Rating: 
Summary: Two lives, one person
Review: Ah, the sweet wanderlust of life. Despite having lived on three continents, I've never considered myself particularly prone to picking up my life and moving along at the drop of a hat. But Andre Parent, the narrator of Paul Theroux's novel My Secret History seems to relish doing exactly that, and reading along with him it's not hard at all to understand why. We meet Andre as a teenager, at home in a world he doesn't like very much, unsure of where he's going and who he is. He's conflicted between his desire to make out with girls and to join the priesthood, even though both make him uncomfortable. He's not a particularly nice person, nor is he a mean one. What he is, more than anything, is a secretive one (hence the title).The story is told in six parts, each at a phase of his life. He recovers from his interest in the priesthood and gets over his hesitancy with girls as he grows older and works his way through the world. Once old enough, he's off for Africa in the fledgling Peace Corps organization where he's the industrious headmaster of a school during the week and a hard boozing Romeo on the weekends. From the viewpoint of the plot, this doesn't sound like much. Okay, guy is born, grows up, and moves away. But as usual, it's the personality and personal focus of the narrator that make it come alive. We the reader are taken along with him into both of his lives wherever he happens to be, and it's a treat to be invited along.
Rating:
Summary: Two lives, one person
Review: Ah, the sweet wanderlust of life. Despite having lived on three continents, I've never considered myself particularly prone to picking up my life and moving along at the drop of a hat. But Andre Parent, the narrator of Paul Theroux's novel My Secret History seems to relish doing exactly that, and reading along with him it's not hard at all to understand why. We meet Andre as a teenager, at home in a world he doesn't like very much, unsure of where he's going and who he is. He's conflicted between his desire to make out with girls and to join the priesthood, even though both make him uncomfortable. He's not a particularly nice person, nor is he a mean one. What he is, more than anything, is a secretive one (hence the title). The story is told in six parts, each at a phase of his life. He recovers from his interest in the priesthood and gets over his hesitancy with girls as he grows older and works his way through the world. Once old enough, he's off for Africa in the fledgling Peace Corps organization where he's the industrious headmaster of a school during the week and a hard boozing Romeo on the weekends. From the viewpoint of the plot, this doesn't sound like much. Okay, guy is born, grows up, and moves away. But as usual, it's the personality and personal focus of the narrator that make it come alive. We the reader are taken along with him into both of his lives wherever he happens to be, and it's a treat to be invited along.
Rating: 
Summary: Rich characters, weak character
Review: As a former Peace Corps volunteer in Africa (and a Catholic) I found myself identifying with this author. He writes vividly and at times so richly describes landscapes I have encountered I felt I was visiting them again. His male Peace Corps Volunteer was dead-on (not much has changed from the 60's to the 90's in that respect) - many American men I knew in Africa behaved similarly, but with Theroux I was disappointed in his character. I kept wondering - how much of this is real and how much fiction. I was angry with his dismissive attitude of women - "anything I want" - and later, his too soon forgiving wife. Women seemed ornaments to him - as were many characters and even locations in this novel - richly described, but only in terms of their utility to him. When no longer needed, the strongest of women looked weak - particulary Eve. In the end, I felt sorry for Andre, but I wanted to read more. Theroux is a gifted writer, despite Andre's (or was it Paul's) treatment of women. I found this book very hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Rich characters, weak character
Review: As a former Peace Corps volunteer in Africa (and a Catholic) I found myself identifying with this author. He writes vividly and at times so richly describes landscapes I have encountered I felt I was visiting them again. His male Peace Corps Volunteer was dead-on (not much has changed from the 60's to the 90's in that respect) - many American men I knew in Africa behaved similarly, but with Theroux I was disappointed in his character. I kept wondering - how much of this is real and how much fiction. I was angry with his dismissive attitude of women - "anything I want" - and later, his too soon forgiving wife. Women seemed ornaments to him - as were many characters and even locations in this novel - richly described, but only in terms of their utility to him. When no longer needed, the strongest of women looked weak - particulary Eve. In the end, I felt sorry for Andre, but I wanted to read more. Theroux is a gifted writer, despite Andre's (or was it Paul's) treatment of women. I found this book very hard to put down.
Rating: 
Summary: Biography disguised as a novel?
Review: Authors who write novels in an autobiographical style such as this often claim that people misinterpret their fiction as events that have actually happened to the writer in their actual lives. Evidently Paul Theroux has encountered this problem with 'My Secret History', an novel that traces the teenage, young adult and early married life of Andre Parent, an adventurous and somewhat of a lonely character who fumbles his way towards establishing a writing career. The alter ego of Theroux himself we are tempted to ask? Clearly people have done this, as he writes an author's note at the beginning, quoting Evelyn Waugh - 'I am not I: thou art not he or she: they are not they.'
This is interesting as the character of Andre Parent is a well drawn, subtly crafted creation who reveals his secret ambitions, ideas and opinions in the novel while his life lurches into increasingly difficult waters. The opening sections of the book tackle an often covered theme in autobiographical writing - that of the sensitive young man who reads Dante whilst struggling with difficult issues of awakening sexual awareness and young love. Then Parent's life and personality changes course rather dramatically as he becomes a Peace Corps volunteer in a remote part of post Colonial Africa. In his later years, Parent - now an established writer and traveller finds that the hitherto separate streams of his secret life and the life he reveals to others become muddied as he grapples with the consequences of extra marital affairs - both his own and his wife's.
The episodical style of the novel reinforces the rather disjointed nature of Parent's personality. At once we see the whole, yet distinct parts of his early life and the manner in which his personality develops is too fragmentary (for example, in four years from nervous and scholarly lifeguard to rampant sexual conqueror in pre Aids Africa) to be entirely convincing. It is as if Theroux had the idea for an autobiography (certainly the places Parent visit are often those that Theroux himself has visited for significant periods over the course of his life, as Theroux acknowledges), shirked away from it for whatever reason then crafted this novel which takes genuine events from his own life then hashes them up and creates fiction out of the pieces.
Not that there is anything wrong with this type of writing. Although the central character may not be entirely convincing, My Secret History is well worth reading for its elegant yet simple storytelling which illuminates countries in the style of the best travel writing and the difficulties of human relationships, as seen from the perspective of a man who can come closer than most to claiming, as Parent describes in the final chapter, to having 'two of everyhing'.
Rating:
Summary: Well crafted but.......
Review: Blah. I still don't know what to think of this book. I haven't read anything else by Theroux, and after this read I have no desire to. While the prose is well written and the form of the story well crafted, I found myself getting bored with this novel. It started off well enough, with young Andre and the priests, and I thought I would really like it. But then Andre becomes such an idiot, and an unsympathetic one at that. By the time he's in London, this character is getting on my nerves, in a vague, boring sort of way. Like an annoying acquaintance whose always hanging around and never knows when to shut up already and leave well enough alone. Characters like Andre (and therefore Theroux himself?) taste common and done; they find motivation only in the illusion of the sheer force of their macho-ness, while pretending to observe the world from a distant and ironic perspective. Not that this isn't a legitimate tact, but others authors tackle it with far more humour and fun. John Irving comes to mind, as does Margaret Atwood, who writes from the distant, ironic, feminine perspective. I realize this a personal opinion, however, and I can see the talent behind Theroux's writing. I just don't care about his writting, that's all
Rating:
Summary: A Multi-Faceted Masterpiece
Review: Outstanding biographical work by Theroux, couched as fiction to allow for creative license. The book takes you through the world of Andre Parent, a writer who travels Africa and Europe, living the surface life of an upstanding individual, concealing the secret life of an energized sexually charged vagabond. Chapter 1 (Altar Boy) is about Andre's coming of age, and outgrowing his parents expectations. Chapter 2 (Whale Steaks) covers his oscilation between his love of a slightly older girlfriend, and his fascination with someone from his parent's generation. Chapter 3 (African Girls) talks about his adventures in the peace corps, largely oriented around sleeping with the local girls. Chapter 4 (Bush Baby) is the continuing story of his adventures, including some encounters with a V.S. Naipul lookalike. (Interesting as Naipul was a major influence on Theroux's career) Chapter 5 (Leaving Siberia) has a double meaning. It is about Parent physically leaving Siberia on a travel writing trip, and an emotional exit from Siberia after learning of his wife's infidelity. Chapter 6 (Two of Everything) is about the double life that Parent lives - one with his wife, and another with his mistress. It chronicles an identical trip through India with both women. This is an example of him becoming what he had previously abhored. The book is well written on several levels. It vividly takes you into the peace corps, and through Africa. It also has a lot of subtly, as the character first repeats his own mistakes, and then repeats the mistakes he dislikes in others. The disappointment with his eventual success (be careful what you ask for as you might get it) on both the large and small levels are told with a straight face, adding to the believability of the character. The book is 500 pages of a quick energizing read. Well worth the time invested.
Rating:
Summary: Tour De Force
Review: Outstanding biographical work by Theroux, couched as fiction to allow for creative license. The book takes you through the world of Andre Parent, a writer who travels Africa and Europe, living the surface life of an upstanding individual, concealing the secret life of an energized sexually charged vagabond. Chapter 1 (Altar Boy) is about Andre's coming of age, and outgrowing his parents expectations. Chapter 2 (Whale Steaks) covers his oscilation between his love of a slightly older girlfriend, and his fascination with someone from his parent's generation. Chapter 3 (African Girls) talks about his adventures in the peace corps, largely oriented around sleeping with the local girls. Chapter 4 (Bush Baby) is the continuing story of his adventures, including some encounters with a V.S. Naipul lookalike. (Interesting as Naipul was a major influence on Theroux's career) Chapter 5 (Leaving Siberia) has a double meaning. It is about Parent physically leaving Siberia on a travel writing trip, and an emotional exit from Siberia after learning of his wife's infidelity. Chapter 6 (Two of Everything) is about the double life that Parent lives - one with his wife, and another with his mistress. It chronicles an identical trip through India with both women. This is an example of him becoming what he had previously abhored. The book is well written on several levels. It vividly takes you into the peace corps, and through Africa. It also has a lot of subtly, as the character first repeats his own mistakes, and then repeats the mistakes he dislikes in others. The disappointment with his eventual success (be careful what you ask for as you might get it) on both the large and small levels are told with a straight face, adding to the believability of the character. The book is 500 pages of a quick energizing read. Well worth the time invested.
Rating:
Summary: A Multi-Faceted Masterpiece
Review: The prequal to his acclaimed *My Other Life*, *My Secret History* is also a masterful work of narrative and characterization, imbued with grace, humor, and humanity. It demonstrates a young man's coming-of-age stuggles more astutely than any book I've read, and while it's easier to read than the later book, it's just as poignant: we often rather smugly hide behind our baggage and consider younger people frivolous because of inexperience, or somehow incapable of love. Theroux shows that they *do* feel love, of romance, friendship, respect--and these emotions form the measuring sticks by which all our subsequent experiences will be measured. Moreover, the book itself is an act of love--of writing and of living. It has made me value my own life more fully, through pages that made me relate, reflect, laugh, and read until dawn, and then, the better for it, get up and start writing, myself. And living. Just read the tender, blunt and beautiful first section, and I seriously doubt you'll stop.
Rating: 
Summary: Tedious, disappointing
Review: Theroux is good with words, and the first section, dealing with the semi-autobiographical narrator's youth, is a satisfying read. Then the protagonist grows up. He becomes a dull, selfish, philanderer, and the tone of the writing itself seems more plodding as well. Theroux's narrator is a womanizer, which is forgiveable, but unfortunately he's also a supercilious bore, which is not. The book carries no urgency, and there are better examples of the detached, clinical wife-cheater to be had. V.S. Naipul makes a promising psuedonymous cameo, but qucikly disappears back into the oatmeal-prose. Yawn. William Vollman covers the same ground with more skill, and dare I say it, heart.
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