The Mosquito Coast

Paul Theroux is a popular American Novelist and travel writer and controversial author whose publications span an epic era from 1967 ("Waldo") to 2012 ("The Lower River'). He was born Paul Edward Theroux in 1941 at Medford Massachusetts. Some of the fictional works of Theroux have been made into feature films; in 1986 the "Mosquito Coast" stared Harrison Ford in the part of Allie Fox. Theroux has described himself as an "angry and agitated young man" in his early 20s when he felt he had to escape the confines of Massachusetts and a hostile U.S. foreign policy, when he joined the Peace Corps and went to Africa. (Interview with Eleanor Wachtel, CBC Radio, 30th International Festival of Authors, Toronto, October 25, 2009). It is arguably notable that Theroux's angry disposition contributed to the themes of his fictional works like `Mosquito Coast" featuring an angry Allie Fox who sees mankind's advancements in science as mostly garbage; innately defective, confirmed to failure. This future apparition leads to Allie's decision to pack up his family and leave an America that he saw as doomed to failure and ultimate destruction for the remote jungle of Honduras. The adventure of Allie Fox together with his wife and four children is narrated by Allie's oldest child, Charlie, a teenager. The story is contrasted by Charlie's innocence, naive understanding and primal fears with those of Allie's brilliance, overstated confidence and fearless disregard. It is not too long into the tale that the reader harbors a feeling that Allie suffers from some psychosis- deceptions of reality. As the story progresses, the reader finds a distinct dichotomy developing between the science that Allie swears he is leaving behind with that which he brings to the remote region of the Honduras jungle utopia that he founds in the settlement of Jeronimo. In addition to devising a settlement with many of the creature comforts that he left behind, Allie's most profound accomplishment is the construction of a giant absorption ice machine named Fat Boy - a prophetic name derived from the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The machine becomes the epitome of a delusional mind that somehow can justify ice in the jungle as necessary and important but cannot conjure the likes of a rope swing for the children to play on. Like Melville's Ahab, Allie cannot see his destructive obsession even in the midst of failure, which he stubbornly insists was his plan all along; until Allie's fate drags him under like Ahab on the white whale. This is a terrific novel adventure and captivating look at the iconoclast Allie Fox and his family as they struggle to survive in a utopian world devised by a deranged but brilliant mind. I highly recommend this novel be added to your reading list and would rate it memorable.

This is a very good book of one mans spiral into insanity and his drive to take his family with him.It leaves you feeling depressed,but is a good story.Excellent narration.

I took this book with me on my honeymoon to the Dominican and read it every spare moment I got. Theroux is an amazing writer and his voice comes out in the novel as a young teen boy who is caught up in his father's madness. Charlie, the narrator, tells the story progressively from the time "Father" uproots this American family only to set them down in the virgin jungles of Honduras. The father is a genius of sorts as well as a Harvard dropout who believes America has become "Hell" in many ways with its capitalism and poison. The father is undoubtedly a very smart man and his innovations and inventions throughout the book are truly believable and amazing. Theroux has a true knack for imagery. Of course, "Mother" and the other children look up to their father and believe everything he says. AS the novel progresses, the father spirals further and further into his own self-made paranoid madness while dragging his family along for the ride. This book is something of a nail biter, though it has its funny moments. Some of the dialogue between the children is really quite humorous. They call each other names like "spackoid," "crummo," and "thicko," which is of course a telltale sign that it was written in the eighties. Nevertheless, as the book nears the end, some severely twisted events occur, events that you will likely hope for and be repulsed by at the same time. It is slightly reminiscent of "Lord of the Flies" in that it shows what isolation from the familiar can do to people. Honduras becomes a most Godless place for the family known as "The Foxes." As far as I'm concerned, the story reads more like a crazy truth than fiction. The dialogues Theroux gives to the natives in the book are very realistic and the situations and emotions are so vivid that you will not be able to put the book down. At least this was the case for me. After having read "The Mosquito Coast," I will definitely read other novels by this author. He is an ingenious writer. The end will surely have you screaming for more, but, if you are one of those light at heart readers who get sore when the ending isn't happy (i.e. unrealistic) I suggest something else. This one may give you nightmares and a certain doubt in humanity. To sum it all up, it is dark in more ways than one and it involves what happens to the impressionable mind of young Charlie when he is made to live day to day in squalor and to follow the laws of a father who is slowly going insane. Don't miss this one!

I won't comment on the book itself for many have done that already but I want to give feedback to those Kindle users who may consider buying the e-book. Obviously like so many, the book was scanned to obtain its digital format. Ostensibly there was no proofreading done after that which considering the many "typos" and transposed characters in words is inexcusable. EX: The capital letter I is often the number 1, The ship's name alternates between Unicorn and Unicom, the list goes on. Now this wouldn't be as big a deal if the writer hadn't written the dialect of some of the characters. EX: experiment=spearmint so as you read along you are baffled by a sentence sometimes which stops you in your tracks while you try to figure out what the author really meant and sometimes you wonder of the dialect is a typo etc. All and all a good book but just wanted to warn those Kindle users who might become a bit irritated by it and would prefer to buy the hard print.

Creepy and captivating exploration of dogma, madness, and toxic masculinity. The story of a hubristic, tyrannical father who takes his family on a journey to Honduras to build a utopia, free from the degradation of capitalism and consumerism. It works perfectly as an audiobook because it's written in first person, narrated by the 14-year-old son, and plays like a vivid memory that crawls through your brain. David Aaron Baker reads beautifully, capturing both the guilelessness and slow dawning of the narrator and the vituperative rants of Father. He reads the latter with a sneering, indignant tone that evokes Jack Nicholson circa Five Easy Pieces, and the former with a gentle, curious voice that brings to mind River Phoenix (who played the son in the film adaptation). The recording is crisp and flawless. Perfect for summer, especially for long walks under the hot sun, as you stroll warily, eyeing the birds overhead.

Beautiful imagery and particularly well written. The character of Allie Fox is everyone's crazy uncle - the one who has all the potential in the world but also a terrible hubris - in Allie's case it's his stubbornness and refusal to listen. I loved the first half of the book, but unfortunately the second half was a bit of a let down. It's as though Paul Theroux planned the novel for everything leading up to the making of ice in the jungles of the Caribbean, and then everything after was a "oh no, how do I finish this?". Essentially it is a story of tragedy, but I feel the tragedy could have been more poignant and less drawn out. The events of the second location on the shores of a lagoon (which were omitted from the movie) were ultimately unnecessary and I believe should have been edited out. Nonetheless the descriptiveness, imagery and character building of Allie Fox mean this is not a novel you will easily forget.

I have read at least one of the author's travelogues (Eastern Star--absolutely wonderful) and I think that they made a movie out of Mosquito Coast so I was eager to read this. The crazy dad is not comfortable in the US so he moves his family (wife and four kids ages 5-13) to the Mosquito Coast (Central America). He strives for a utopia and he's initially successful and aided by a variety of natives. But they stumble across some shady characters and his big invention (there's some science fiction here) runs into difficulty and they move away. The second camp includes a hut that works as a houseboat. The ending is dark and unexpected. It's not the greatest book ever, but there is plenty to make you think and thought-provoking that this independent family ends up receiving a lot of aid throughout. A family of missionaries even plays a role. The Kindle edition has some typos and an extract of a book coming out over the summer.

The story is well written and really puts the reader into the head of the narrator. The story is told from the perspective of a 14-year-old who idolizes his father even with all of the flaws he sees in him. It is also fascinating to watch how the family finds ways to invent or build things they need out of items they scavenge or learn to live without them. Also, I was captivated by the manipulative lengths the father would go to make his point or get his way. I would not recommend this book for children.

It's a brilliant and disturbing novel that describes two narcissistic parents (yes, the mother too) taking their children on a journey of a lifetime. The setting is sublime and harsh. The insanity builds to the inevitable conclusion, with some twists and turns on the way.

Bons acabamentos

cest bonne examplaire de l'autore ecriture nouvelle

映画も良かったけど小説はもっといい。学校では教わらなかったことがここには確かにある。それが読むものを惹きつけてやみません。

Really easy to read. I felt compelled to move on to the next chapter. Brilliantly written. Seems to give a good view of the Miskito Coast which runs along the eastern border of Honduras and Nicaragua. The insight of Charlie, the eldest son of the family, into what is happening as his father moves them to Honduras to escape the destruction than he predicts of the US and his persecution complex is brilliantly written. The conflicting emotions of Charlie and his observations of his mother and siblings reactions as he is both frightened by and loves his father are fascinating. You end up wishing for the death of the father as you feel he will destroy his family and feel he is saving them. Although it never mentions directly that Allie Fox (the father) is mentally ill, the descriptions of his behaviour make that evident in both his genius and his delusion. You feel hot, humid and dirty just from reading of the life in the swamps and jungles.