The Mosquito Coast
by Paul Theroux
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Book Summary Information
Author: Paul TherouxEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-06-01
ISBN: 0618658963
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Mariner Books
Book Reviews of The Mosquito Coast
Book Review: Must read....
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an exceptional book. The central character, the husband and father, Allie Fox, is utterly unlike any other you will come across. His personality shouts out from every page and dominates the book, his inventions are stunning, his capacities are limitless, his strength knows no bound, his cruelty is awful. He magics the family out of America into a world of his own imagining, where he is emperor. And, as with all absolute monarchs, absolute power corrupts Fox absolutely.... Theroux tells the story with such dexterity and such style that the reader feels sympathy right up to the shocking end. And, as far as shocking ends go, this is one of the most shocking I have ever read in a lifetime of reading.
Fox uses his tongue to the last page and I am sure you will join me in wishing he would stop lecturing occasionally and listen to others. Mrs Fox (interestingly, nameless) deserves a long service medal for all she has to put up with; but in the end, it turns out that she is the one Fox is trying to impress and whose approbation he craves.The four children are interestingly depicted, and I very much like the way they are mirrored in the long central section by the local Maywit family. Mr Haddy brings much needed light relief to the heavy drama and is a wonderful and amusing character. The other locals are also very well drawn.
The story revolves around disillusion in all its form and the capacity of humans to adapt and fit to new circumstances.
Finally, for me, the story is almost magic in its feel - a Honduras without any really dangerous animals or severe illness, a Honduras created by Allie Fox's mind to be the backdrop to his personal drama.
Excellent, gripping page-turning stuff. Very highly recommended.
Summary of The Mosquito Coast
In a breathtaking adventure story, the paranoid and brilliant inventor Allie Fox takes his family to live in the Honduran jungle, determined to build a civilization better than the one they've left. Fleeing from an America he sees as mired in materialism and conformity, he hopes to rediscover a purer life. But his utopian experiment takes a dark turn when his obsessions lead the family toward unimaginable danger.
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