- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (1 May 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140245324
- ISBN-13: 978-0140245325
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,047,868 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
My Other Life: A Novel
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The narrator of these memoirs has many guises and has reconstructed his life giving it wit, tragedy and pathos. Split into two parts: one a sojourn in an African leper colony and the other in literary London, it seems that the hero is living separate lives, even though he is the same person.
About the Author
Paul Theroux was born in Medford, Massachusetts in 1941 and published his first novel, Waldo, in 1967. His subsequent novels include The Family Arsenal, Picture Palace, The Mosquito Coast, O-Zone, Millroy the Magician, My Secret History, My Other Life, and, most recently, A Dead Hand. His highly acclaimed travel books include Riding the Iron Rooster, The Great Railway Bazaar, The Old Patagonian Express, Fresh Air Fiend, and Ghost Train to the Eastern Star. He divides his time between Cape Cod and the Hawaiian Islands.
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First Sentence
WHEN PEOPLE SAY of someone, "You'll either love him or hate him," I always have the feeling I'll hate him. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
WHEN PEOPLE SAY of someone, "You'll either love him or hate him," I always have the feeling I'll hate him. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After reading this title I kept on wondering whether Theroux regretted writing My Secret History and decided to start it all over. It could be regarded as powerful and interesting as Secret History, this ficticious Theroux presented here exposes and mixes the real Theroux with the one he wishes he would have been, with the one he's never been through new events. A curious disclosure of a presumed trip through the author's mind. His style remains a wonder as in other publications by him. A must read
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a strange mixture of autobiography and fiction; an "imaginary memoir" as the author explains in the book's preface: "This is the story of a life I could have lived had things been different". Each chapter is a self-contained short story (or short memoir if you like), and it's often tantalizing to imagine what is real, what is an exaggerated version of the truth and what is pure fantasy. It is probable, for instance, that Theroux met the Queen, but less likely that he found himself momentarily alone with her and experienced a burning and reckless desire to touch her, indeed to burst into tears and cry on her shoulder. These sorts of fantasies make "My Other Life" an often humourous read but there are flashes of whimsy, nostalgia and regret as well.
Some of the chapters are short and epigrammatic; the longer chapters are more satisfying, particularly "The Queen's Touch", mentioned above, "Poetry Lessons" and "Lady Max". They all feature the typical Theroux flourishes: ironic detachment verging on superciliousness, fluid writing style with clever use of dialogue and sly humour. He's a page-turner as well: the plots are subtle but compelling - you're drawn into the stories, wanting to know what is going to happen next, yet the tales are not plot-driven - there is plenty of reflection.
In "Poetry Lessons" Theroux recounts a tale that combines poetry with a small intrigue involving a rich, untalented benefactor who the narrator is drawn to for his wealth and power yet repelled by he and his wife's uncritical vulgarity. The benefactor wants to get poetry lessons from Theroux, but it soon becomes obvious that not only does he lack talent, he also lacks any literary intelligence or worldliness (he asks "Which war" when Theroux mentions the War Poets) and Theroux delights in pointing out to the reader this stooge's solecisms and lack of literary knowledge.
"Lady Max" again satirizes the rich and powerful: Theroux feels contempt for this vaguely reptilian woman but is strangely drawn into her world, without, apparently, being corrupted by it. "The Queens' Touch" is very funny, despite its tone of quiet despair. Her Majesty comes across as a rather detached but thoughtful lady, with a wise serenity, while her husband is ridiculed for his intense irascibility:
"This was a man who knew how to express boredom. In order to show me how utterly uninterested he was he worked his mouth, savouring, tasted something foul, pulled a face, then made an effort of swallowing... his relentless negativity and unhelpfulness baffled me."
There is much pleasure to be derived from Theroux's prose: he is a skilful writer - succinct, ironic, with a great gift for a turn of a phrase. My Other Life combines his skill at fiction and non-fiction, and the thought that some of the described events may have actually happened is deliciously tantalising.
Some of the chapters are short and epigrammatic; the longer chapters are more satisfying, particularly "The Queen's Touch", mentioned above, "Poetry Lessons" and "Lady Max". They all feature the typical Theroux flourishes: ironic detachment verging on superciliousness, fluid writing style with clever use of dialogue and sly humour. He's a page-turner as well: the plots are subtle but compelling - you're drawn into the stories, wanting to know what is going to happen next, yet the tales are not plot-driven - there is plenty of reflection.
In "Poetry Lessons" Theroux recounts a tale that combines poetry with a small intrigue involving a rich, untalented benefactor who the narrator is drawn to for his wealth and power yet repelled by he and his wife's uncritical vulgarity. The benefactor wants to get poetry lessons from Theroux, but it soon becomes obvious that not only does he lack talent, he also lacks any literary intelligence or worldliness (he asks "Which war" when Theroux mentions the War Poets) and Theroux delights in pointing out to the reader this stooge's solecisms and lack of literary knowledge.
"Lady Max" again satirizes the rich and powerful: Theroux feels contempt for this vaguely reptilian woman but is strangely drawn into her world, without, apparently, being corrupted by it. "The Queens' Touch" is very funny, despite its tone of quiet despair. Her Majesty comes across as a rather detached but thoughtful lady, with a wise serenity, while her husband is ridiculed for his intense irascibility:
"This was a man who knew how to express boredom. In order to show me how utterly uninterested he was he worked his mouth, savouring, tasted something foul, pulled a face, then made an effort of swallowing... his relentless negativity and unhelpfulness baffled me."
There is much pleasure to be derived from Theroux's prose: he is a skilful writer - succinct, ironic, with a great gift for a turn of a phrase. My Other Life combines his skill at fiction and non-fiction, and the thought that some of the described events may have actually happened is deliciously tantalising.
Format:Paperback
...I wish he'd stuck to the principles he espoused in his earlier travel books about not sharing seemingly mundane events or self-reflection with the reader. I used to feel this was a shame and wished he would reveal more about the circumstances that led him to take some of the more notable trips, but not now - he was right then, and alas, wrong now. Nevertheless, as a fan of his writing I read it and enjoyed some of the insights, but for me it too often trailed off into alarming levels of angst and self-pity. So in summary, it closed some open questions I'd had in my mind since I first started reading his works about 15 years ago, but really, I should have resisted the temptation ... as should he. Sorry Paul.
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