People who think of Theroux as a venomous old git should try his collected stories. More than The Great Railway Bazaar, more than The Mosquito Coast, they give you the best of the man: observant, varied and not a stranger to compassion.

The best pieces are from the World's End collection and sensibly reprinted first. The story 'Zombies' is about a woman novelist not un Jean Rhys. 'World's End' is about a loving father and describes happiness with conviction. 'White Lies' (first printed in Playboy) is my enduring favourite: a revenge tale with a twist that uses the African locale and its insects superbly.

Theroux is weakest on America, perhaps needing an outsider's view to sharpen his pen.7 s Kaarin30

"Life was so simple, and marriage only a complication. Marriage also implied a place: You were married and lived in a particular house; unmarried, yhou lived in the world, and there were no answers required of you.

Ah, Paul. You speak so well. 4 s Manu382 53

For a while now, I've been stuck inside my cocoon of Indian writing and travelogues, except for occasional forays. My biggest peeve was that I couldn't identify with international fiction. And Paul Theroux, with this book, just laughed. :)
The book has 5 parts, the last 2 with an obvious connection, but the remaining stories spans geographies, contexts and webs that humans create with their emotions and relationships. The first three have troubled marriages, stagnant relationships, death, deception, love and separation, set everywhere from Russia to Africa to Asia. Some of them poignant, and some of them seemingly mundane. There's even a story that seems to be set in the future - Warm Dogs, quite chilling, actually. My favourite from all these sections is 'Algebra', a wonderfully simplistic study in human relationships. The characters are people who I could easily identify with, not just because of the ways in which they have been etched, but also the excellent prose that made me 'feel' the settings they were in. Places and events are so well described that it's easy to imagine the foreign locales that one has never seen. There are subtle twists, ones which require you to pay attention - ones that 'reward' you for it. :)
The next two sections are based on the postings of a fictional Foreign Service office, first in Ayer Hitam, a boondocks in Malaysia and then in London. The characters overlap in stories, even as new ones are brought to the fore and stories written about them. The Ayer Hitam section felt a mashup of English August and Malgudi Days, if you can somehow imagine that. :) Over stories, the characters become familiar to you, and it's almost as though you were there in the offices, the bungalows and houses and at the parties - a fly on the wall.
London, though more 'civilised', and full of potential, paled a bit in comparison (for me) to the earlier section. However, the office politics and the constant realignment of relationships (including the narrator's own) kept me engaged right till the very end. In a way, the first and last stories are about coming full circle.
I an author's story collections, because it gives me a feel of the author - the breadth and depth, and I'm immensely happy to have discovered one, whom I feel will be a favourite. Someone who reminded me that in the end, a good story is essentially all about the human condition. The book goes straight into my favourites. :)review3 s Sara57 8

I haven't really read this whole book. I have been picking it up lately. I love it, but it's really varied and also long. Sometimes there is a dull part about being a diplomat, but more often there is a very interesting part that may or may not be about being a diplomat. Mostly it's excellent to read and delves deeply into several genres. The regular short story style short stories in the beginning are my favorites-- "Algebra" makes me do The Running Man and The Cabbage Patch at the same time. If I could do The Worm, I would do it in appreciation of this short story about dinner parties. I would also do some Greek dancing, if I knew how, in celebration of the upstairs neighbor character "Mr. Momma."1 Beatles2437 3

Strange if interesting book. The first half of the book contains poignant stories of relationships (usually sundered) and relationships that are near cloying but not enough to make one sick. And then there are stories that end abruptly without point - they are a Sinfeldian account of what happened in someone's life on a given day - any day.

The second half of the book is quite funny in that it is set in two diplomatic outposts where the main character is stationed (Malaysia and London). The characters are well teased out and the storyline is well limned and quite the fast read. Nice!!1 Patricia MurphyAuthor 3 books117

What a romp. short-stories1 Eduard287 11

2.5 Stars. Sorta interesting stories that takes you into a subculture of Beta-male soyboys. A whiny professor whose personal angst and drama that lead to nowhere (some loser PHD who never got laid) and other stories about expats living in africa). Somewhat interesting to read about their life abroad, not much more or anythnig interesting happeneing. The last story is another beta-male soyboy US Embassy Diplomat who also never got laid and he finally gets some sex and whines about his yearning for the first woman he bedded (probably the 2nd in his whole life). He has angst about her bc he can't quite have her. Lots of describing how he met her, the wall paper at the party etc (that have nothing to do with the storyline - but it's tolerable as this superfluous poo takes you into his boring Diplomat world, sorta). I'm giving better descriptions than what the stories actually are. My review makes these stories seem more interesting than they are. Anyway, his unobtainable desire turns out to be a commie agitator but he wants her anyway and the story just stops.

All the stories have no conclusions - endings - resolutions - denounments. None. 0. It's sometimes a thing for many short stories to just stop. The story stops in the middle of something it seems with no conclusion leaving you hanging leaving the reader thinking "that's all? what happens now? wut?" That is an accepted short story writing technique that is common that it's acceptable and almost standard. It's fine but the reader should be aware of this technique and not expect anything more. Probably done bc the writer has no idea where to go and has to end the story sometime. Short stories have different structures than novels and the ending, with no real ending, is more standard than not. Theroux's stories all end this way. They don't even take you off a cliff or to a cliff. They stop miles away on the way to the cliff. It's fine, the reader just needs to accept this. If you want conclusive stories with rising plots - you won't find it here. These stories are better than OK - 2.5 stars. Reddkryten1 review

I tried to finish this and white knuckled my way to page four-hundred, but I just couldn’t manage it.

The stories are inconsequential, petty little people talking about a minor problem. This can work and be funny, or sad, I’ve read and loved many stories about storms in teacups.
One story was about a young child using the wrong terminology on a boat (it’s not a rope, it’s a line) and how terrible this error was. It sounds a comedy but Theroux seems to sincerely believe these minor fusses are life and death matters.

The female characters are introduced tits first, with a detailed description of their breasts. After a few stories I felt a dirty old man.

Whenever other countries and races came up, racism became apparent. At first I didn’t mind as this could have been the characters individual personality. However when Theroux wrote an Indian character, it was blatant. The Indian character talked about his own religion, but somehow seemed to only have a tourists understanding and described himself as a primitive. Theroux doesn’t try to inhabit and understand his characters, he simply writes thinly veiled versions of himself.

The overall tone of the book is, an American tourist who would rather eat at McDonalds than try the local cuisine.

A chore to read. Mark454 1 follower

There's a lot here!

The last 2/3 is basically a novel of the diplomatic service in episode form. Involving characters, a firm sense of "not around here." I'd to have a friend that did the same thing look at it. Spencer832 5

4.5. Intricately stories. Beautiful writing. Theroux is a master craftsman. Rachel12

There are some pretty ugly characterizations, though - the author, many of his generation, is skilled at molding his own prejudice into a character. Particularly the self-loathing East Indian. Still, I enjoyed this collection as markers of a particular time. They are beautifully written, and of course not everything has changed since. DyahAuthor 1 book5

waktu itu lagi pengen nulis buku ttg buildings and places, and my sister recommended that I read Paul Theroux's books. Berhubung bukunya tebel-tebel, jadi aku pinjem yang collected stories. Sempet baca beberapa cerita pertama. Kind of d it. Tapi ga habis...fiksi unfinished Kat O433 4

Only got through the first 1/4 of the book, but I loved it! Will pick it back up some time soon. Pending library fees :) Frederick Bingham1,086

A collection of short stories. I listened to about half of them on cassette. I lost interest thereafter. Eleanor Schmidt138 1 follower

I do not always short stories but these were wonderful Laura Hamilton38 1 follower

Mostly good. Some quite gripping, with surprise endings. Some utterly boring. I enjoyed the Consul's Files series of stories the most out of all of them. Jason69 6

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