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Title: Fresh Air Fiend : Travel Writings by Paul Theroux ISBN: 0-618-12693-7 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.39 (18 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Paul Theroux Fiend
Comment: Paul Theroux has long been noted for his alleged crankiness, his opinionated and occasionally slightly sour observations, both in his travel literature and his fiction. I disagree, and here's why: he repeatedly tells the reader the premises upon which he bases his writing, being that he is not interested in merely explaining the hill or river ahead, but the millionaire next to him who is busy displaying his ignorance to anyone who will listen, or the comments of the oarsman who guides Theroux to the next isle in the South Pacific. These people are far more memorable, and speak with true universality to the human condition thru Theroux's wonderful, trained ear for language. Therefore, reading Theroux is like being introduced to unique individuals on a global scale without leaving your room. Am I likely to get to Guam in this lifetime? No. Do I have a richer feel for the people and the environs of the South Pacific having read Fresh Air Fiend, and the Friendly Isles, you betcha! And you will also!
Rating: 5
Summary: Christopher McKee
Comment: If anyone requires an introduction to Theroux's work, this book is it, combining the best elements from his works of fiction and non-fiction. Theroux is perhaps one of the few writers in the US who offers something that is interesting to his readers, as opposed to oftentimes mundane or pedestrian observations that most of us have arrived at already or would under similar circumstances.
For one thing Theroux is particularly good at stripping away the pretentions of the English lower-middle class. (He does this with many classes, but this one seems to be the victim more often than others) Take , for example, his note on on life in the inner suburbs of London: 'the secrets,the hurts, the whispers, the stifled lust...the savagery of the workplace; the eternally twitching curtains.' If anybody has spent time in this area, or have been inflicted by the presence of those with similar roots, I suspect he/she will find more than enough satisfaction in knowing that others are on the same page, as it were.
Almost all of the chapters in this collection are worth reading, and some several times over. Try "Parasites I Have Known," and his views on other writers, from Chatwin to Simpson.
All and all, a good read, and Fresh Air Fiend should be a nice introduction to other Theroux pieces.
Rating: 5
Summary: Dislocation
Comment: I'm from the Philippines, but have lived the last 20 years in California. I am a voracious reader and can tell you that there is no other living writer-- with the exception, perhaps, of V.S. Naipaul-- who captures my sense of dislocation better than Paul Theroux. I was incredibly moved by this book. His article on Palawan, in the Philippines, shows tenderness. I do not find him "grumpy"-- I find him true. Even when he quotes a Filipino about eating dogs (such a stereotype!) I found the anecdote, the way it was written, completely hilarious. He has a great sense of comic timing. The one thing I would disagree with him on: he dismisses Manuel Elizalde ("discoverer" of the Tasaday tribe) as a man suffering from delusions of grandeur. This may be true, but Elizalde was also genuinely interested in preserving the Tasaday environment from loggers. We have to give him some credit for doing that.
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Title: Sunrise with Seamonsters by Paul Theroux ISBN: 0395415012 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 08 May, 1986 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: To the Ends of the Earth by Paul Theroux ISBN: 0804111227 Publisher: Ivy Books Pub. Date: 02 April, 1994 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Dark Star Safari : Overland from Cairo to Cape Town by Paul Theroux ISBN: 0618134247 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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Title: Happy Isles of Oceania : Paddling the Pacific by Paul Theroux ISBN: 0449908585 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 19 October, 1993 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Sir Vidia's Shadow: A Friendship Across Five Continents by Paul Theroux ISBN: 0618001999 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 08 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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