be administering some deeply ambivalent payback. He contrastsNaipaul's sexless misogyny with his own erotic enthusiasm, and his owngenerosity with his hero's miserly behavior (although Naipaul'spenny-pinching and check-dodging can make him strangely endearing--the JackBenny of contemporary letters). At times Theroux seems determined toexplore all seven types of ambiguity, which makes for both deliberate andnot-so-deliberate hilarity. He also sounds uncannily like a spurned lover.And perhaps that residue of expired passion accounts for both thebrilliance of Sir Vidia's Shadow and its disturbing, sometimesqueasy pathos. --James Marcus ... Read more

Customer Reviews (73)

Fraudulent biography
After reading Patrick French's excellent biography of V.S. Naipaul, "The World is What it Is", I decided to read Theroux's book on Naipaul, which French references. French interviewed Theroux for his book, and Theroux admitted that parts of "Sir Vidia's Shadow" were fictionalized, such as the description of a party in London, where in fact many of the people Theroux cites as being present, and many of the conversations, did not really happen, and Theroux's claim that he and Naipaul met Naipaul's second wife Nadira, many years before Naipaul married her, when she was just a child in Kenya. Having cited these two parts as coming from his imagination, there are doubtless other parts of the book which are not true. Theroux is known for misleading readers to think that some of his fiction, such as "My Other Life" and "My Secret History" is in fact autobiographical, so it is no surprise that "Sir Vidia's Shadow" is also part fiction.

Throughout his relationship with Theroux, Naipaul did nothing to hurt or defame Theroux. In fact Theroux admits Naipaul was an inspiration, and was a great help in getting Theroux started as a writer. Aside from his eccentricities, and failure to pick up a couple of dinner checks, Theroux had no issues with Naipaul. It was only when Naipaul started to ignore the pesty Theroux, and ended their relationship in an abrupt meeting on the street, that Theroux seemingly went berserk and decided to write this semi-fictional story.

While it is amusing to observe two crabby prima donnas such as Theroux and Naipaul duke it out, a book which does such a hatchet job on Naipaul, but yet is based on fictionalized untruths, is nothing but a shameless fraud.

Exposure
I love this book because I'm very fond of the writings of both Naipaul and Theroux. Nothing in it surprises me. Theroux is a garrulous, honest writer and there's something slightly frantic about this account of a friendship gone bad.
Theroux, dumped suddenly by Naipaul after a thirty year connection, signally struggles to control his hurt and anger. Both emotions - tinged occasionally with mild spite - surface frequently in a narrative that battles to be merely factual. The facts themselves are entertaining and sometimes touching. In Theroux's typically frank way the book reveals as much (if not more) about Theroux than it does about Naipaul (whose neuroses and perceived foibles have long been the study of critics anyway).Even so the ending - Naipaul's last words to Theroux - ring harshly in the reader's ears as they must have done in Theroux's.
As much as anything it's a book about the writing process itself, about its struggles, both artistic and financial. It is fascinating, outrageous, amusing, sad, gossipy, serious. It also manages to be at once demystifying and mystifying. Above all, it's incredibly brave.

"I had admired his talent. After a while, I admired nothing else [about him]. Finally, I began to wonder about his talent."
What began as a mentoring relationship between established novelist V. S. Naipaul and Paul Theroux, a young writer working on his first novel, went on to endure as a "friendship" for thirty years as both writers traveled the world but remained in touch. They met when Theroux was a young ex-Peace Corp worker teaching in Uganda at the university in Makerere in 1966, and Naipaul, nine years his senior, became "writer-in-residence" there, though Naipaul hated teaching and mocked the writing of his students and the Makerere faculty. He did, however, recognize Theroux's talent, and he did help and encourage him to get his novel published. Theroux, in turn, was an astute reader of Naipaul's work, and both benefited from the relationship, at least at first.

From 1967 - 1977, Theroux published ten successful novels and short story collections, all of which Theroux describes in this book, and all were praised, at least privately, by Naipaul. Somewhat less attention is paid here to the almost equal number of works published by Naipaul, some of which Theroux read and helped proofread. A crusty, critical, and often cruel man, full of contradictions, Naipaul was a difficult "friend," and when he decided that he did not like someone, there was no turning back, no forgiveness for human failings. Theroux managed to navigate that minefield of hostility for thirty years.

In fact, shortly before the first of Naipaul's novels was published in the United States, Theroux (in 1972) wrote an introductory biography and critical assessment of Naipaul's work, full of praise for Naipaul, and helped to create an audience for Naipaul's work in the United States. After this somewhat effusive work was published, however, Theroux refused further interviews or commentary about Naipaul, insisting that "I will never [again] write about Naipaul. He is my friend." That declaration is belied by the publication of this book, the last twenty-percent of which is an uninterrupted excoriation of Naipaul and his second wife at the end of the friendship with Theroux. Here Theroux shows that he is at least as unforgiving as Naipaul, with a mean streak of his own.

In time Theroux would become a literary star with over forty novels and books of non-fiction. Naipaul, a painstaking, often philosophical writer, eventually won the Nobel Prize in 2001, and was knighted. Though this book is fascinating for its picture of the mentoring process and of a friendship which managed to survive despite the pettiness and frequent mean-spiritedness of Naipaul, it is also a portrait of Theroux, who published this book as his own enduring form of payback. n Mary Whipple

In a Free State: A Novel With Two Supporting Narratives, Naipaul's Booker Prize winner
A House for Mr. Biswas, one of Naipaul's most popular works
Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown, recent Theroux travelogue
The Great Railway Bazaar
The Mosquito Coast, one of Theroux's most popular novels.

"I had admired his talent.After a while, I admired nothing else [about him].Finally, I began to wonder about his talent."
What began as a mentoring relationship between established novelist V. S. Naipaul and Paul Theroux, a young writer working on his first novel, went on to endure as a "friendship" for thirty years as both writers traveled the world but remained in touch.They met when Theroux was a young ex-Peace Corp worker teaching in Uganda at the university in Makerere in 1966, and Naipaul, nine years his senior, became "writer-in-residence" there, though Naipaul hated teaching and mocked the writing of his students and the Makerere faculty.He did, however, recognize Theroux's talent, and he did help and encourage him to get his novel published.Theroux, in turn, was an astute reader of Naipaul's work, and both benefited from the relationship, at least at first.

From 1967 - 1977, Theroux published ten successful novels and short story collections, all of which Theroux describes in this book, and all were praised, at least privately, by Naipaul.Somewhat less attention is paid to the almost equal number of works published by Naipaul, some of which Theroux read and helped proofread.A crusty, critical, and often cruel man, full of contradictions, Naipaul was a difficult "friend," and when he decided that he did not like someone, there was no turning back, no forgiveness for human failings. Theroux managed to navigate that minefield of hostility for thirty years.

In fact, shortly before the first of Naipaul's novels was published in the United States, Theroux (in 1972) wrote an introductory biography and critical assessment of Naipaul's work, full of praise for Naipaul, and helped to create an audience for Naipaul's work in the United States.After this somewhat effusive work was published, however, Theroux refused further interviews or commentary about Naipaul, insisting that "I will never [again] write about Naipaul.He is my friend."That declaration is belied by the publication of this book, the last twenty-percent of which is an uninterrupted excoriation of Naipaul and his second wife at the end of the friendship with Theroux.Here Theroux shows that he is at least as unforgiving as Naipaul, with a mean streak of his own.

In time Theroux would become a literary star with over forty novels and books of non-fiction.Naipaul, a painstaking, often philosophical writer, eventually won the Nobel Prize in 2001, and was knighted.Though this book is fascinating for its picture of the mentoring process and of a friendship which managed to survive despite the pettiness and frequent mean-spiritedness of Naipaul, it is also a portrait of Theroux, who published this book as his own enduring form of payback.nMary Whipple

Theroux critiques Nobel Naipaul
This was a catty but readable account of Paul Theroux's relationship with his onetime friend and mentor the Nobel Prize winning writer VS Naipaul. Theroux's at his best when he writes about things African, he's a great critic besides being a great writer, but his crustiness can't mask his love for the great continent and its people, especially its women. After leaving Africa and his African lover and marrying into a proper English family and lifestyle, and losing that to a divorce after a couple of decades, Theroux can't hide his supressed longing for his long lost African woman; in one short passionate passage he stunningly nails the youthful sensuality of their relationship. At the end of the book Sir Vidia's Shadow is a real-life sad but true tale, Theroux's family is breaking up and at that juncturehe needs Naipaul's approval more than Naipual needs his, and he was apparently blindsided by Naipaul's treating him no better than how Naipaul treated all those close to him by Theroux's own account: poorly. By the end of this book Theroux's become the cliche, that great writers are often damaged goods. It's a hard book to put down though, as this is one well written whinge.
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Customer Reviews (1)

SLIM, COFFEE TABLE VOLUME


This slim, coffee table volume of 143 pages and 82 photos offers more than what first glance might suggest.Being interested in Rudyard Kipling and his writings (24 volumes, 1905 editions on my shelves) the mention of Lahore and Simla immediately grabbed my attention.The book, however, offers much more than those cities, especially since the territory of the journey covers not only India, but Pakistan, and Bangladesh as well, or more geographically proper from Pakistan across the top of India to Bangladesh.His intended train trip was from Peshawar southeast to Chittagong, with comments of most stations in between.The opening dialogue reaches 30 pages with photographs and captions taking up the remainder of the book.Beyond this the book also offers several good maps to keep the reader informed as to the areas discussed. The trip began just as the monsoon season was starting with several photographs of flooded areas along the way, with the one shown on pages 136 and 137 being most impressive. Daily life and culture plus comments from people along the way continually enliven the book.

I found my copy at a local Goodwill for pocket change and treasure the book and the information within the book.The photographs are all in color with very good color and dimension.Further the outstanding photographs by Steve McCurry take most of us readers into lands which we are unfamiliar.For any readers interested this book will be something they will no doubt wish to read and view more than once.

Semper Fi. ... Read more

Product Description
Ninety-nine years of colonial rule are ending as the British prepare to hand over Hong Kong to China. For Betty Mullard and her son, Bunt, it doesn't concern them - until the mysterious Mr. Hung from the mainland offers them a large sum for their family business. They refuse, yet fail to realize Mr. Hung is unlike the Chinese they've known: he will accept no refusals. When a young female employee whom Bunt has been dating vanishes, he is forced to make important decisions for the first time in his life - but his good intentions are pitted against the will of Mr. Hung and the threat of the ultimate betrayal.Amazon.com Review
Paul Theroux, whose inveterate globe-trotting marks him as oneof the most restless writers working today, lands us in the Far Eastwith this novel of personal lives swept up in the handover of HongKong from Britain to China. But the end of Colonial rule is perfectlyunwelcome for Neville Mullard and his mother Betty, who run a textilefactory that's been in the family for 50 years, and who have spent alifetime insulating themselves from the Chinese culture that's allaround them. Now, the shadowy and dangerous Mr. Hung wants to buy thebusiness, and he won't take no for an answer--whether or not theMullards want to sell. Theroux, the author of several travel books,has few equals when it comes to the portrayal of exotic cultures, askill that makes this one of the first great novels of the Hong Konghandover of 1997. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (33)

Kowloon Tong
Paul Theroux is a wonderful travel writer; too bad he did not stick to that genre.Kowloon Tong is a poor book--poorly written, poorly plotted--poor characters.The stereotyping of English people living in Hong Kong is almost too much to even talk about.To have lived in Hong Kong for forty years and have the mother character still refer to Chinese as "Chinky-Chongs" is patently absurd.The main character, "Bund" (appropriately named) has the fewest amount of will ever devised in a man/son.His inability to stand up to his mother in anyway makes the characer seem totally unreal.No one is really like this character.He is bullied into selling his property (by his mother); he cannot have any relationship at all without worrying about his mother's feelings; he follows her directions/desires/orders without a whimper.Her response to his losing the woman he supposedly loves, "They all look alike; you can always find another" is just ridiculous.Perhaps I miss the sarcasm, the irony, or whatever high-sounding literary term is that could be applied to this book, but if I had not paid good money for it, I definitely would have chucked it afte the first thirty pages!

Finely Written Novel of the Ambivalencies of Hong Kong
I read this after returning from a trip to Hong Kong where I became fascinated by the contradictions of this beautiful city. Theroux has given us a finely written novel embodying the ambivalencies of the various residents of Hong Kong. Bunt, an Englishman born in Hong Kong, and his crass and racist mother, Betty, are slowly 'forced' by a seeming Chinese businessman into selling their long owned label factory in the year before Hong Kong is to be handed over by the British to the Chinese. Menace builds slowly in this mesmerizing story that is a metaphor for British colonialism in Hong Kong, and Chinese Communism.

Disappointing. This novel has not aged very well.

This book was a real disappointment for me. An OK but not particularly interesting plot, and no proper conclusion at the end. This novel was written in the run-up to the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, and in hindsight seems rather alarmist and off the mark. Its description of Hong Kong bears very little resemblance to the Hong Kong of today, and I doubt that it really describes the Hong Kong of 1997 either. Its perspective is limited to a small sliver of colonial Hong Kong society, British expatriates that refuse to learn anything about the territory, its (mostly) Chinese inhabitants, and their language.

The story centers on Bunt and his mother Betty, who own a stitching factory. Bunt, in particular, was born in Hong Kong, does not know any Cantonese, basically hates anything Chinese (except some of the women), and looks with dread at the coming handover. To be honest, from about page 30 on I was hoping for the handover to come as soon as possible, just to get it over with and give Bunt and Betty their comeuppance. Their adversary, a Chinese named Hung connected to the PLA, may be even worse, but that character somehow seemed much less real than Bunt and Betty to me. Also troubling are the persistent racial stereotypes in the book, and it is not always clear if these are the author's or those of Bunt and Betty.

In summary, a disappointing read. Not completely awful, and clearly the author is a talented writer. But do not expect this book to tell you much about the real Hong Kong. As for Bunt and Betty, good riddance -- Hong Kong is better off without them.

A pre-97 Hong Kong thriller
Set in the year or two just before the British handover, this book really brings back that strange period of a few years when noone knew quite what was going to happen. Would the Chinese move in with their tanks 1 month early just to make a point? Would capitalism in Hong Kong end? Would the progress made under the British be rolled back and the province absorbed into the mother country without trace? Well of course none of that happened (at least not yet).

As usual Theroux's characters are vivid and his style matter-of-fact yet very informative. I would have liked a bit of a happier ending but I guess that just reflects the chances of a happy ending for HK at that time. Also the mainland Chinese are portrayed as somewhat pantomime villains. This work doesn't quite stand out like his travel books but still definitely worth reading.

One of Several Essential Books on Hong Kong for Visitors
This Hong Kong classic is both a great read and a great help for Westerners planning to live in, or visit Hong Kong.I first read it when I lived there in the late 90's, even began reading it on the Star Ferry when it came out in early 1997. Bunt is an old "Hong Kong Belonger", British, lives atop Victoria Peak ("the" address to have), has a factory in the district of Kowloon Tong, and has a pretty easy life thanks to the protection of British rule and law in a region better known for dictatorships.But all that is coming to an end, with Britain handing over Hong Kong to China. The Chinese military bureaucrat Hung arrives to force Bunt to sell the Chinese Army his business - the Red Army wants to start making some cash, and Bunt is bewildered and soft due to his life in the colony and can't cope well.The harshness of Hunt and the fuddy-duddyness of Bunt are well-drawn depictions of actual Hong Kong types.The ending is very Hong Kong.Also very Hong Kong are the myriads of other types depicted here - Chinese, British, American.The Chinese bigot yelling "Gweilo!" Bunt's horrible mother yelling "Chinky-Chonk!"The American trying to buy a new nationality to avoid paying US taxes.Many of the anecdotes and scenes perfectly capture the harsh underbelly of the place which has its origins in the tragic influx of all those millions of Chinese refugees fleeing China to the safety of then-British Hong Kong and the huge insecurities that created.This is a book to read both before you go AND after you've lived there for a year, many of the subtler aspects of the book will be revealed to you.One thing the book the makes no concessions to is the important concept in Chinese culture of "Face" - there is nothing more importatnat than NOT losing face in China, so warts-and-all books like this are not appreciated.But the book is written for any readers who like a good read to contain accuracy of description rather than a tourist bureau spin account.The book was banned in the People's Republic for just this reason (minor shades of Tiannamen Square!)There are also several in-house jokes which will become apparent after you've been in Hong Kong awhile - for example the placing of a factory in the district of Kowloon Tong, a subtle comment on how awful that residential district was to live in - locally reffered to as "exclusive" (this is "face" at work again), it sat under the final landing path of the international airport which was next door!

If you're going to Hong Kong, also consider reading the other *Hong Kong classics* most expats have on their shelves:Jan Morris's *Hong Kong* has loads of information on Hong Kong up to 1997, including an important account of the tragic influx of all those millions of Chinese refugees fleeing China for Hong Kong, how that situation vastly overcrowded the place and made for a pressure-cooker atmosphere, and how even today it is embarressing for Hong Kong Chinese to talk about (again, it causes loss of "face").Great info on the British days, too, and evocative descriptions of the wonderful hill-hiking Hong Kong has to offer (don't miss Plover Cove!).

Bo Yang's *The Ugly Chinaman and the Crisis in Chinese Culture* is a fascinating account by a Taiwanese journalist of the stultifying effect many aspects of Chinese culture has had on the Chinese - especially the worship of the past during imperial times that led to the near-death of critical thinking.The author relates this legacy to many of the unpleasant "underbelly" - side of things in day-today Hong Kong
life - the rude crowds, bad public behaviour, spitting, etc.Though that may sound harsh, it actually helped me to appreciate things Chinese better knowing the tragic origin of these things.I appreciated more the great aspects of China - the poetry of Li Po, the classic novels Story of the Stone, etc - because of Bo Yang's book.Sadly, Bo's book is also banned in China proper.

Timothy Mo's novel *The Monkey King* is a great account of an eccentric Hong Kong Chinese family - I felt I met these people again and again while living there.

National Geographic's video *Hong Kong* is a must see portrait of the real Hong Kong - not some tourist bureau fantasy but a remarkable look into the millions of refugees who escaped to Hong Kong after the Chinese revolution.

The film *China Box*, by a local Hong Kong boy who made it to the West, is essential for potential expats - watch it for the *depiction* of the city, which is perfectly rendered.The story is a little so-so, but if you're going to live there, watch the visuals.This is what Hong Kong looks like.The depiction of the young Chinses refugee (played by Gong Li) being ridiculed for her bad accent buy older, "more established" refugees is harrowingly accurate.

Lastly, check out Austin Coate's classic, *Myself A Mandarin*, a memoir of a colonial judge in the 1950's trying to sort out the culture clashes between British Law and Chinese sensibilities.

If you're going to live in Hong Kong, ALL these books are even more illuminating read a second time after you've lived there a year. ... Read more

Product Description
The journeys of Paul Theroux take place not only in exotic, unexpected places of the world but in the thoughts, reading, and emotions of the writer himself. A gathering of people, places, and ideas in fifty glittering pieces of gold. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Literary Treasure
This 300-page-plus collection of essays is truly a treasure chest.Not a page is devoid of wondrous facts or insights by this chronicler of people, places and things.He takes you to exotic countries (in fact one of his essays is on the very nature of "exotic").He takes you on fascinating journeys, not only in third world outposts but even in the U.S.He introduces you to irrestible people, many famous, many not.He shares with you insights and opinions in a manner that is respectful, not pedantic.I think Theroux is one of our best essayists and his eye for the potpourri that our world encompasses is unerring.Reading Theroux' essays and non-fiction work is always a pleasure.(His novels, however, are another matter, to be discussed at another time....)

essay writing at its best
This is a wonderful collection for fans of Theroux and writers who want to study the craft of essay writing. The range of topics is wide, covering everything from travel (of course) to politics (Nixon) toTarzan-as-expatriate. It's also a great window into Theroux's developmentas a writer as it spans two and a half decades of his career.

I had thepleasure of reading these when I was in the Peace Corps myself, stationedin the Nepal highlands. Thanks for the fun and inspiration, Paul!

A quirky, evocative collection.
Even without taking my copy of this down from the shelf, a mental vision of the cover conjures up brief mnemonic wisps of mental perfume: sailing onCape Cod, his memories of Africa, the tale of the unironed shirt and theburrowing mites, the essay on extended family that has always made mewistful for the experience or at least envious to have a doctor and lawyeravailable for free consultations. Influential stuff from a more or lessacerbic personality. ... Read more

Product Description
In this wickedly satiric romp, Paul Theroux captures the essence of Hawaii as it has never been depicted. The novel's narrator, a down-on-his-luck writer, escapes to Waikiki and soon finds himself the manager of the Hotel Honolulu, a low-rent establishment a few blocks off the beach. Honeymooners, vacationers, wanderers, mythomaniacs, soldiers, and families all check in to the hotel. Like the Canterbury pilgrims, every guest has come in search of something -- sun, love, happiness, objects of unnameable longing -- and everyone has a story. By turns hilarious, ribald, tender, and tragic, HOTEL HONOLULU offers a unique glimpse of the psychological landscape of an American paradise. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (52)

Trouble in Paradise
This is a fascinating and entertaining look at the life in Hawaii from the perspective of its local and long-time residents. It presents a much more seedy and sometimes downright unappealing picture of this well known tourist destination that prides itself on its sunny days, beautiful beaches and happy, wholesome natives. "Hotel Honolulu" presents a very different take on what goes on behind the scenes. It is a story of an unnamed novelist who settles in Honolulu and starts working as a hotel manager. He encounters many colorful characters and gets a behind-the-scenes look at what sort of things are really transpiring in this tropical paradise.

As someone who has lived in Hawaii for a brief period during the timeframe in which this novel is set, I was very familiar with some of the themes that this novel touches upon - the use of a "pidgin" English by the natives which makes their conversations almost inscrutable to the outsiders, the very strong sense of distinctness of the "locals" from the visitors, and many not so savory activities that transpire on a daily basis. Paul Theroux masterfully captures the flavor of these local idiosyncrasies and I felt almost able to hear the voices of his many characters. It is hard to imagine that this book is entirely a work of fiction - quite probably most of the events described here have a very strong basis in reality.

One of the problems that I have with the book is that, despite the subtitle, it is really not a novel. It consists mostly of many unrelated incidents that are loosely connected through a few main characters. The style of writing borders on journalistic, and although entertaining in its own right no overarching "theme" or the "point" of the book emerges in the end.

Another problem that I had is that almost every single story in the book has some kind of sexual indiscretion at its root. I am no prude, but after a while reading about yet another peculiar sexual incident involving random strangers becomes a bit of a bore. I feel that in his eagerness to dismantle the image of Hawaii as a pristine and wholesome vacation spot Theroux has gone to the opposite extreme. Hawaii is no stranger to scandal, but the vast majority of the Hawaiians that I had met are fairly level-headed and oftentimes deeply religious folks who have a very strong sense of personal morality. I wish that Theroux had incorporated more of those people in his book, as it would have given a much more authentic view of what real Hawaii is all about.

One book, 1001 stories..
One of Theroux's more colorful, creative, funny and comedic works.His genius for human behavior observation never loses its edge, and his characters always seem to remind us of similar people we have known or are familiar to us. this book is full of them, and their stories.absolutely loved it.

The Anti-Michener
If you're headed for Hawaii and you've got James Michener's "Hawaii," in your carry-on, be sure to pack this book, too. "Hotel Honolulu" most resembles the first part of the Michener, where various seeds, animals, and, eventually, humans stumble onto the Hawaiian islands by wind and water and settle down to stay. And there the comparison ends. The humans who drift into Honolulu in Theroux's wry and funny novel generally arrive by plane, generally as tourists. Some of them stay on, and it's the interactions between these characters (including the narrator) and the locals (who drifted in some time ago).

As you'd learn from reading Michener, a species that spends epochs in isolation on an island will evolve---hence the distinctive flora and fauna of the islands. The humans in Hotel Honolulu have evolved a whole lost faster, either because their deep eccentricities brought them to Hawaii in the first place or because something about living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean brings out character traits best hidden when living on the mainland (Asia or the U.S.). The narrator, a Theroux-persona, resembles the writer in some details, like his friendship with the late Leon Edel, the biographer of Henry James. However, it's the tone that is most Theroux-like---it's the same keenly observant, sometimes cynical, sometimes amused voice of his travel narratives, like "The Great Railway Express."

So slip this novel in your bag next to the Michener, for which it is a fine and funny opposite number. When you hit the tourist-choked streets of Waikiki, it will help you look past the glittering shorefronts of Prada and Chanel.
M. Feldman

goodread
This is the best work I've read by Theroux.Perhaps because it is a series of short stories tied together.I could use a little less of the degenerate Buddy and his Filipino in-laws but one cannnot have everything. I don't know if he fairly represents Hawaii here and I don't care.I only care that the writing is often elegant and subtle, Jamesian (those of you who read the book will understand what I mean) in a modern setting.Anyway, read it.

Paradise Lost...and perhaps Regained
Paul Theroux is worthy of my homage to Milton. In his Hotel Honolulu, nothing or no one is as simple at they seem to be initially. This novel, with no plot whatsoever, offers layers of complexity and keen, penetrating observations of people and Hawaiian society in general. Sex, carpentry, and death are mysteriously intertwined here. This novel, an unconventional exploration of relationships and psychology, is at turns bawdy, hilarious, and jaw-droppingly astonishing. Theroux is unsentimental, yet tender and touching as well.

I recommend this work; comparisons with the Decameron and the Canterbury Tales are more accurate than I assumed prior to reading it. Unabashedly sexual, it is not for juvenile readers. As for the format, I was not put off by it, yet it is unconventional. I'm subtracting one star for the pidgin English. I was mildly annoyed by it, but the author, a part-time islander, no doubt rooted it in realism. It was abstruse for me.Also, he displays a surprising childish jealousy of Stephen King. The JFK thread almost compensates for this, though. It is genius and truly funny.One final quote sums up the author's attitude toward Hawaii: "the only place that can truly be hell is one that was once paradise... that's what makes Whyans so sad."
... Read more

Product Description
Brilliantly written, erotically charged, My Secret History is Paul Theroux's tour de force. It is the story of Andre Parent, a writer, a world traveller, a lover of every kind of woman he chances to meet in a life as varied as a man can lead.

It begins with his days as a Massachusetts altar boy, when his first furtive sexual encounter introduces him to the thrills of leading a double life. As a teenaged lifeguard, Andre finds himself caught between the attentions of a beautiful young student and an amorous older woman. Soon he is in Africa, where the local women are numerous, easy, and free. And as the boy becomes a man he turns his attention to writing, which brings him fame, and a wife, who may finally cause him to know himself.

But not before he sets up his most dangerous secret life, one that any man might envy, but that could cost Andre Parent the delicate balance that makes him who he is. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Great Book and Probably Overlooked
Until now, I only read Theroux's famous travel books.The last one about his rail trip from Germany into Turkey and on and on to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Vietnam, Japan, and other places too wild to be imagined.I like to travel, so reading the tales of this intrepid traveler always is interesting, especially because I definitely do not want to travel like he does. Nowadays it would be too dangerous, but even in Theroux's travel times it was bad and dicey.

OK, this book is not another travel book. Whether or not it is a true biography, I have no idea.Some people lately have decided that an autobiography can be semi-fictional.I don't know about that. To me, I will have to accept this as a novel, since no other claim is made.

Nevertheless, it is a real interesting novel and this is coming from someone who reads almost nothing except non-fiction. Once in a long while I will pick up a fiction book and in this case did only because the author is Theroux.

Maybe it is an autobiography since he does reveal fascinating aspects of somebody's life, including extensive sexual escapades and wife beating, as well as adultery.Notsomething a person normally will put in their autobiography.

The book is divided into separate chronological periods in the author's life, each quite different than the other, but all held together by a fascinating life.Since at the end the author becomes a travel writer, traveling on trains around the world, one can only supplse it could be the author, but I think not.At least, Thoroux is not as bad a character as this one.

He often points out that, as in the title, this is his "secret history" or secret life, kept away from anyone else and only those with secret lives will understand what that is all about.

Could be; there are many people both well-know and not known beyond their home, who do lead a secret life.

Try to buy or borrow the book and enjoy some fun reading for a good long time.As I recall the book is nearly 500 pages in hard cover.

My Favorite Theroux Fiction
One of, if not the best, novels by P.T. It is my personal favorite. Add a star if you grew up catholic in the northeast or mid Atlantic states.

Superb
I have had this book for many years and have read and reread it a number of times. To me it is superb, if rather disturbing, and is one of my favorite novels of all time. (You can see other reviews here for a plot synopsis, so I will skip that.)

One thing none of the other reviewers have picked up on is the humour in this book. Some of the scenes are achingly funny in a tragic way, for example Christmas Day with the girlfriend's family in Walton-upon-Thames, a suburb of London, or the character sketches of some of the teachers at the school in Nyasaland, or the failed seduction by an older woman.

I think some of the negative reviews here may be reacting to the sexual frankness of the narrative.

Anyway, highly recommended by me.

If you like Paul Auster, Graham Greene or Phillip Roth you'll love this book!
I came late to Paul Theroux.I'd been aware of his travel books (never read them) but assumed a good travel writer does not make a good fiction writer - boy, was I wrong.So, one evening, while browsing the used book store for something to read I picked up "My Secret History."I opened it and read the first paragraph and was intriqued enough to purchase it. Once I got it home I couldn't put it down. "My Secret History" is five extraodinary books seperated into six chapters, the last being the weakest.I went from loving this book to hating it-specifically the main character, for his contradictions and selfishness. Then it(or the author) would redeem itself for it's honesty.Bukowski said to be a great writer one has to expose every miserable and disgusting thing because if you don't the reader will know you're a fake.And Harry Crews also had a similar take when he said you have to put on paper the secrets that make you cringe and embarrassed.Well, Mr. Theroux exposes his racism, arrogance, mysogyny but does so honestly, like few other writers can and in doing so; he's crafted a readable and subtle piece of autobiography disguised as fiction.
The first chapter deals with the books protagonist- Andre Parente's troubled adolescence growing up in the shadow of the Catholic church and trying to be a good and responsible altar boy.Even while slowly waking up to the realization that his church isn't about religion as much as it is about conformity and guilt.After seeing his favorite priest treated shabbily and cruely Andy becomes lost and bewildered.Anyone who's grown up under the heavy hand of religion or authority will instanly relate to this young boys turmoil.Once his faith is lost and his eyes open up to the real world, Andy is left bewildered and angry.
The next chapter picks up with Andy looking for a job as a lifeguard during his summer break from college.He lands a job at a country club where he can barely hide his contempt for it's members.But he soldiers on because he's desperate for the good wages.This part of the book so expertly conveys the alienation and anger that is inherent at this age that it's really comforting to know that someone else felt the same alienation we may have felt at this age.Paul Theroux writes his own "The Catcher in the Rye" in this chapter so well that when the next chapter switches gear and tells of Andy as 21 year oldteaching in Africa, its a bit jarring.
This chapter of Andy's life takes place during the 70's with England giving Malawai it's independence.Andy is headmaster at a small school in this tiny country in Africa teaching poor children. He thinks of himself as the great white savior.While at the same time he leads a secret life of a sexual deviant bedding as many Afican woman as possible.There are so many contradictions here and a growing dislike for Andy as a person that I wanted to strangle him and throw the book threw a window. But it'd be a shame if I did because this is where Mr. Theroux really shines.He writes Andy's story so convincingly that the reader takes on the mentallity of Andy in thinking that he is superior in his morals and judgements the same way Andy thinks he's superior to everyone around him in Africa. Only a procould write something so subtle a turnaround as this.It really reminded me of Graham Greenes style of illustrating the ambiguity of the human condition.
The final chapters find Andy traveling India, living in England and coming to the realization that he's no not so perfect.I'd go into more detail but I wanna leave some mystery to this book which conveys the arrogance of man through the microcosm of one person's life. There are books just for entetainment and then there are books like "My Secret History" that leave me feeling like I learned something about myself.

Traveling the Inner Landscape
Paul Theroux is best known for his bestselling nonfiction tomes about travel around the world, be that China, England, or the South Pacific. This book, however, is a thinly veiled novel about the author's dangerous secret life...a tale of two women (one his wife, one his mistress). There is some exotic setting (Africa) and some sexually charged scenes. It lays bare the writer's own flaws as a man and his release as a writer (which to him feels like "home").

What I found most interesting in the book, however, was the way in which the main character (Andy Parent, a name with a Freudian reference?) helps the reader understand and appreciate each woman for her own unique character and what she has to offer the main character. It's a story that perfectly captures why men don't leave their wives when they have an affair. The writing here is top notch as usual, but the subject matter explores a different country altogether.

Although some may find this a strange departure from Theroux's normal fare, it also demonstrates the depth of his writing chops. His skill as a writer can be applied to any genre. That he has chosen to reveal much of his own inner landscape is a special gift to his longtime fans. While Theroux's readers may favor his lifetime's work on traveling the globe, this portrait of his inner journey can be just as interesting. ... Read more

Product Description
The popular author of The Great Railway Bazaar and other travelogues traces a modern version of the Grand Tour of Europe--a lively, sometimes violent journey around the shores of the Mediterranean.Amazon.com Review
Paul Theroux has developed one of travel writing's mostidentifiable styles: always the foreigner, always a bit apart,slightly irascible, but perfectly observant.At last he has ventured to one of the most traveled places on earth, and returned with his most exhilarating, revealing, and eloquent travel book.In thismodern version of the Grand Tour, Theroux sets off from Gibraltar, one of the fabled Pillars of Hercules, on a gloriousjourney around the shores of theMediterranean. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (45)

The bigoted traveler
I read this book cover to cover, so that I could just allow myself to write this review. Traveling is meant to widen one's understanding of the world. Travel-writing is meant to share and contextualize these experiences for the reader. The author fails on both accounts. Despite (or perhaps because of) the luxurious mode of his traveling, he does not seem to enjoy himself. He lacks empathy for the people he meets and the countries in which he travels. Moreover, he has not done his homework when it comes to the histories of these peoples. Characterizing him as insular, scornful and arrogant would be too kind for Mr. Theroux. He is an unabashed bigot.

Entertaining but sloppy
Being a big fan of travel writing in general and Paul Theroux in particular, I have read most of his books. "The Pillars of Hercules" is beyond doubt one of his most entertaining, erudite and readable. In this work, Theroux travels around the Mediterranean coast, attempting to go from one Pillar of Hercules, Gibraltar, to the other end without ever going by airplane (as is his usual rule). He does this in two sections - first a trip from Gibraltar through Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Albania to Corfu; and half a year later he then resumes his trip with a free cruise trip through the eastern part, finishing off in Morocco. The only nations he does not visit are Montenegro, Libya and Algeria, for security reasons. As usual with Theroux, along the way he perfectly describes a great number of interesting and curious people he meets, whether locals or fellow travellers, and he provides the sardonic commentary on the countries and events his readers have come to expect from him.

The book is full of allusion to other novelists on the region. Theroux clearly took a sizable pile of books about and from the Mediterranean with him, and this gives the trip an interesting literary character. Combine this with the much more overall optimistic tone he employs at the beginning of the book and his apologies for his negative approach to his trips, probably following on the somewhat critical reception his "The Happy Islands of Oceania" received because he was so unpleasant there, and the reader expects a rather uplifting romp through sunny lands. One is quickly disabused of this notion, however. Over time, Theroux falls back into his old pattern, but worse than usual. Normally, the fun of Theroux's writings is that he is cynical and critical, but nonetheless an excellent observer and considers carefully what the surface appearance of the places he visits really means. In this book he disappointingly fails in that regard. He seems to have more sympathy for a bunch of rich white do-nothings on a cruise ship than for the local population in the countries he travels through, perhaps influenced by the cruise company's decision to give him free berth in exchange for writing. His remarks upon the state of modern Greece in particular, but to a lesser extent also Slovenia and Egypt, are simply ignorant and pointless whining from an American who can't be bothered to be interested in what he sees.

Theroux can be witty and insightful when he really tries, as his passages on Italy, Turkey and Syria show, but when he gets bored he really becomes quite insufferable even to a fan like me. What makes this worse is not just the fact Theroux travels a lot to historical sightseeing type places, which he professes to dislike, making one wonder why he does so in the first place - but that he in fact goes so far as to make claims like "the Greeks were not Greek, but the descendants of Slavs and Albanian fishermen" is a sort of preposterous 19th century racist pseudo-anthropology. He pretends falsely that the Greek population supported the Colonels' regime, that they merely waste EU regional support funds in contrast to Italy (when in fact Greek living standards have risen as a result, and Italy is not remotely less corrupt than Greece is), and his ranting against the Greek attempts to preserve their monuments from abusive and disrespectful treatment by hordes of tourists makes him seem the worst stereotype of American travellers. He owes both the Greeks and the reader an apology there, and much the same can be said of his treatment of the Slovenes.

That being said, when he really tries in this book he truly is at his best. The book is informative, varied, interesting and well-written as always. His slightly mocking but not hostile descriptions of the individuals along his path are fantastic, and in particular the section of his trip dealing with Turkey (which justifiedly comes off much more civilized than in general Western perception) and Syria are enormously worth reading. This book would be a good one to read before continuing on to his "Dark Star Safari", which sets out from Egypt.

Another PC ivory tower elitist
Page 95 The author writes of while speaking with Marseilles policemen of local crime " We have one big problem here, Arabs, Arabs,Arabs and Arabs..they are the cause of all the trouble..be very careful" "The French are entirely frank in discussing their racism" ( he again and again calls the policemen racists) it is not unusual that such an author lives both in Cape Cod and in Hawaii
what is the crime rate in these places like from Blacks and Mexicans
"0" while these plolicemen must protect the French public from criminals. The point is here you have a wealth, highly educated American author who live in Cape Cod and Hawaii calling people racists because they told him the truth. If the Auhtoer were in the New Orleans (Murder capital of the USA) and he observed the police statistics that 90%+ of homocieds were commited by African Americans in New Orleans would the author insist that the statistics are "racists" or is it that he can not except the imperical fact? It is this kind of snobbish, high brow, ivory tower intelectual political correctness that is an absolute insult to anyone who doesnt have the waelth or privledge to live in both Capr Cod and Hawaii..I think the Author needs to go practice his political correctness in Miami's "Librety City" Chicago's "Cabrini Greens" Detriot, New Orelans and he well see what happens to Ivy league pink argyle sweater wearing elite anglos like him..if he can still write after..banndering words like Racist around at anyone who tells the truth.

not really interesting
as much as I wanted to enjoy this, I could not- Theroux comes across as arrogant and prolix- purports to travel as a "traveller" but winds up being nothing but an educated tourist who never ventures further than the superficial layer of things... well-written but it gets lost in tedious and unnecessary sardonic commentary and details that add little to the narrative: I was expecting better...

Pilllars of Hercules
In August my husband, and I are re-visiting the area mentioned in this book. The historical background included in this journal is most helpful to us amature history buff. ... Read more