The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Mosquito Coast
Book Review: Dark, disturbing and utterly enthralling
Summary: 5 Stars
Who hasn't dreamed of leaving the world behind and venturing into the unknown to recreate the world without imperfections?
Seeking to escape globalisation, commercialism, and a multitude of abominations and maladies, inventor and genius Allie Fox abandons civilisation and heads for the Honduran rain forest, taking his family.
Whereas the missionaries he so despises use the pretence of bringing religion to the forest in order to colonise it - as did the conquistadors in the 16th century - Allie brings ice: the symbol of his god-like ingenuity - and sets about creating a new world free of the poisons of the West. However, Allie maybe a genius in one sense, but his socialist ideals and visions of utopia are far from infallible.
Although The Mosquito Coast sounds like a contemporary version of Henry David Thoreau's Walden (which, like this story, is also an allegorical fable) it's an infinitely darker exploration of flawed genius - made all the more disturbing by being presented through the eyes of Allie's twelve year old son, a child on the brink of manhood.
For me, the biggest attraction to this story aside from the travel aspect is the fact that it can be read on so many levels. At once it's a book children will understand and enjoy, but as an allegory a lot of people will see the deeper meanings and lessons - the implications of our own actions and how they can affect others - and possibly learn from them.
Overall, a fantastic book which can be re-read and studied many times.
Book Review: Fearsome family dynamics shown with honesty
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the best books I've ever read. The voice of the boy is gripping and an example of showing a younger point of view with no loss of interest. Terrific read.Book Review: Genius desiring to play God
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm a bit surprised about how unanimous other reviewers are in praise for this book. It certainly has a powerful premise: someone hates America enough to actually get off the technology and mass media grid to move to the wildness of Honduras. This main character is a technological genius who can build an ice machine out of nothing but pipes and gasoline and seems to be able to tackle any challenge placed in front of him.
But I thought the narrative failed by being so focused on its premise that it did not make me really care about its main character. Allie, the inventor, is presented early on as someone who endlessly rails on about America and browbeats others with his views. His voice got shrill to me after awhile and I did not loathe him or love him. I just kind of got annoyed by him. His knee jerk reaction to rail against any religion was believable but annoying. Likewise, he was endowed with almost too much the perfect inventor that he wasn't but so believable to me. Invention and creation often require struggle and work. While that struggle and work are mentioned in the book they aren't developed. I don't feel the effort and care and the how of his machines very well. The ice machine invention wasn't that believable to me and made the book into a parody for me when it could have been much deeper. I guess the point of the book was to create a repugnant stick man to beat down, but I didn't care about him enough to make this book one of my favorites.
The book was salvaged for me by Charlie and his complex relationship to his inventor father. You see how out of touch he is with modern America, and his ambivalent relationship to duty and respect for his father and anger at some of the things his father dares him to do.
I got the sense that the author's strengths were in creating a sense of place and creating an unusual character that would make many readers think. I was frustrated by the casual way some of the science behind that genius was created and the scientist in me wants something more substantial. I suppose this book is an ambivalent attack on those who want to rail against America and use their intelligence to play God.
Okay, but not the best thing I've read lately by a long shot.
3 stars
--sd
Book Review: Good Character Study
Summary: 4 Stars
This book explores the character of a father who takes his family to several remote locations in Honduras to escape what he sees as the evils of mid-20th century America. The father is believable and finely drawn, and although readers may not like him, they may well empathize, as the father's motives and actions are all too understandable. The novel does a fine job in describing the dangers a man faces, and how dangerous to others that man can be, when he becomes alienated, albeit for good and defensible reasons, from society.
A minor criticism is that the father's inventions are described in detail, but the author does not seem to have much understanding of such things. Thus, glasses of water freeze in the space of a short conversation in the father's novel refrigerator (what would the temperature have to be to do this, -60 degF or so?). There are brackets, levers, pumps, gears, and pipes galore throughout the book, all of which never quite seem to combine into anything understandable. Maybe it's the former engineer coming out in me, but if you don't understand technology it's best to dwell elsewhere in your writing (and maybe it's best to dwell elsewhere even if you do).
I originally became interested in the theme of "Mosquito Coast" while reading "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver, in which a father takes his family to the Congo for similar but more religiously motivated reasons. I was especially interested in gaining insights into the character of such a person. Unfortunately, in that book, the father is sketched as a parody and his character is flat. Instead of character development, the author devotes herself to amateurish left-wing political speculation, an often incorrect recounting of historical events in Africa, and a transparently feminist agenda. If you think literature and politics are best left separate, or if you want sophisticated political analysis, don't waste your time on "The Poisonwood Bible."
Book Review: Must read....
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an exceptional book. The central character, the husband and father, Allie Fox, is utterly unlike any other you will come across. His personality shouts out from every page and dominates the book, his inventions are stunning, his capacities are limitless, his strength knows no bound, his cruelty is awful. He magics the family out of America into a world of his own imagining, where he is emperor. And, as with all absolute monarchs, absolute power corrupts Fox absolutely.... Theroux tells the story with such dexterity and such style that the reader feels sympathy right up to the shocking end. And, as far as shocking ends go, this is one of the most shocking I have ever read in a lifetime of reading.
Fox uses his tongue to the last page and I am sure you will join me in wishing he would stop lecturing occasionally and listen to others. Mrs Fox (interestingly, nameless) deserves a long service medal for all she has to put up with; but in the end, it turns out that she is the one Fox is trying to impress and whose approbation he craves.The four children are interestingly depicted, and I very much like the way they are mirrored in the long central section by the local Maywit family. Mr Haddy brings much needed light relief to the heavy drama and is a wonderful and amusing character. The other locals are also very well drawn.
The story revolves around disillusion in all its form and the capacity of humans to adapt and fit to new circumstances.
Finally, for me, the story is almost magic in its feel - a Honduras without any really dangerous animals or severe illness, a Honduras created by Allie Fox's mind to be the backdrop to his personal drama.
Excellent, gripping page-turning stuff. Very highly recommended.