Blinding Light by Paul Theroux

Blinding Light, Paul Theroux.  New York: Houghton Mifflin Company/ First Mariner Books, 2005, 2006.  e-book, 440 pps.



     Slade Steadman, an author who had written one bestseller a couple of decades ago and gotten rich off of a line of clothing and a movie and other spinoffs, had been unsuccessful in his endeavor to write a second book.  The editor wanted more of the same but he wasn't able to produce.  He and an ex-girlfriend took a [tourist trap sort of] trip to the Ecuadorian jungle to a remote village and the offering of an hallucinogenic drug.  The experience changes Slade and illuminates the foibles of others in a new light for him.  His writer's block dissolves and as a side benefit, he gets his ex-girlfriend back.  

sapphoq reviews says:  I especially enjoyed Paul Theroux's not so subtle poking at the insincerity involved in the travel industry-- the allure of exotic lands and strange experiences so that tourists would have a story to tell at parties.  Although Blinding Light was given to extensive interior monologues, these monologues added to the novel.  There are also many pages devoted to the recall of various sexual experiences which had partially defined Slade Steadman.  These are not to be missed.  Paul Theroux has proven his versatility in writing slow, steamy sex scenes.  I also liked the peripheral involvement of President Clinton and that various [actual life] authors were on the list of party invites.

     Fans of Paul Theroux's travelogues really ought to give his fiction a fair reading.  I loved Blinding Light!  A super book.  Highly recommended for fans of Theroux and for any mature adult who does not object to fiction which borders on the confessional.