I've said it before and I'll say it again, Paul Theroux is not everyone's cup of tea-but for me he's on target most of the time when he writes nonfiction. When It comes to his fiction I find him more hit-or-miss. Sunrise With Seamonsters (1985) is his first collection of essays from 1964-1984. In the introduction, he explains why he left out his book reviews (he says he wrote 356 during this time period) and it may make sense in the context of this book, but in the future I can image a collection of Theroux book reviews would be quite entertaining. Many of the essays are travel-related, but others are literature related and most have some sort of autobiographical element to them. It seems as though most of the longer pieces stood out for me such as: "Cowardice" and "The Killing of Hastings Banda" (both of which give some context about how Theroux landed in Africa and why he had to leave), "A Love Scene After Work" (about the writing life), "Memories of Old Afghanistan", "Stranger on a Train" (about travel in general)-for example. However, I also liked many of the literary profiles such as "V.S. Naipal" ((1971 and 1982 of which was reused in Sir Vida's Shadow), "Henry Miller", "V.S. Pritchett" and "Graham Greene's Traveling Companion". There were some oddities that were interesting in the sense that I was curious as how he would approach them: politics with "Nixon's Neighborhood" and "Nixon's Memoirs" and professional tennis with his profile on "Jon McEnroe, Jr.".
I find many of his conclusions apt and well-thought out:
(from "Cowardice") "We will not have told ourselves a lie and, after this truth which is a simple one, maybe even ugly, we can begin to ask new questions."
(from "V.S. Pritchett") "I wish someone had put a Pritchett story in my hand twenty years ago to remind me that you have to be a whole person and tell the truth to write well; and you have to read everything and experience love and enjoy some happiness, for your stories to be as full of life as Pritchett's."
(from "Graham Greene's Traveling Companion") "We are very lucky to have this companion volume, and it is appropriate because no one can read it without reaching the conclusion that Barbara was the best of companions."
In the Afterword, Theroux explains where the pieces originated and how they changed for this edition. I was surprised to learn about how many were "killed" or not used by the people who commissioned them-editors can be a fickle bunch. Overall, it was entertaining and informative.
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