Book description
'Both unputdownable and utterly engaging' Jonathan Raban, The
Times Literary Supplement
'I started reading Theroux's Sir Vidia's Shadow, the story
of his friendship with V. S. Naipaul over thirty years and five
continents - its origins, development, and sad, enigmatic
termination. I couldn't, as they say, put it down. I don't know of a
more revealing study of the peculiar nature of friendship between
professional writers, an unstable compound of empathy, solidarity
and rivalry. Theroux's portrait of Naipaul . . . may be [his] finest
literary creation' David Lodge,
Guardian
Books of the Year
'Thoroughly compelling. We can call it a memoir, or a biographical
sketch, but it has more in it - more candour, more intensity, more
angry puzzlement - than we would normally expect from either of these
genres. I can think of no other book that renders in such merciless
detail a still-living public figure' Sunday Telegraph
Paul Theroux's highly acclaimed books include
Dark Star Safari
,
Ghost Train to the Eastern Star
,
Riding the Iron Rooster
,
The Great Railway Bazaar
,
The Old Patagonian Express
,
Fresh-Air Fiend,
The Elephanta Suite
and
A Dead Hand.
The Mosquito Coast
and
Dr Slaughter
have both been made into successful films. Paul Theroux is also a
frequent contributor to magazines, and divides his time between Cape Cod
and the Hawaiian islands.
