The Elephanta Suite
Paul theroux
Hamish hamilton, 4.50 poundsHe has spent more than 40 years of his life traversing the globe. His journeys have resulted in some of the greatest travel books. From Riding the Iron Rooster and The Great Railway Bazaar to The Old Patagonian Express, Paul Theroux has a fascination for people and places that goes beyond the ordinary. Even when he writes fiction, geography plays an important role. He has often said that one has to become a stranger in order to discover the self. Books like My Secret History, The Mosquito Coast and Kowloon Tong reveal that his characters need to be set down in places that challenge their sense of the normal.

In The Elephanta Suite, it is India’s turn to take centre stage. Theroux uses the format of three novellas — and the suite — to intertwine the lives of American travellers who arrive in the country for different reasons. ‘Monkey Hill’ is about a wealthy couple, Audie and Beth Blunden, who are soaking in the luxuries of a health spa set on the foothills of the Himalayas. They are charmed by Indian hospitality and seduced by its sexuality until they are faced with the ugly side of the village situated right next to their seven-star life. The seat of a disputed religious monument is rife with tension and violence is just a step away. Even the monkeys of Hanuman Giri are startlingly human and strangely predatory. After a reckless act of intimacy, they find themselves exiled and alone with tragic results.

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