Paul Theroux's writing has always fascinated me with his engaging travel writing. The essays in this book are just as engaging as he discusses people and places in a different manner

Where else could you find a writing on Oliver Sacks, Robin Williams, Hunter S. Thompson, and a Manhattan dominatrix, all in the same book? That would be none other than one by Paul Theroux. One of the most accomplished travel writers in history, his use of semantics in his writing is surpassed by none. For instance, in an essay about Elizabeth Taylor he states, “Illness does not explain her unpunctuality, and even unpunctuality is a lame word for her chronic and incurable condition of reluctance and delay, which verges on the despotic, if not the pathological.” Taylor is only one of many individuals included in this book that Theroux spent time with between the years, 2001 to 2016. Curious and hilarious at the same time, this is classic Theroux.

This book by Paul Theroux is a collection of essays that has no overall theme, essays collected that he wrote through the years 2001-2016. All of the essays were previously published, either in magazines, or as introductions to books, and many appeared with different titles.

I do wish it was listed when the essays were written or published previously. This particularly struck me with several essays that dealt with celebrities he interviewed; Robin Williams, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson and Oliver Sacks, (okay maybe Sacks isn't a celebrity per se, but he is a famous neuroscientist), all of whom have already passed away by the time of the publication of this book.

With a few exceptions, I felt the essays got better the more I read the book. I think the middle and later essays were more engaging, less flexing of the vocabulary, stretching out to find those obscure and infrequently used words. Keep a dictionary nearby! One essay about a third the way though, "Nurse Wolf, the Hurter" was overly long and very unappealing. It just went on and on, and nearly had me quit reading the rest of the essays and the book. Happily it was the worst of the bunch and I carried on.

I think the essays collected here may have worked better as an overall book if there had been an overall theme, or sections at least, with a theme or grouping. Most essays were about other authors or celebrities, not nearly all. There also was a little repetition of some information as an idea or something in one essay appeared in another. This was particularly true near the end of the book with one essay, "Dead Old Dad: Memories of My Father" and the very next one "The Trouble with Autobiography" repeating some similar statements about his past. The last essay, his non autobiography is funny as it provides less information about himself as the previous essay.

Perhaps this book wasn't meant to be read cover to cover like most books, but to pick and choose which essay looks appealing and in whatever random order. It is a long 386 pages with the small print. I'm sure fans of Paul Theroux would enjoy the book, and for those who are new to his work as well.

Reading Paul Theroux’s latest book, ‘Figures in a Landscape’

When it comes to travel writing, Paul Theroux is a living legend. Anyone familiar with the genre has likely read one of the books for which the American writer is justifiably famous like The Great Railway Bazaar, The Old Patagonian Express or The Happy Isles of Oceania so his many fans are always excited when he publishes something new.

That something new is a Figures in a Landscape, an anthology of non-fiction writing that was released earlier this year. Anyone expecting one of his introspective travelogues will be disappointed, but this collection serves up enough outstanding writing that they will come away knowing a little more about the world and a little bit more about Paul Theroux.

The stories in this book mostly collect magazine articles of Theroux’s that he has written over many decades and while they are not exclusively travel stories, many of them are and they are a treat.

The essays in Figures in a Landscape include celebrity profiles, literary discussions, personal philosophy and travel sketches that collectively reveal a a bit more about Theroux, a man who has said he doesn’t want to publish an autobiography because he thinks it’s a sign that an author is spent and has nothing left to write about. Despite that claim, there is enough autobiography here and in some of his other books that Theroux doesn’t seem to be someone with many secrets.

His celebrity profiles are something of a revelation and the best of the lot is a revealing portrait of Elizabeth Taylor during a visit to Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. His encounters with names like Robin Williams, Oliver Sacks and an anonymous sex worker who deals with odd bondage kinks are also enjoyable reads. His ability to capture these people on the page is an extension of his outstanding skill at observing details that elevates his travel writing above the rest.

Many of Theroux’s essays in this book also provide loving overviews of some of his favourite writers like Graham Green, W. Somerset Maugham, Joseph Conrad and Hunter S. Thompson. Theroux admits that many of his works are filled with references to books he’s loved so these essays will provide insight into those influences.

The section of the book that will entertain his fans the most are his travel stories. In many of them, he waxes philosophical about travel and travel writing:

“Travel can seem one of the most annoying, self-indulgent, even futile ways of passing the time. But travel should be about looking deeper into the world at large, into oneself,” he writes.

He says that readers should beware of what they read in travel books because they are merely the observations of one person on a given period of time and are not necessarily an accurate portrayal of a place.

“All you do as a note-taking traveler is nail down your own vagrant mood on a particular trip. The traveling writer can do no more than approximate a country.” he explained.

Where Theroux is at his best is when he shares his travel philosophy with his readers. Sure, you can go on a comfortable beach vacation to enjoy yourself, but the author thinks that we should get outside of our comfort zones if we want to use travel as a way to better ourselves:

“As for the recognition of hard travel as rewarding, the feeling is mainly in retrospective, since it is only in looking back that we see how we have been enriched,” he says.

Get off the beaten path and visit countries that are maligned and you will find those trips to be the most fulfilling, he says.

“‘Don’t go there,’ the know-it-all, stay-at-home finger-wagger says of many a distant place — I have heard that my whole traveling life, and in almost every case it was bad advice.”

Anyone’s who’s read and enjoyed Theroux’s work will be glad he ignored the advice he was given in order to have the adventures that inspired his writing. We are also fortunate enough that he was able to live in a time when magazines, newspapers and books were able to provide travel writers with a means to earn a living because today’s writers of social media aphorisms don’t compare.

- Figures in a Landscape: People and Places by by Paul Theroux is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

As a writer of novels and also the author of a good number of travel books, Paul Theroux has been on my radar for quite some time. I suppose he first became known to me as the father of documentary filmmaker Louis Theroux, of whom I’m a big fan. I’d only picked up a couple of the elder Theroux’s books – The Mosquito Coast and The Great Railway Bazaar - but I’d seen enough to know that this man could write and I’d determined that, in time, I would explore more of his work. So when the chance came up to read a collection of his essays I was quick to grab the opportunity.

There are 30 pieces here which cover quite a bit of ground. There are studies of a number writers as well as other well known figures, reflections on some of the author’s life experiences and even a touching and deeply felt rumination on his own late father. The whole thing kicks of with an amusing and self deprecating introduction, in which he explains his approach to writing his travel books (do your research, travel cheap and take your time) though he refuses to talk about any methodology for writing fiction for fear of never being able to write another word again. He is outspoken in his views and backs his opinions on places and people up with, what feels like, a good deal of thought supported by some fairly exhaustive background research.

Not every essay drew me in to the same extent: for instance, I struggled somewhat with the pieces on writers with whom I’m not familiar. But the majority of the compositions did grab me, with many of them making me challenge my preconceptions of the subject matter or prompting me to re-appraise my thoughts on relationships and even some of the choices I’ve made in life. I loved his insightful recollections of time spent with actress Elizabeth Taylor as she, in turn, talked about her relationship with her close friend Michael Jackson. There’s a brilliant study of the actor and comic Robin Williams, too. And I thoroughly enjoyed how Theroux dissected why some men are particularly attracted to older women – he being one of them.

His work here is peppered with his own outspoken views and he’s not afraid to air his criticisms of people (an example being of Bono’s stance on aid to Africa) and of places (the UK, in general, come in for a bit of a slagging). His style is sometimes ranting and I’d take issue with some aspects – his disparaging polemic on his time spent living in England certainly hit a personal soft spot – but his points are usually well argued and always interesting.

There’s a lot to like and admire here and reading these essays has certainly strengthened my desire to seek out more of his work.

A Paul Theroux book is always a feast, If you enjoyed Sunrise with seamonsters you cannot miss this one, I am personally more fond of Theroux books devoted to a single travel subject, but in any case it is the kind of book you cannot stop reading.

This is a collection of essays from 2001-2016. Some are travel pieces, some are literary critiques, and some are people profiles. In all of these genres, Theroux gives us all that we have come to expect from him in his non-fiction -- a sharp, canny eye and ear for everything that goes on around him and inside of him as he engages with life and everything that comes at him. Whether he is being seriously earnest or ironically satirical, his prose manages to hit just the right notes to keep us turning the pages so that, when we come to the end of any particular essay, we are disappointed because we want him to continue on. For the raconteuring adventurer, there are very few like him. And this collection confirms that, sadly, he is probably one of the last of his kind. (The full review will be published at PopMatters soon. I will add the link then.)

I thought this was a book of his travel writing, which I do love, but there was more literary criticism than I was prepared for, unfortunately all about writers I'm not really interested in (Maugham, Hunter S. Thompson, Thoreau (of whom he's very critical). There was a lovely piece about Oliver Sacks and some nastiness about Britain; the piece on Hawaii was very interesting and it's important to read about how messed up Africa has become but that was upsetting without any form of redemption. I nearly gave up at the long portrait of a New York dominatrix, but the book is, for me, good in parts like the curate's egg.

I've visited 71 countries but I feel like a homebody next to Paul Theroux. These essays, excerpts, extracts -- whatever -- give the reader a sampling of the range and breadth of experience he brings to travel writing. One thing about Theroux; he is never boring. Sure, he's arrogant, peculiar, self absorbed and self righteous. He's a disruptive force, like Elon Musk in the auto industry or Trump in politics. Even if you've read many of these before it's worth going back and revisiting the landscapes of Theroux's mind.

There are people who love Theroux, and then there's me. It's a bit like the Beatles in that I recognize his contributions, but I don't actually enjoy them. I keep giving him a go, but his writing rarely resonates with me. I decided to read this after I liked his recent book about travels in the south well enough and thought a collection of essays might be safer.

Oddly, when he critiqued Thoreau as being too long winded and his writing being rife with contradictions he hit the nail on the head with what I think of his writing. He often has a solid point, it just takes too long to get to it. That said, I thought Liz in Neverland was a really poignant insight to Elizabeth Taylor's relationship with Michael Jackson: the Peter Pan characterization is spot on in many ways. I also liked his surfing journey with Oliver Sacks and the tour of New York with Robin Williams was wonderful.

A good read for fans of his work, this one isn't going to convert you if you don't care for his writing.

I have been a Paul Theroux fan for decades. His writing make travel come alive. Alas, in this book, Figures in a Landscape I think the author was less inspired than usual. The prose is rambling, a lot of what he is saying seems irrelevant. Maybe it's time for him to take a break before he goes back on the road. Disappointed for the first time, ever.

Collected essays, journalism, and stories by writers ago 70+ (like this one) seem to regularly appear on Netgalley for free download and review by cheapskates like me. People are justifiably skeptical about quality. Are they the last dregs of a burned-out talent? I am happy to report that this book, far from being barrel-scrapings, is a very enjoyable read. It's not the sort of book you buy and read front-cover-to-back (although I did). It's more the sort of book you dip into from time to time when you are looking for a good magazine-article-length read. I also nominate it as a great book to borrow from the library, read the articles about topics that especially interest you, and then return on time, secure in the knowledge that you have wrung the maximum enjoyment possible out of it.

There are thirty essays of varying length, plus an introduction. I think it's uncontroversial to say that readers will enjoy some more than others. Which ones you enjoy will depend on the prejudices you bring to the book. In my case, longform magazine articles about the problems and peculiarities of Manhattanites with more money than sense give me a case of the howling fantods, so I found the long New Yorker piece, mid-volume, about a professional dominatrix, to be deeply deeply uninteresting, probably the most tedious in the book, barely beating out the piece where he assaults the saintly good works of Bono with an unabridged dictionary.

I would normally prefer a trip to the dentist to reading about Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson, but Theroux's article about them was surprisingly good. The man can write a clear and compelling sentence about anything he puts his mind to, and that is no small accomplishment.

Readers with no previous experience might come away with the opinion that Theroux has become a grumpy old man, but a glance at writings when much younger (not included here) will assure you that he was never, ever, mistaken for a little ray of sunshine.

That being the case, the many essays in which Theroux writes about people, places, and things that he admires (including but not limited to Thoreau, Hunter S. Thompson, Oliver Sacks, Robin Williams, traveling in Africa, Paul Bowles, living in Hawaii, Thomas Hart Benton, and his own father) are a great pleasure, at least in part because you know that Theroux is not easily pleased and is not known to engage in log-rolling for other writers, but also because he may be an even better writer when pleased than when aggravated.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for the free electronic advance review copy.

Essays about famous authors. I found it fascinating. Writing style is excellent as always. Loved the insight into some of my literary idols.

Sadly I was unable to download the book so I couldn't read and review it. Sadly I was unable to download the book so I couldn't read and review it. Sadly I was unable to download the book so I couldn't read and review it.

I usually dislike books that are a collection of unrelated essays but Paul Theroux’s newest book, Figures in a Landscape, is an exception.

When writers compile their essays it’s a sign that they:

1) Are lazy.
2) Have nothing new to say (e.g., writer’s block).
3) Need money.

Many who reviewed Tim Ferriss’s book, Tribe of Mentors, called it a “money grab.” It’s when a popular author wants some quick cash so he pumps out garbage knowing that his fans will eat whatever crap he spews out.
I expected Theroux’s latest book to be just like that. I was ready to skip chapter after chapter. However, I rarely skipped.

The chapters are pulled from his articles in The Washington Post, Harper’s Bazaar, the Guardian, the Smithsonian, New York Times Magazine, and others.

Naturally, many chapters are travel essays. Several cover Africa but others discuss Ecuador and Hawaii. He critiques Henry David Thoreau, Joseph Conrad, and others.

Some of the best parts were the most unexpected: his interviews with Elizabeth Taylor, Robin Williams, and a Manhattan dominatrix.

He ends with a chapter about his dad and why he wants to thwart his future biographers (which is a bit conceited to believe that someone will write his biography).

If you’re a Paul Theroux fan and/or you like travel writing, you’ll enjoy Theroux’s latest.

VERDICT: 9/10 stars.

This is a collection of Paul Theroux’s most recent and best travel essays, that takes readers across the globe. Theroux in unique in his writing because he spends at least as much time learning about the local people at his destination as he does the natural beauty