Mr. Bones

July 7, 2014
The 20 stories in the 30th work of fiction from Theroux (The Mosquito Coast) grapple with the all-too-human desire for ownership—of art, of people, of places, even of stories themselves. Through his worldly male narrators, Theroux explores matters of taste and the compulsion to ruin a possession to mark it as your own. Even when the characters are not wealthy collectors or Andrew Wyeth protégés, they’re often interested in art in some way. The American accountant in Bangkok in “Siamese Nights,” arguably the collection’s standout, is a gifted caricaturist with a vivid appreciation for his unfamiliar surroundings: in the city’s “moisture-thickened air that made you gasp” and “neon lights shimmering in puddles,” he observes, you learn to see “beauty in half an inch of dirty water.” This tale and others—including “Nowadays the Dead Don’t Die,” about the enactment of African funeral rites—contain notes of Theroux’s famed travel writing. Beyond art and travel, Theroux also explores boyhood in the title story; presents a debauched Hawaiian love triangle in “Neighbor Islands”; works a twist on Maupassant’s classic “The Necklace” in “Another Necklace”; and experiments with first-person flash fiction in two steamy interludes, “Voices of Love” and “Long Story Short.” The final product is a hefty, remarkably diverse batch of stories colored by Theroux’s prolific taste for exploration. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency.

July 1, 2014

Without slipping overtly into the realm of "men's lit," Theroux's fiction often grapples with the concept of manhood, with its focus on issues of power, pride, and obsession. The stories in this collection are varied, and some are rich in the details of exotic places, as befits this renowned travel writer; all are highly entertaining--a couple are award winners--with the plot twists and sometimes startling resolutions that mark the best of the short story genre. In one gem, a fabulously wealthy man sets about to systematically destroy the rare artifacts in his art collection; with escalating hubris, he contemplates murdering his exotic girlfriend, whom he treats as a possession, but instead finds the limits of his power. In the titular story, a henpecked husband asserts his position in the family by transforming himself into the minstrel show character he's portraying in a charity performance. A longer piece, in which a conservative accountant working in Bangkok becomes emotionally involved with a "ladyboy," is a study in sexual obsession. VERDICT This excellent new collection allows readers to sample an array of Theroux's most entertaining fiction in short story form; highly recommended.--Reba Leiding, emeritus, James Madison Univ. Lib., Harrisonburg, VA

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