Customer Reviews (10)

Portrait of America after 20 years of Bush?
Theroux often bends genre's, such as with his My Secret History which he refused to label fiction or non-fiction.(Plausibly deniable non-fiction?)

But Theroux is a well traveled guy and has been through Africa's most treacherous bureaucracies as few other men have dared. See Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown.

In the O-Zone he writes a what appears to be a Sci-fi novel that is actually a sarcastic extrapolation of present political trends towards a truly unique anti-utopia too bitter to ever be made a movie.(His comparatively light hearted Mosquito Coast was successfully adapted to the silver screen, enjoyable only if you had read the book.)

The O-Zone features a class of overlords called "Taxpayers" flying around in armored helicopters fighting off the welfare classes in the Reclamation Corps. The architectural novelty of the book is what brings it to mind-- giant asphalt pyramid artificial mountains have been constructed ostensibly to collect rain water. (But in reality as corporate welfare.)Theroux paints a picture of America with an efficient kleptocracy such as you find in the non-developing nations.As if we had 20 years of Bush and the ethics of "Greed is Good, Corruption is Opportunity" ran their course.

I rarely reread books these days, but this one is worth it.It says so much about how kleptocracy works and where we are headed if we don't guard our democracy from the evils of "Decidership".

Theroux shows real future
This book is good.It made me think better of Theroux whose train travel books I have read.This book took a lot of creative talent and intelligence.The 15 year old nerd Fizzy is particularly well done. He is a character you will never forget.The science fiction part was quite well done.And the cynical humor of the whole thing is unsurpassed. This deserves 5 stars.

Haunting and Imaginative
I've never read any other books by Paul Theroux, who seems to get compared to Updike a lot, but I've enjoyed his longform journalism and he is as good at writing dystopian, near-future sci-fi as anyone I've run across. The book captures a society ruled by xenophobia perfectly, as well as the viciousness of people to whom mob mentality is a sort of hobby. The small cultural/sartorial/technological details of the book are mostly pretty good, with ideas that are often believable (e.g., women go to brothels where the masked sperm donors have sex with them, and people can sort of accept this because it's done for the sake of having super-smart children). The contrasts between the isolated, tiered cities and the stone-age countryside is done skillfully and unnervingly, and the sense of dread the city dwellers seem to have when out of their cities is conveyed with genuine tension. Life among the "aliens" in the O-Zone as a flipside shows people that are as complex and multifaceted as anyone, not simply played off as noble savages or outlaws. The characters, from a murderous posse member, to a stern tribal leader, to a precocious social misfit, to a wealthy business and the teenage "alien" whom he becomes infatuated with and abducts,are all believable; Theroux doesn't show us people at their best, but rather driven by familiar and often conflicting urges and traits. Dialogue is fairly bizarre but works within the book's social context and is handled well, with offhand remarks and observations often being intensely insightful. A very good book if you don't mind it being a total freakin' downer and have any interest in near-future sci-fi.

Excellent drama against a sci-fi backdrop
O-Zone is a rather unusual book for Paul Theroux, a drama in a futuristic setting rather than the contemporary setting of his other novels. Reading O-Zone brings to mind Huxley's Brave New World, both for the portrayal of the world in which it is set, and for the inevitible comparison with another noted novelist who wrote a single book set in a futuristic world.

I've noticed that Sci-Fi fans as a group don't much care for O-Zone, as it violates a lot of the accepted rules of the genre- as does Brave New World, for that matter, and Huxley has never been that popular with hard core SciFi readers either. Both booksuse the future world as a setting to explore relationships between people, and to make certain plot developments possible, but neither gets into much detail regarding the technology.

Like Brave New World, O-Zone explores the alienation of modern man in this world of the future, and the consequant attraction to the primative and atavistic world that is found on the reservation (Huxley) or in the contaminated lands of the O-Zone. And in both books, some of the protagonists go in search of amusement and entertainment from the primatives, but find something disturbingly similar to themselves.

Despite the strong parallels, O-Zone owes nothing in the way of plot of development to Brave New World. The story is as originalas anything Theroux's written, the characters are fully developed and well motivated, and the story compelling.

Tour de Force
It is hard to say why this novel so affected me.True, it is sci-fi and it has a tremendous plot that winds back on itself, the characters are some of the quirkiest and most interesting in literature...maybe it is a combination of all these elements.

One pet peeve I have with futurists is their depiction of the Earth as an environmental disaster as hordes of free-roaming sub-humans terrify the countryside.YET, scientific progress seems to continue unabated.That aside, this tale is a gem!! From the genius teenager to the searching mom to the innocent gal - from locale to locale - Theroux has assembled a cast and story that resonates long after one finished the last words.

Innocence in all its many forms is an underlying theme with almost every major character - from the mom to the son to the roamers to the gal and even to the long lost (?) male donor - involved in some type of sudden awarenenss that the world is not as benign as they once thought.The coming of age of the young teenager is perfect in its perplexity and complexity.

Get this book and lock the door!! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An unguided missile (female, US) hits London
Paul Theroux(PT) has written some three dozen travel books and novels situated in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. A number of his works have been televised; The Mosquito Coast, situated in Honduras, was made into a popular movie. He moves easily between fiction and controlled autobiography. His one foray into science fiction (O-Zone), written for his children, was quite rewarding. He has published two biographies of V.S. Naipaul, one admiring, the other scathing, 30 years apart (I own both!).
Doctor Slaughter is an unforgettable tale about ambition, disorientation, penury, lust and betrayal in London, featuring a new American, PhD-holding female fellow of a British think tank, who soon embarks on a double life.There are many angles: poor living conditions and pay scales in London, the UK's pretension to play a role in a world that has slipped from its grasp; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And Lauren Slaughter's own psychological profile, which is quite alarming after reading the first two dozen pages...
The novella was made into a well-received movie called Half Moon Street, starring Sigourney Weaver and Michael Caine.
I consider this brief work one of PT's best achievements. It is a riveting tale and once begun, most readers will read on until it is finished. The 145 pages in fairly large print make this quite feasible. This is a slim stand-alone masterpiece. Publishers should make it available again as such. Why? It has not aged, has no PC-induced flab, and its message is as acute as it was on the date of publication (1984). And it makes a perfect small surprise present to thinking people.
As a stand-alone work it has been published as Doctor Slaughter and as Half Moon Street. It is available mostly second hand, with prices starting at EUR 0,01 and USD 0,01. Shame, shame, shame. It is also included in a collection of PT's short novels published in 2006.
A neat, concise, terrifying story.

A very original concoction
This is the unlikely story of a young female Ph. D. who, upon finding that she isn't makeing enough money to live the life she would like to, becomes a high price call girl at night. She takes this step rather matter offactly and there seems to be little or no squeamishness expressed at such acareer move. After all, her clients are men of quality - business andgovernment officials who are polite and can afford to pay. Her onlycomplaint has to do with the kind of intercourse many of her clients want(I will leave the specifics to other readers to discover). The complicationin the story occurs when a high government official becomes one of herregular clients and they develop a real fondness for one another. Furthercomplications come from a regular Arab customer who intends to use Dr.Slaughter's relationship with the government official as a way of settingup his assassination.

For those who have seen the movie 'Half MoonStreet' on which this book is based, the two are quite different. The bookis better; the characters are more real and the overall emotional impact ofthe book is move satisfying. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a collection of the author's choice of his own best travel writing, harvested from half a dozen books. He has chosen his favourite people, his most vivid journeys, the landscapes and meals and narrow escapes that he treasures, some splendours and some miseries. ... Read more

Product Description
A volume of stories, featuring: "Sinning With Annie"; "World's End"; "The Consul's File"; and "The London Embassy". The author's canvas stretches from London to South-East Asia, Boston to Paris and Africa to Eastern Europe, and the characters include colonials, children and students. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Around the world and the human psyche
From troubled marriages ("World's End," "You Make Me Mad") and families ("After the War"), from Africa to Malaysia to London, The Collected Stories by Paul Theroux covers a lot of physical, political, social, and emotional territory. Whether he is writing about the past, present, or future ("Warm Dogs") or as the first-person or omniscient narrator, Theroux describes places, people, and events colorfully yet coolly, as though as a writer he is not part of the world or life portrayed.

Parts I, II, and III are mostly discrete, unrelated stories covering a wide range of places, people, and themes. Unhappy marriages and relationships, also found in Parts IV and V, are the topic of many Theroux stories. "World's End" begins with, "Robarge was a happy man . . ." and ends with, ". . . he knew now they were all lost," with a subtle revelation of disloyalty and the realization of distrust in between. In "A Political Romance," love and life come full circle; bloom, discontent and stagnation (". . . in thirty years he would be--this hurt him--the same man, if not a paler version"), and renewal ("Lepska, I love you"). "What Have You Done to Our Leo?" uncovers a woman's perfidy and a man's naivete, assumptions, and developing understanding ("Her laughter was coarse, that stranger's laugh that fitted the new image that Leo had of her."). A rarity in fiction, the older couple of "You Make Me Mad" knows each other too well, yet clearly not well enough. "Sinning with Annie" takes a quirky look at an arranged marriage between two children from the perspective of the adult, prudishly westernized husband. "Words Are Deeds" starts with what appears to be a potentially exciting and risky erotic adventure that resolves quickly into bitter reality ("I hate that tie").

Set in the recent past, "The Imperial Icehouse" is an agonizing story about time that evokes its slow movement along with its decisive moments. "The sounds of the horses chewing, the dripping of the wagon in the heat; it was regular, like time leaking away" ties the preceding procession of the melting ice to the denouement, when "Mr. Hand raised his whip and rushed at John Paul . . . The ice was not larger than a man, and bleeding in the same way." In "After the War," the teenaged stranger masters the master of the house, opening the door for the man's unhappy family; " . . . the child . . . without warning arched his back in instinctive struggle and tried to get free of the hard arms which held him"--perhaps an allegory for what happened to colonial nations after the war. In the future of "Warm Dogs," a couple finds that is the children who possess them.

The stories in Parts IV and V are narrated by a fictional career Foreign Service officer who serves in Ayer Hitam, a backwater Malaysian village, and then London. A memorable exception is "Fury," the story of an expatriate American woman in which the narrator does not appear until after the shocking if not surprising climax.

These stories reveal Theroux's skill as a storyteller. They are recounted so vividly and objectively that they seem to be memoir, not fiction. The reader feels both the narrator's fascination and boredom with his surroundings and acquaintances and senses his emotional detachment and occasional rebelliousness. In particular, small and remote as it is, Ayer Hitam becomes a bottomless well of characters and stories, from the somewhat senile Sultan, the proud Japanese businessman who turns hatred to his advantage, the shaman who commands the tiger, and the anthropologist who gets too close to her subject to the feverish American who sees the ghosts of a local man's relatives. The narrator indulges in a few stories about his own lovers, but these are among the weakest tales. In these stories, Theroux is at his best when the voice he uses is most detached from the characters and their stories and at his weakest when his narrator loses his detachment by associating himself too closely with the group. For example, when he writes, "We rather disliked children; we had none of our own," his narrator loses the outsider status that gives these stories their believability, interest, and even poignancy. At times, however, this objective perspective is too observational and cold, for example, "She saw me and sat forward to let me kiss her, and she lingered a fraction as if posing a question with that pressure." The narrator's point of view is that of a raconteur rather than that of the person experiencing people and events; he writes about what he observed, not about what he felt or feels. Even during his erotic encounters, the narrator is ever the Foreign Service official, ready to observe and report.

As with any short story anthology, some of The Collected Stories are haunting and memorable, while others are almost instantly forgettable. Generally, I prefer the earlier stories to Diplomatic Relations (i): The Consul's File and Diplomatic Relations (ii): The London Embassy because they are less constrained, more inventive, and yet more real. While not a great short story writer like John Cheever, Paul Theroux is certainly a master storyteller who conceives stories worth telling.

All over the map, and worth the trip
I picked up The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux years ago, and it was the first book I read by which I judged the movie by the book.Through the years came other books, most notably The Old Patagonian Express, which ends where I live, in Argentina.The discussion of Theroux's time with the indomitable Jorge Borgesalone was worth the price of the book. When I recently saw Collected Stories at the yearly Buenos Aires Book Fair I quickly picked it up, happily returning to all things Theroux for awhile.
Collected Stories takes us from Malaysia, to Africa, to London, and gives glimpses, almost photo like, of the lives of people Therouxknew, or invented, along the way.So convincing were his embassy stories that I looked up his biography online to see if he actually worked in one.Theroux is often the narrator of his tales, starts strong with a number of good first lines, and to me writes convincingly when his character is a woman. Although the stories vary in quality, the collection shows a master storyteller. The book contains many, many stories, yet for me a general theme stands out.
As I read the book, I began noting the different topics discussed. Theroux deals with affairs, a drinking problem, murder, deceitful friendships, leaving a spouse, deception, a loss of hope, and a resignation of what life has become for the characters.Though not every story was a downer, a human resignation, an inability to resolve life's problems, resonated throughout the book, and I found myself hoping for something nice to happen...to somebody.As well, Theroux has the ability to make interesting the lives of characters whose international lives are really not that interesting.While reading the story The Exile, I came across " ...his reading was vigorous and gave life to what seemed to be little more than spidery monologues about his domestic affairs...";to me, that line might summarize some of the stories.As I kept reading, I found myself at times doing so because I was committed to finishing the book, rather than being gripped by what I was reading.
I was struck by the final stories, which deal with the courtship, love and marriage of Flora Doming-Duncan and Spencer Monroe Savage.So happy, so content, so growing-together was the couple that I was left with a good feeling and wanted to wish them well as they began a life together and as I closed the book.Yet, following all that I read, the sadness, unrequited hopes and human resignation that had settled into the numerous lives and marriages of those who went before, I realized that in Theroux's world this was probably expecting too much. Was Collected Stories worth it?For a Theroux fan, or for someone wanting short fiction, the answer is yes.But all the while you are aware of a sadness that prevails, a world where honesty is often just another word for resigned acceptance, and you hope you don't find yourself in the pages, no matter how exotic the background.

Superb audio book as well
My schedule doesn't permit a lot of free time for reading so I randomly picked up Theroux's collected stories from the local library and I must say that the storylines are intriguing and the characters are so believable,you may very well find yourself empathizing with them.

This is afantastic collection of stories if you have a long commute and need a breakfrom the rubbish on the airwaves.

Beautiful, haunting
This is one of the best short story collections I've ever read. Paul Theroux is expert at making the reader actually feel "there". The landscape descriptions and characterizations are first rate, and I enjoyedthe "plot twists." Theroux excels in creating difficult and oftenunlikeable but always memorable characters ( read The Mosquito Coast,Millroy The Magician or The Black House if you want further proof. ) Thesestories are frightening, sad and funny. Highly recommended.

A fine sampling from one of America's most original voices.
Paul Theroux is the kind of writer who is not afraid to go out on a limb. His literary output over the last twenty-five years or so is as diverse andinspired as any other American writer working today. And I'm pleased to say that in this handsome paperback re-issue he seldom disappoints.Take, for example, the almost hallucinogenic vigor of "Dengue Fever". I challenge anyone to read this story once through in a quiet setting and not be haunted by its shadowy, sinuous images a week, a month, or even a year after the initial experience. It is Theroux's turgid depictions of fever, deftly mixed with the not implausible elements of the supernatural, that make this tale a breath-taking excursion into the horrific realm of the subconscious.

Then there is the creepy, nocturnal brilliance of "World's End," in which the narrator of the story becomes the not so subtle victim of his own vanity. The suspense never lets up while steadily building toward a sat! isfying, even shocking ending. Is his wife having an affair while thenarrator smugly entertains yet another road trip? The narrator's son, shrewd and tight-lipped, is a wonderfully nuanced portrait of silent anguish and controlled fear, while the timorous image of a kite and the ironic metaphor of "play" are cleverly juxtaposed by Theroux who knows well the value of a ripe Joycean symbol. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Disturbing
The dialogue relating to family relationships could be used in classrooms to illustrate dysfunctional families.While I read the book, I kept hoping for a pleasant outcome for the young man, Waldo, who was victimized by being born to this dysfunctional family.The ending was more true to life.Waldo shows that he could not escape the effects of the family.An excellent book for "keeping it real."

Not his best
This is a long way from Paul Theroux's best.You can see he already had the sharp, iconoclastic world view that makes so much of his later and better writing so good.But this is a nasty and unpleasant book, and doesn't do anything to reward you for getting through it.The characters are pretty much uniformly unsympathetic, bad stuff happens to a lot of people who may or may not deserve it.Waldo himself is terribly hard to identify with...not worth hunting for. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
A collection of new works by artists who have riveted the world with their contributions to fine art, comics, film and illustration. Celebrating the tenth anniversary of Vanguard's flagship cutting-edge comics anthology, this book features: "Mr. X", a tale by best-selling author Neil Gaiman and "Sandman" cover artist Dave McKean; "Beyond the Clash", a contemplation on the loss of musical visionaries John Cage and Frank Zappa by Society of Illustrators Gold Medal winner Barron Storey; "Frogs", a 12-page visual storytelling experiment by Jim Steranko, and "Endangered Species Cookbook" by novelist Paul Theroux and Marshall Arisman. This volume also features innovative works by "Elektra: Assassin" graphic novelist Bill Sienkiewicz; Marilyn Manson poster artist Justin Hampton; "Kabuki" creator David Mack and many more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A must-read book about Malaysia in the 1970s
Paul Theroux (PT) wrote or at least researched this novel/collection of interlinked short stories during his three-year stint as a lecturer at the University of Singapore. Saint Jack was another product of this period. Many of the chapters in this collection were first published as short stories in more or less distinguished periodicals.
Spencer Savage (SS), a young diplomat is tasked with closing down a remote US consulate in Malaysia. Long ago it was opened to serve America's rubber interests. Since then chemicaltechnology has improved on natural rubber and rubber trees are cut down to make way for oil palm plantations. The US has no stake in palm oil production, so...
SS gradually becomes enthralled by the people he lives among, Malays, Indians, Chinese, left-over or consultant British, even the newly-confident Japanese, selling transistor radios to the Malaysians. His adventures, observations and personal views are summarized in 20 brief chapters, which provide a broad and amazingly varied perspective on multi-ethnic co-existence in a Malaysian backwater town in the 1970's. Everything is good, the plots of the stories, the dialogues, the background and the acute observations and perceptions about the past, present and future. The consul is mostly a fly on the wall, whilst the epicentre of much of what happens is the Club, a fixture of all of Britain's ex-colonies.
Malaysia's colonial life was immortalised by Anthony Burgess. PT does the same for post-colonial Malaysia in this book full of amazing stories.
Required reading for people who have visited Malaysia or are intending to. It should be reprinted. Many people will enjoy it.
And SS will reappear in PT's The London Embassy, published in 1983.

Excellent characters
Paul Theroux, The Consul's File (Ballantine, 1978)

I know of Theroux through his wonderfully minimal little horror tale The Black House; seems most people know him for travel writing. This is something of which I was previously unaware, but I became well acquinted with it while reading this book, a loose collection of stories about the life of an American consul sent to Ayer Hitam (in Malaysia) to close down the consulate there. (As a side note, Ayer Hitam is now a forest preserve maintained by the University Putra Malaysia, and dropping by UPM's website to take the photo tour lends a whole other perspective into reading this book.)

Theroux's hapless protagonist spends his time cataloguing the odd folks to be found in and passing through Ayer Hitam, and Theroux's strength lies mostly in characterization. The population of Ayer Hitam (equal parts indigenous, Tamil, and Chinese, with a smattering of British expatriates) is the stories' real focus, and a number of them come to life in the stories dedicated to them. Not terribly much actually goes on there, but these aren't plot-driven stories anyway.

Good stuff if you like character portraits, but if you're looking for more of a plot, other Theroux works might be a better jumping-off point. ***

Twenty Short Stories from Malaysia
In this 1978 compilation, Paul Theroux offers twenty stand-alone (and originally serialized) chapters told through the eyes of a young American consul posted to a small Malaysian town in the 1970s.The stories are chronological picking up when the narrator arrives in country and ending with a letter he writes as he departs.The expatriate society, with its clubby Brits, drunken eccentrics, casual racism, missionaries, and scoffing credulity of local beliefs will be recognizable to readers of Graham Greene, John LeCarre, and Joseph Conrad, but Theroux's descriptions are typically evocative: characters draw themselves (among the most memorable are the chameleon novelist in "The Coconut Gatherer", the Japanese tennis player in "The Tennis Court, and the medicine man in "The Tiger's Suit").The tropical air provides a uniform backdrop of heat, jungle smells, and exotic strangenes.The narrator neither condescends to the locals nor judges the expatriates, he merely observes in a dry prose that can sometimes be the most powerful criticism of all.Finally, in the last chapter's private letter (perhaps the book's strongest pages) he comments at length on Squibb, the club bore, "He had failed at being a person, so he tried to succeed at being a character".Squibb is not alone.

Theroux, perhaps best known for "The Mosquito Coast" and a host of wonderful travel journals, displays in these early stories a sincere voice, non-judgmental and full of wonder at seeing the new and exotic."The Consul's File" is short and insightful.Worthwhile.

The best book about Foreign Service life
Theroux's Consul's File is perhaps the most evocative book about what its really like to be in the foreign service.The episodic nature of the story matches the life and work, even at larger posts. The sequel "London Embassy", does not work quite as well, but is still worthwhile.

enjoyable short stories
This is actually a series of short stories, all told from the point of view of a consul in a medium-sized city, in 1970s Malaysia.The stories are witty and imaginative.I read the book whilst travelling through Malaysia, anyone who has spend time in the tropics can relate to these enjoyable tales. ... Read more

Product Description
This thoughtful, captivating book presents two of the most acclaimed travel writers of our time recounting their impressions of one of the most remote and haunting places on Earth--Patagonia, the desolate southern region of South America. Includes 100 color photos. Theroux's introduction, "Chatwin Revisited," conveys his late friend's coy but adventurous spirit. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A fascinating book about a fantastic place.
This book is about Patagonia, the southern part of South America.Windswept, cool, rainy or dry, depending on one's location, Patagonia is the uttermost realm of the Earth.This book, out of many, is the best I have ever seen on the area.

The writers, Paul Theroux, and the late Bruce Chatwin, are both very well acquainted with the region,Each writer has a differing style, and each writer's commentary therefore varies.Yet, both harmoniously intertwine into a fascinating mesh. In addition to each capturing the essence of the land and the harsh climate in his own way, both writers present fascinating vignettes on Patagonian history, culture, and people.

You will learn about the origin of Patagonia's name, its role in Shakespeare's plays, its history of sheltering Welsh nationalism, its ground sloth fossils, Butch Cassidy staying in hiding there, its glaciers and fiords, etc., etc., etc.

All of this is superbly complimented by Fred Hirschmann's stunning color photography.In four-color format, these photographs form the most excellent composite for a book since Eliot Porter's masterpiece on the lost Glen Canyon.Again and again, I return to these photos for their inspiration and beauty.

Most of us will never visit Patagonia and taste the local calafate berry.But if we can't, this book is the next best thing. I prize this book very much and recommend it to the hilt. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

We all seem to agree...this is a strange book
I have read a few of Paul Therux's books, and to tell the truth, I'm not sure what to think of him.The characters in the books I've read are inclined to be quirky, and the main character here tops them all.He does seem to have a crumboing mind and is somehow trying to make sense of it all.He's not a truly violent character.The main act of violence here seems to be a misunderstanding, or is it a curiosity about how it is to be a murderer.He does seem to be deliberately dabbling in various roles in life and not totally understanding any of them.I can't truly recommend this book nor can I condemn it.Read it at your own risk.

A gruesome Murder in Chicago
Parker Jagoda is a clever real estate developer in Chicago, stripping and scooping out the brick shells of derelict buildings, filling them up with shops and apartments. His wife is a former model and he is the father of baby Eddie, six month old. He lives in Evanston, a posh suburb, drives a BMW and is in great shape, having dieted on bran, nuts, fruit and yogurt for the past seven years.
This is the outer skin of an onion of a book, in which Paul Theroux (PT) slowly peels off, layer after layer, clue after clue, what the happy couple have been doing over the years. Jagoda, the main protagonist, is early on shown to be suffering from what looks like a breakdown, an unravelling of his personality. He misreads his own thoughts and what other people might think of him. He has mood swings and bouts of amnesia. A woman who responded to one of his Personal Ads is found murdered. No clues. The papers call it a perfect crime. The killer is called The Wolf Man...
PT is an excellent craftsman rather than a divinely-inspired novelist hoping for immortal fame. He wrote this tale of madness from Jagoda's perspective, but gradually allowed his hero's few close associates more and more speaking time and opportunities to act.
Jagoda is surely not a person to elicit sympathy or empathy on the part of the reader. Rather, it is Ewa, a shy girl who has also responded to one of his Personal Ads. She keeps up the reader's hope that something good will happen in this novel. Surely, PT or Jagoda will not kill her as well?
In this novel PT has brought together a number of themes explored in other books. Leading a double life is one. Protagonists practising and aggressively disseminating vegan diets based on no alcohol, no meat, no fat, no salt, no white sugar, etc. occur in at least four of his books (and all four practitioners turn out to be rather crazy) is another. For this reader the high point of the book is Jagoda's visit to and running commentary of an exhibition of the late Robert Mapplethorpe photographic art. A great few pages.
Too much of the novel's action is projected inside the disturbed mind of Jagoda and readers are really challenged to read on or give up. Not his best.

A Time In The Life Of...
What a strange and fascinating book! I really enjoyed it. It was certainly an unpredictable character study and it really brought a very late-80s gritty Chicago come to life. It was absorbing, well-written and completely not what I expected. All in all, it was a pleasant surprise.

what a strange book
Someone at work told me about this book and since I'm into serial killer type novels it intrigued me.I found it here on Amazon and read it the same day I received it.What a strange book!The main character, a man, is married and has a seemingly nondescript life.Wife has a job, he has a job, nothing remarkable about either of them.Except the man likes to go out and pick up strangers for kinky sex and then kills them.Then he comes home just like it's another day at the office.He and his wife have this fantasy arrangement where he will pretend that he is meeting a stranger (sometimes gender-bending, sometimes not) and they will have rough sex. He has his meetings all within the Loop area of Chicago, hence the title of the book.Apparently his lifestyle is catching up with him and troubles him because the ending, which I won't reveal, is quite surprising. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

One Winner, One Clunker
Half Moon Street consists of two novellas.

"Dr. Slaughter," the first work, and the one on which the movie "Half Moon Street" is based is so far superior to the movie, and so different in its plot, theme and message, as to constitute a totally different story. The book shows how a person who lives for the moment can bring tragedy down on herself and those around her. Throughout the story, wheels are turning in the background, undermining Dr. Slaughter's unconventional life and dooming the man she is most attracted to. Then everything snaps shut on her like a mousetrap. This is a stunning acheivement.

"Dr. De Marr" the other story is quite disappointing, a perfect illustration of why writers are supposed to show rather than to describe. The intriguing tale of a pair of twins and their reconnection after many years, we are treated to a long essay dragging us through the relationship.

I would suggest that you (i) avoid the movie, (ii) buy the book, and (iii) stop reading after the first (and longer of the two) stories.

A stranger in a stranger land - London
Actually, this edition has two novellas - "Dr. Slaughter" neing the basis for the film of the same name.After seeing the dissappointing film, I was unexpectedly shocked to discover how I could be absorbed by amoral heroine and her challenges.Mostly, this is thanks to Paul Theroux's crisp and inviting prose.While today's authors repeatedly assure us of their expert credentials in writing technothrillers, political thrillers, historical fiction, legal thrillers and so on, only Paul Theroux triumphs on an endless and rariefied reservoir of dissassociation, being an alien and an outsider.Dr. Slaughter, a brilliant and beautiful specialist in petro-economics, is already well versed in using sexual favors to supplement a meager income when she becomes "an escort".Using her dissassociation as a shield against the monumental dreariness of her existence (her miserable flat in London seems perpetually frozen), she prospers, never realizing her proximity to the true love that eludes her or the danger she places others into.The revelation at the end seems no surprise, yet packs an emotional wallop.

Half Moon Street
Please take out the duplicate review which says 0 out of 1 found this helpful, when there was no place to make such a comment.It looks bad on the promotion page and doesn't help your sales!

Half Moon Street
Please take out the duplicate review which says 0 out of 1 found this helpful, when there was no place to make such a comment.It looks bad on my promotion page and doesn't help your sales!

Hollywood North
There is some monkey business going on with the Pretty Woman review page, which shows that 0 out of 1 people found this review helpful, and Half Moon Street page shows 1 out of 1 found it helpful! Find these guys! ... Read more

Product Description
Fourteen-year-old Jilly Farina was enthralled with Millroy the Magician at the Barnstable County Fair. After all, he once turned a girl from the audience into a glass of milk and drank her, But when Jilly stepped into the wickerwork coffin during a performance, she had no idea he would transform her dreary life into something truly magical, and a touch bizarre.

For Millroy was no ordinary magician. He could smell the future, and Jilly was going to be part of it. Yet not even Millroy could foresee how far determination and a dream could take him, as he and his new young assistant hit the road -and the airwaves -- to save America's unhealthy appetite and floundering soul.... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

My Least Favorite Paul Theroux Novel
I have read nearly all of Paul Theroux's novels and travel books and I'm getting down to the last couple.If this is your first Theroux...don't go by this.

I'd started reading MILLROY THE MAGICIAN several times since it was published but just couldn't get into it.Since there are only a couple left, I had no choice but to tackle it again.

And I didn't like it.At first, I thought it was too close to THE MOSQUITO COAST with Millroy as an even-more bizarre incarnation of Allie Fox with Jilly as another teen narrator in his shadow.The jabs at religion are constant and, as it turns out, distracting.The descriptions of Millroy cooking read like they take up 100 pages.His disgust at observing how and what Americans eat takes up another 100 pages.Repititious was a word that I kept thinking over and over.

With every one of Theroux's works I could always get something out of it.An intriguing character, an exotic and authentic location, an interesting storyline.

Not with MILLROY THE MAGICIAN.Couldn't believe a word of it.Except for Theroux's contempt for American culture.And who doesn't have that?

One of the most memorable books
I read this book in 8th grade (7 years ago). It's one of those books that you think about long after. After the many reviews, I'm not exactly sure if there's a message or if it is indeed a distorted satire of Jesus Christ's character. Besides the unexpected and unpleasant twist at the last page, it was a very pleasant and easy read. Of course saying that makes this book sound "dainty" and "lovely" but it is anything but. It is quite gripping, it provokes many thoughts, and is quite inspirationally bizarre.

I can still remember some of the scenes that I imagined. The descriptions are perfectly weighted, not the heavy excess of Proust, or the vague blah of typical Young Adult books. It is a book that piques your interests as you think of it between reading, but I wouldn't call it "addictive" or you "can't put it down".

I'm actually curious to read it again, now that I am seeing so many different interpretations of the same set of words!

In conclusion, this book is one that you will have no problems getting through and a story that you will not soon forget.

I think Millroy is more than a Magician...
I actually loved this book to the very core...the apple core.
I read it and grew hungry for better things. I read it when it was first published and still think back on it. I felt like Millroy may be on to something and still do.

I changed my diet after reading this...

and haven't eaten a fastfood hamburger since.

A modern miracle
Milroy is a prophet for our times - hilarious, earnest, quirky and sincere. As he preaches the Gospel of Bibical eating, he invents a new way of life - one that is destined to change the world.Of course, it soon becomes apparent that this tale follows the Christ story (in explicit detail) - from the ragtag group of followers, to the shunning masses (who STILL don't get the real message), to those who only care about the miracles to the raising of the dead and, at last, sacrifice and resurrection and a new life in his teachings.

On one level, there is the story of the mystery man - the one everyone knows - who becomes the great Teacher with the all of the attending attention.He is the moral teacher, the one who breaks the rules and must decide how far to go.Like Christ, he is aware of his own impending doom and sees that his message will only be greater after his death.This is the book that most authors wish they could write but never do.

I hated it
I know it's politically incorrect to dislike work by the great Theroux, but frankly, I waded through this one for three weeks before abandoning it unfinished.
I found it repetitive and monotonous, and the tone itself was a little offensive to me.
I think Theroux could easily have written the same work in one-third the pages and not lost anything.
I love descriptive prose and dialogue, but this guy went on and on and on and on... I finally decided there were too many good books out there and not enough time left to waste on a turkey like this one. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Two Novellas, Both Skirting the Seamy Side of Life
These are two bizarre, well-crafted novellas.Both were great!

The stories are about the seamy side of life and juxtapose two realities: the apparent, outside facade with the inner sanctum of fantasy and sexual chaos.

The first novella, 'Half Moon Street' is about an academic who lives the life of a call girl/escort by night and become the center of a mid-east spy and intrigue entanglement.The second novella, 'Dr. De Marr', is about twins with an extremely sordid psychological past.One twin looses his identity in his brother which results in a horrifying ending.This book reminded me of the work of John L'Heureux, especially A Woman Run Mad.

Transcendant writing elevates two slim novellas
If you saw and hated the movie with Sigourney Weaver, you should still give this Theroux story a try.HMS is actually two short and unconnected novellas - the plots and characters aren't related, but they share common themes about the dangers of self-invention.The stories aren't even the same size.

In "Buried Alive", the shorter of the two, a man digs into the shadowy life of his dead twin brother, slowly but surely forming the idea of assuming his identity.The end comes as no surprise, but Theroux deftly crafts the lifetime of failure that underlies the protagonist, a man who finds himself verging into what appears to be a more attractive life than his own.

In "Doctor Slaughter", a brilliant and beautiful analyst of petroleum production supplements her meager income through high-priced prostitution.From the start, it's clear that Loren Slaughter uses sex for mercenary purposes (like paying the plumber to defrost the toilet of her London flat, or to customize a small fur coat), but becoming a call-girl makes her useful to others.If the story doesn't grab you, Paul Theroux's writing style makes it impossible to put HMS down.Spare but perfect prose highlight the façade of strength that Loren uses to make her life bearable - made practically unendurable by miseries of London life.As with the shorter story, Loren's ends in a climax that is understated and hardly a surprise, but one that packs a wallop nonetheless. ... Read more