The Elephanta Suite

The Elephanta SuiteA master of the travel narrative weaves three intertwined novellas of Westerners transformed by their sojourns in India. This startling, far reaching book captures the tumult, ambition, hardship, and serenity that mark today's India. Theroux's Westerners risk venturing far beyond the subcontinent's well worn paths to discover woe or truth or peace. A middle aged couple on vacation veers heedlessly from idyll to chaos. A buttoned up Boston lawyer finds

A master of the travel narrative weaves three intertwined novellas of Westerners transformed by their sojourns in India.

This startling, far-reaching book captures the tumult, ambition, hardship, and serenity that mark today's India. Theroux's Westerners risk venturing far beyond the subcontinent's well-worn paths to discover woe or truth or peace. A middle-aged couple on vacation veers heedlessly from idyll to chaos. A buttoned-up Boston lawyer finds succor in Mumbai's reeking slums. And a young woman befriends an elephant in Bangalore.

We also meet Indian characters as singular as they are reflective of the country's subtle ironies: an executive who yearns to become a holy beggar, an earnest young striver whose personality is rewired by acquiring an American accent, a miracle-working guru, and others.

As ever, Theroux's portraits of people and places explode stereotypes to exhilarating effect. The Elephanta Suite urges us toward a fresh, compelling, and often inspiring notion of what India is, and what it can do to those who try to lose--or find--themselves there.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Mariner Books
Published: 09/01/2008
ISBN: 9780547086026
Pages: 274
Weight: 0.66lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.40w x 0.90d

Review Citations: New York Times Book Review 10/19/2008 pg. 28