Call number
MYST THE
Collection
Genres
Publication
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade (2010), 288 pages
Description
When Jerry Delfont, a travel writer with writer's block, receives a letter from an American philanthropist, Mrs Merrill Unger, with news of a scandal involving an Indian friend of her son's, he is sufficiently intrigued to pursue the story. Who is the dead boy found on the floor of a cheap hotel room, how and why did he die?
Media reviews
He investigates his only evidence, the victim’s “dead hand,” which has no fingerprints. This enigma leads him to a sordid underworld in which child labor is exploited and casual cruelty is visited upon the most vulnerable in Indian society. A novel of extremes—rationality and obsession,
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humanitarianism and selfishness, ecstasy and heartlessness. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member nemoman
This book is not up to the standard of Theroux's best fiction. It's as if Theroux said to himself: murder mysteries look easy to write - I think I will try one. In any event the words "dead hand" in the title refer both to the protagonist - a travel writer suffering writer's block - and a clue to a
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murder. Although the book does not succeed as great fiction, it does succeed in being wonderfully evocative of India. Think of it as fictional travel writing - Theroux's true metier. In this way, the book reminds me of Cuba And The Night by Pico Iyer. This is a like work of failed fiction by a great travel writer, which book nevertheless beautifully captures a sense of place. For a chuckle, Theroux also works his real persona in as a travel writer. Show Less
LibraryThing member AnnB2013
Had a real problem with the main female character and the hero's infatuation. Just didn't ring true.
LibraryThing member readyreader
I enjoyed the setting and descriptions of Calcutta; I liked the mystery within the story; I did not enjoy the painful paragraphs dealing with the protagonist's feelings, reactions, and longings for Mrs. Unger. I found it very repetitious and felt it would have made a great suspenseful mystery if
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Mr. Theroux had developed that theme more and spent less time describing the writer's almost "adolescent" obsession with the saintly philanthropist. Hard to believe all that. I felt other characters could have been developed more fully to add to the plot and I kept reading because I wanted it to meet my expectations. It did not. Show Less
LibraryThing member Lonsing
A good read. The story had me intrigued and I finished reading it in two sittings as I wanted to know if my suspicion would be confirmed.
LibraryThing member RRHowell
He writes well, but overall this is not my kind of story. More sex than I like, a mystery I never got all that involved in. I would not recommend it as a way to learn more about India.
On the other hand, assorted paragraphs about the writer's life, travel writing, writer's block, and a visit between
On the other hand, assorted paragraphs about the writer's life, travel writing, writer's block, and a visit between
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the narrator and Paul Theroux were very interesting. Show Less
LibraryThing member YogiABB
"A Dead Hand" is a murder mystery. Jerry Dalfont, a travel writer with writer's block, a "dead hand," is in Calcutta at loose ends since he cannot write. He is summoned by Mrs. Unger, an rich American philanthropist, to solve the mystery of the body of a small boy discovered in the hotel room of
As he works on the mystery Unger works on him. She takes him under wing and teaches him all about Trantric massages and reveals her Hindu side. In the meantime Dalfont works with the local police and pokes around a little on his own.
An interesting part of the book is when Dalfont meets the famous travel writer, Paul Theroux, in Calcutta. Theroux is not too complimentary of himself in the encounter. I had never read a writer writing himself in the story before.
The book was ok but I definitely didn't love it. It needed a little less Tantric sex and lot more story and character development. The book telegraphs the end pretty far out. I rate this 1.5 stars out of 4. I love Theroux's non-fiction but I've never quite got into his fiction.
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one of her employees.As he works on the mystery Unger works on him. She takes him under wing and teaches him all about Trantric massages and reveals her Hindu side. In the meantime Dalfont works with the local police and pokes around a little on his own.
An interesting part of the book is when Dalfont meets the famous travel writer, Paul Theroux, in Calcutta. Theroux is not too complimentary of himself in the encounter. I had never read a writer writing himself in the story before.
The book was ok but I definitely didn't love it. It needed a little less Tantric sex and lot more story and character development. The book telegraphs the end pretty far out. I rate this 1.5 stars out of 4. I love Theroux's non-fiction but I've never quite got into his fiction.
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LibraryThing member cameling
Known for his travel essays, Paul releases a novel that takes us to the hidden areas of Calcutta not commonly visited by tourists. A travel writer with writer's block, receives a letter that intrigues him. He decides to visit the author of the letter and in doing so, he is unwittingly drawn into a
Who's the dead boy? Why was he sought out to help? Who really is this mysterious rich woman who seems to do so much for the poor children in India? What really lies behind the iron gates of her mansion? What is her son hiding?
Theroux has a wonderful way of describing places and scenes that is so evocative you feel as if you're there. You feel the heat, the dust and you smell the poverty, the fear and the ecstasy. And just when you're sitting comfortably in the story, he injects a prickling down the back of your neck. Nothing is as they appear, but what are the risks of delving into the mystery to find the truth?
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mysterious woman's web of tantric massages, the slums of Calcutta, orphaned children, rescued children, temple sacrifices, oh and a dead body wrapped in a carpet that appeared one evening in an Indian boy's hotel room.Who's the dead boy? Why was he sought out to help? Who really is this mysterious rich woman who seems to do so much for the poor children in India? What really lies behind the iron gates of her mansion? What is her son hiding?
Theroux has a wonderful way of describing places and scenes that is so evocative you feel as if you're there. You feel the heat, the dust and you smell the poverty, the fear and the ecstasy. And just when you're sitting comfortably in the story, he injects a prickling down the back of your neck. Nothing is as they appear, but what are the risks of delving into the mystery to find the truth?
Show Less
LibraryThing member thiscatsabroad
This dead hand was ham-fisted: a slow-moving, lethargic, repetitious mystery with no sympathetic characters (apart from the Indian chambermaids) and a denouement which felt like a deus ex machina. Ughhhhh.
LibraryThing member ivanfranko
Another good read from Paul Theroux. Set in Kolkata, this is a murder mystery that features a writer at a loose end who is cajoled into investigating the crime by a woman of mystery. She's a tantric masseuse and Mr. Theroux devotes much space to three occasions where he is conveyed to ecstasy by Ma
The descriptive skills are still as sharp as ever. The stinks and crumbling buildings of the old city of the Raj are a backdrop to the barely suppressed anger and desperately mean struggle for survival of Kolkata's citizens.
One of the features of the novel is the writer's meeting with Paul Theroux. It's a not flattering self portrait which also suggests mistrust and game playing among authors on the make. Mother Teresa comes in for some criticism some of which may be justified, but not, I think, for her provision of a hospice for the indigent of Kolkata. The writer faults her for her doing this at the expense of providing for abandoned children.
For all that, I love the ease with which my interest is held every time I pick up a Theroux novel
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Unger.The descriptive skills are still as sharp as ever. The stinks and crumbling buildings of the old city of the Raj are a backdrop to the barely suppressed anger and desperately mean struggle for survival of Kolkata's citizens.
One of the features of the novel is the writer's meeting with Paul Theroux. It's a not flattering self portrait which also suggests mistrust and game playing among authors on the make. Mother Teresa comes in for some criticism some of which may be justified, but not, I think, for her provision of a hospice for the indigent of Kolkata. The writer faults her for her doing this at the expense of providing for abandoned children.
For all that, I love the ease with which my interest is held every time I pick up a Theroux novel
Show Less
Awards
Bad Sex in Fiction Award (Shortlist — 2009)
Pages
288
ISBN
0547260245 / 9780547260242