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Product Description
Product Description
A young American walks into Sicily's Palazzo d'Oro during the '60s. Penniless, but swaggering with youth and burgeoning artistic talent, he accepts a proposition to become the companion to a beautiful and beguiling aristocrat. Their affair - formal and restrained by day, torrid and passionate by night - leads him to a place where nothing, not even his lover, is what it seems. This novella and three other tales explore the underbelly of sexual desire and together make up one of Paul Theroux's most compelling works yet.
About the Author
Paul Theroux is the author of many bestselling books, both fiction and non-fiction, including most recently Hotel Honolulu and Dark Star Safari. He divides his time between Cape Cod and Hawaii.
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First Sentence
This is my only story. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
This is my only story. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is a real jewel to revel in: lush, mouth-watering descriptions, strong believable characters and passages evoking scents, textures and emotions. It's a collection of short stories based on events occuring in the childhood of a boy named Andy, and a novella (the title story) about a young man's sexual awakening in Italy.
Theroux's talent lies in creating characters one can really understand and empathise with. For me, his main triumph lies in the short stories about Andy and his friends. It's like "Stand By Me" on paper, with a darker side. If Theroux decides to write more about Andy, Walter and Chicky, I for one will be queueing to buy the book!
A literary work of art; pictures painted by words.
Format:Hardcover
Paul Theroux is a very prolific author. He is probably still better known as a travel writer but in fact he has written a good deal more fiction than anything else. Some of his books have been first class. In both My Secret History (1989) and The Mosquito Coast (1981) Theroux expertly explores human relationships, particularly in unusual or challenging circumstances. The Stranger at the Palazzo D'Oro is not as good as these but it well worth reading nonetheless. If there is a theme connecting the novella and short stories brought together here it is probably sexuality, or at least female sexuality from a specifically male viewpoint, a familiar preoccupation of Theroux's. The title novella follows a young American as he travels in Italy. At the Palazzo D'Oro he encounters a couple who immediately intrigue. She is a wealthy German Duchess; arrogant, aloof and often downright rude. Despite, or perhaps because of this she is a sexual magnet toward which our young protagonist is irresistibly drawn. Through his relationship with her some of the mysteries of the female of the species, both public and very private, are revealed to him. Some of the writing strikes one as rather sexist but Theroux would presumably be entirely unapologetic about this as his intention is to look at women and sex from a male perspective. The novella is quite shocking at times, to reveal why would spoil the plot so it is left for readers to discover why for themselves.
The other stories are set in the USA and feature a pre-adolescent boy called Andy. Ostensibly at least, they seem far removed from the world of the Palazzo D'oro as Andy engages in various rites of passage activities with his friends. However sexuality or at least the beginning of it, again looms large and there is even a direct link in the form a prurient interest in females urinating. The short stories are nostalgic and heart-warming and are presumably, like the aforementioned 'My Secret History', to some extent autobiographical. Theroux does this stuff well and apparently effortlessly. Well worth a read and a good introduction to his heavier work.
The other stories are set in the USA and feature a pre-adolescent boy called Andy. Ostensibly at least, they seem far removed from the world of the Palazzo D'oro as Andy engages in various rites of passage activities with his friends. However sexuality or at least the beginning of it, again looms large and there is even a direct link in the form a prurient interest in females urinating. The short stories are nostalgic and heart-warming and are presumably, like the aforementioned 'My Secret History', to some extent autobiographical. Theroux does this stuff well and apparently effortlessly. Well worth a read and a good introduction to his heavier work.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
That title's a little harsh, however, I came away disaatisfied: both with the shortness of the stories (one story in particular came across as if from his notebook that he didn't value or couldn't be bothered to write properly) and with the adolescent egocentricity - in particualar the story about the adolescent. The writing is good, the topics are ingenuious and provocative. He's very good at sex and grounding it the real world and other events and thoughts. As my introduction to Theroux, not sure I'll read another though.
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