Rating: 
Summary: Theroux's Finest Work--in ANY medium
Review: *My Other Life* is a unique and brilliantly executed masterpiece that defies genre classification, and is, for me, Paul Theroux's best work and greatest book, superior to his earlier *My Secret History*. The writing is fluid and tight, the stories poignant, sad, and hilarious--and while people often criticize Theroux for being self-indulgent or even monomaniacal, the human insights found in the present volume are as powerful as they are because of the narrator's simultaneous involvement and detachment, which provide for wonderful character sketches and evocative descriptions, the likes of which the author himself has never executed better.More than with any other book I've ever read, including those by Paul Theroux, this book absolutely defies classification: it is at once a novel (as it's billed), a work of creative nonfiction, a memoir/autobiography, a "travel" book, a collection of vignettes, of essays, of connected short stories, and a work of literary criticism. Theroux is very prolific and has written in all of these mediums, but *My Other Life* manages to be the best work he's done in any of them AT THE SAME TIME! Moreover, this is certainly one of the greatest books on the art of writing and publishing ever written--EVERY aspiring writer would do well to read it. I quite simply LOVE this book, and rate it among the best I've ever read. More to the point, I can honestly say that this is one of the very, very few books that has actually changed my life, and for the better. And it's an easy, fun, quick read--genius in the guise of talent. I've taken from it new ways of seeing the world, new possibilities--and from my own narrow and limited focuses, new ways of seeing my life. There is not a word wasted here, nor is there a sentence too much--*My Other Life* shows the potentialities implicit in every moment, and the importance involved in the responsibilities of being human.
Rating: 
Summary: The first words that come to mind are...
Review: ...self-indulgent...But that would be too harsh and can't go without explanation. The book is essentially 456 pages of Theroux (fictional or autobiographical, it doesn't matter) whining...about his writing or lack of it, about his poverty and lack of success as a writer, about people he doesn't like or doesn't understand (usually those with more money or success than himself). You get the idea. After the first hundred pages or so, I knew where the whole thing was going: this 'novel' (better defined as a collection of loosely related short stories) serves to convey an oblique account of the steady disintegration of Theroux's marriage and how he comes to grips with it and gets on with his life afterwards. He takes his time getting to the point, though, and this hurts. Meanwhile, he spends a great many words complaining about the English, directly or indirectly. Which is perhaps the book's only truly entertaining irony, as he writes in such a very British way that I hardly heard his (allegedly) 'American' voice until very late in the book. Even then, he frequently used accidental Britishisms...no American writer would write 'Cocoa Puffs' and then feel obliged to explain that it was a breakfast cereal, and no American would note that a man 'has a sport' when he means to say that he works out regularly. Conspicously lacking amid this whine-fest are any solid recollections of his success stories (again, whether fictional or autobiographical, the result is the same). We never hear about the joy of landing a publishing contract, of having a book turned into a movie, of the satisfaction of shepherding his children toward adulthood, of his great travel experiences and sexual flings. We only hear about the bad parts. He was underpaid here; he was underappreciated there. His sexual escapades almost always end in inept frustration. This went wrong, that was miserable, this fell apart, on and on. Taken at face value, one wouldn't know from this book what a success Theroux has really been (even the fictional version). However, it does have it's good moments. Technically, the writing is excellent, especially when he turns his attention to describing a scene in physical detail - the train ride to Moyo, and the depth of detail in Medford come readily to mind. There are a few very nice chapters, especially in the second half of the book. 'Forerunners' is charming and very clever, if heavily telegraphed, and 'George and Me' is right on. 'Medford - Next 3 Exits' almost worth the price of the book. I'm still scratching my head over the TIME review blurb on the cover "...a seriously funny novel," as the humor in this book is "minuscule," as Paul's Uncle Hal might say. I give it three stars, but don't recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: I don't usually like short stories but these are great
Review: Although an admirer of Paul Theroux I'm not a short story fan. Here in The Hague where I live, the selection of English books is some what thin and so I unenthusiastically picked up this book. I was delighted and surprised. These stories are fabulous. The guy's a genius. Perhaps, not always a nice one but certainly an interesting one. He covers all stages of maturity right up to middle age. First as an idealistic, slightly obnoxious Peace Corps volunteer, to a loving, contented, purposeful husband and father, to a floundering middle aged man--with lots of stuff in between. He sees it all and gets it right. He writes as if he's looking through a microscope. As I read this book I kept thinking how scarey it would be to meet Mr. Theroux. Nothing would go unnoticed, not the extra ten pounds of slovenlyness, nor the wrinkles, nor the haggard appearance and jaded outlook. I was forever saying YES to myself as a read, as in, Yes, that's exactly how it feels, how it looks, how seems, how it is.
Rating:
Summary: The first words that come to mind are...
Review: But only in a post-structuralist sort of way. The self-consciousness makes this otherwise finely-written book uneven; it's a collection of memoir essays collected in a pastiche, actually, Theroux's version of *The Benny Poda Years* (or vice-versa). And after a while, one grows a little tired of the "fiction" pose in BOTH narrators'lives--after all, autobiography itself has a lengthy and healthy legacy of inspiring the Reader's suspension of disbelief.
Rating:
Summary: He Might *Say* It's Not *Him*, But...
Review: But only in a post-structuralist sort of way. The self-consciousness makes this otherwise finely-written book uneven; it's a collection of memoir essays collected in a pastiche, actually, Theroux's version of *The Benny Poda Years* (or vice-versa). And after a while, one grows a little tired of the "fiction" pose in BOTH narrators'lives--after all, autobiography itself has a lengthy and healthy legacy of inspiring the Reader's suspension of disbelief.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for Paul Theroux fans
Review: Having lived in several of the countries Mr. Theroux has written about, including Malaysia, Singapore and U.K. and also being
a great fan of his favorite authors like V.S. Naipaul and
Graham Greene,I highly recommend "My Other Life" to anyone who is interested in the inner life of a writer. This book is certainly one of his best and mirrors his own growth in both
his personal and professional lives. I was afraid that this book would bore me, having already read "My Secret History",
but I have to say that this book only increased my appreciation for Mr. Theroux as a writer. His abilities in
self analysis and in being able to weave a complex story in a thoroughly readable manner makes him one of the most interesting authors around. Whether Mr. Theroux is trying to
coyly deceive us into believing that "My Other Life" is only
fiction or whether he is only tantalizing us with semi truths
is unimportant. This book will keep you wondering at his
ever increasing skills as a writer and have you only begging for more.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for Paul Theroux fans
Review: Having lived in several of the countries Mr. Theroux has written about, including Malaysia, Singapore and U.K. and also beinga great fan of his favorite authors like V.S. Naipaul and Graham Greene,I highly recommend "My Other Life" to anyone who is interested in the inner life of a writer. This book is certainly one of his best and mirrors his own growth in both his personal and professional lives. I was afraid that this book would bore me, having already read "My Secret History", but I have to say that this book only increased my appreciation for Mr. Theroux as a writer. His abilities in self analysis and in being able to weave a complex story in a thoroughly readable manner makes him one of the most interesting authors around. Whether Mr. Theroux is trying to coyly deceive us into believing that "My Other Life" is only fiction or whether he is only tantalizing us with semi truths is unimportant. This book will keep you wondering at his ever increasing skills as a writer and have you only begging for more.
Rating: 
Summary: I loved the book, But. . .
Review: I "read" My Other Life - A Novel in this full Audio Book form and loved it. You have to get by his oversized ego and a personality that I am not sure I could live with. At times he is so self contradictory and you want to yell at him "You are so full of S___!!" That being said he weaves a wonderful story (really a collection of short stories) which must be mostly autobiographical. I have read several of his other books and liked "Riding the Iron Rooster" the best. I found "The Kingdom by the Sea" to drag out unmercifully but the portions of "My Other Life" that deal with writing that book put it in a whole new perspective. If most of the book is his real life (as it seems) it is no wonder that he ended up as he did in the end.
Rating:
Summary: My Other Life
Review: I believe this is Paul Theroux's best "fiction" effort to date. "My Other Life" is a quasi-memoir, built around short stories -- the big and illuminating moments around which people eventually construct their personal histories. Theroux claims it is a book of fiction, and perhaps it is. But the main character's name is Paul Theroux, and his experiences and titled output very much resemble the author's. From Cape Cod, where Theroux recounts a boyhood relationship with a secretly extraordinary uncle, to East Africa, where he teaches English to lepers, to Singapore and poetry lessons for a talentless war merchant, to London, where his career and ambition begin to soar, and then back again to Massachusetts, where his doldrums bring him into the orbit of both strangers and old friends. How closely does this narrative follow Theroux's actually life events? Who knows? Maybe VS Naipaul does.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful but uneven life, sorry book.
Review: I found My Other Life a wonderful but uneven book. Its premise is very original: It may or may not be the author, Paul Theroux, autobiography. He describes it as "the story of a life I could have lived had things been different". But the reader feels that the fictional memories are not that fictional after all. As you read it you might feel that Theroux would like some things to be different, but not even a writer can erase and change his past. If I said that My Other life is a uneven book its because the first chapters are fascinating. I loved the young Paul as a young hopeful writer full of dreams that takes him to the most romantic and idealistic places. He was a writer who thought that to be able to write he must know pain. And a lot of pain. So he goes to live in a leper's colony in India.His life keeps changing as chapters pass. He becomes a a young husband and teacher in Singapore; a doting husband, loving father and young writer in London.But as he approaches middle age, his life and crisis become very boring. The reader misses the young dreamer who has turned in the last chapters into an obnoxious man who can't be faithfull to his wife or to his dreams. Well, thats life. Who is the lucky one who can fulfill the promise of his youth?. Paul Theroux sure is a wonderfull storyteller who can fulfill his readers expectations.
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