The Lower River

by Paul Theroux

Hardcover, 2012

Call number

FIC THE

Collection

Fiction

Genres

General Fiction

Publication

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2012), Edition: 1, 336 pages

Description

Ellis Hock never believed that he would return to Africa. He runs an old-fashioned menswear store in a small town in Massachusetts but still dreams of his Eden, the four years he spent in Malawi with the Peace Corps, cut short when he had to return to take over the family business. When his wife leaves him, and he is on his own, he realizes that there is one place for him to go: back to his village in Malawi, on the remote Lower River, where he can be happy again. Arriving at the dusty village, he finds it transformed: the school he built is a ruin, the church and clinic are gone, and poverty and apathy have set in among the people. They remember him--the White Man with no fear of snakes--and welcome him. But is his new life, his journey back, an escape or a trap?… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member kaitanya64

This is an engrossing read, a sort of "what if" kind of speculation. The protagonist finds himself in late middle age with a failing business and a failed marriage. Rudderless, he decides to return to the one place he remembers being truly happy, the rural village in Malawi where he taught school

in the 60s. What he finds seems at first comforting and then gradually reveals a sinister side. The pace picks up and the writing is descriptive but spare, with beautiful use of metaphor and allusion. So why only three stars? While the story is plausible and believable, the way it plays into Western archetypes of Africa as the dark, threatening continent of the subconscious is disturbing. On the merits of the writing, this book deserves more stars, but I just couldn't help but feel Theroux is devoting his formidable skills to retelling a story that has been told many times before by Conrad and others. This is a book about one person's fears and doubts, his struggle with self-image, and how rural Africa presents the last "mirror" in which he can attempt to view himself.

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LibraryThing member annie.michelle

Ellis Hock has had enough. At age 62 he has spent more than enough time in his once succesful but sadly going out of style high end mens clothing store.

His wife has left him and his adult daughter wants nothing from him but his money.

He is adrift with only his dreams of the happiest time in his

life as a young man working in the Peace Corps on the lower river in Africa more than 40 years ago.

Ellis thinks that going back to a happier time in his life will full fill a dream he once thought was lost along with a woman he left behind.

Once in Africa, he feels refreshed & invigerated with a new purpose in life, he will spend his hard earned money on school supplies, canned goods & clothing items for the poor, impoverished peoples of Africa and for the school he built so long ago and hopes is still there.

With no good information or real idea of what is actually happening in Africa and words of caution from the locals about life now on the lower river, he sets off.

When he arrives the place he once knew of course has changed and what happens next is a sad and telling account of one mans delusional venture to try and reclaim the past.

This is a wonderful, very scary and suspenseful tale of the world we live in now, full of fantastic descriptions of a modern Africa the good, the bad and of one lonely sad man.

a 5 star most excellent read for me!

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LibraryThing member amandacb

I was intruiged at the beginning, especially since our main character is an unusual 62-year-old man who is recently divorced. However, the character's (Hock's) behavior is unsettling and I had to stop reading about halfway through. This is a man who begins the book by discussing the numerous

attempted emotional affairs he had. He is a man who visits a remote African village when he is 62 years old and admits to feeling lust for a girl who is at most 16 years old. That just disturbed me, that and the numerous other lustful comments the character made. He is a thoroughly unlikeable character is most aspects and that is a huge downside of ANY novel.

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LibraryThing member mcelhra

The Lower River was Conversati-ohm’s (one of my monthly book clubs) August pick. We had a robust discussion about it even though not everyone liked it. I had mixed feelings about it myself. I didn’t care for most of the characters and that made it hard to like the book overall. Ellis is so

selfish and self-righteous that I couldn’t bring myself to have any sympathy for him when his trip to Malawi didn’t go as planned. At one point, he needs a letter delivered and something extremely awful happens to the deliverer. When Ellis goes to see the person who was supposed to deliver the letter after the awful thing happens, all he can ask about is whether the awful thing happened before the letter got to its destination. That scene literally made me sick to my stomach.

However, Ellis’s selfishness did make me think a lot about Westerners coming to “help” people in third-world countries. What is the true motivation for helping? Is everyone helping out of the goodness of their hearts or because of the feelings of superiority one might get from helping? Are we giving them the help they need or the help WE THINK they need?

Even though I didn’t really enjoy reading this book, it did end up being a good book for discussion purposes and one that I thought about for a while after I finished it.

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LibraryThing member EpicTale

Initially I was very intrigued by the prospect of following middle-aged protagonist Ellis Hock's return to central Africa 40 years after experiencing the time of his life (at least as viewed in the retrospective haze of Hock's those-were-the-days, I-was-the-man memories which he harbored while

sleep-walking through an ordinary and unexciting adulthood) as a young Peace Corps volunteer.

With Hock's return to Malawi, my interest dulled as Theroux's engaging storytelling briefly assumed the stiffness of a National Geographic know-it-all travelogue. Fortunately, once Hock reached his erstwhile home village of Malabo, ambiguity and chance took and kept the stage. Hock's complex, symbiotic relationships with the locals, his journey of doubt, purpose, and self-awareness, and plain old unexpected, exotic twists of plot earned back and kept my attention.

Why Hock stayed in Malabo for more than about three days, though, I couldn't fathom, because he seemed pretty miserable once the brief initial glow of his Hero's Welcome wore off; but his poor choice, however implausible, made for a far better story.

Overall, I thought The Lower River was a decently-written and worthwhile read .

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LibraryThing member EasyEd

Ellis Hock seems a little dimwitted going back to the African town he worked as a Peace Corps volunteer. Thinking all would be the same from where he left off years ago was a rude awakening placing him in a dangerous situation that did intensify as the book progressed. Left me with a feeling of

"what were you thinking about" when you planned this trip.

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LibraryThing member lukespapa

With great clarity, in The Lower River, Paul Theroux achingly depicts a region of Africa that is both dependent and resentful of the aid of NGO’s, celebrities, and former Peace Corps do-gooders like the novel’s protagonist, Ellis Hock. Unfortunately, when independence follows colonization, what

remains are cynicism, corruption, and greed – all in the name of self survival. In the end, everyone is the poorer and the Africa of one’s dreams becomes a nightmare. The reader is left wondering if the best policy is to leave the indigenous cultures alone but then that would be adding insult to injury. Such is the paradox as there can be no atoning for the sins of empires.

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LibraryThing member JBreedlove

Taken from PT's experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer the book is a statement about the futility of helping those who won't help themselves and the harm done by those who want to affect poverty in Africa even when understanding local culture on the ground.
The end saved the book. Good descriptive

writing but I didn't need anymore humiliation of Hock to get the point. PT obviously has a soft spot for Africa.

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LibraryThing member starbox

Ellis Hock is a 62 year old American. His marriage is over, his business is failing...he recalls the happiest time of his life, as a young man in the Peace Corps, teaching in Malawi. He longs to return to that optimistic world of improving the life of a remote village...and returns.
But life there

is very different now, The people are poor, hungry...and resentful of the white aid agences and their superficial "assistance"...even while makingh full use of what they can get.
Theroux has given a negative portrayal of such organizations in his travel books, and I'm sure he has a valid point.
When you finish this (a fair read, somewhat suspenseful as it draws to an end) you'll never weant to visit Malawi...

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