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De Benedenrivier (2000)

by Paul Theroux(Favorite Author)

3.53 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Atlas Contact

review 1: I have always admired Theroux as a novelist with certain qualifications. But this novel is first rate and is probably the best effort of his career. I enjoyed it without qualification. If one measurement of a novel's success is in noticing how few pages there are left in your personal reading and hoping against hope that the protagonists (both Hock and Zizi) will be rescued, all the while being prepared to be outraged if they are not, then then this is certainly a successful novel. In a word, the novel is involving. It is not merely an exercise in style or philosophy. I doubt all readers will agree but I don't write reviews for 'all readers'. As with a lot of Theroux's work the charge of being politically incorrect is in play. So what. The novel works. There is a certain s... moreatisfaction in the novel's structure as well as the characterizations. I think if the novel had not ended as it did, I would have reacted angrily. I must laugh as I write this. I was fully invested in the character and his circumstance. It is an emotional read and probably deserves to be discussed more than it is.
review 2: At first, and for about half the novel, I kept thinking that Paul Theroux wrote better novels when he was younger and maybe all he had left in him was a rehashing of his previous works, especially The Mosquito Coast, his most successful. But then, aside from the obvious snake motif, I began to see deeper meaning, profound and mature symbolism, in this novel about current day Africa and the influence that first world country charity organizations have had on its people, culture, etc, fresh and new, not at all a rehash. Excellent, thought-provoking, sensitively done. less

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