Set in Nsanje, Malawi. Reviewed on 2018/05: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi-5ODvl4SB/
#welltraveled and former #peacecorps explorer himself #therouxinvites us to take a plunge down #memorylane . Unlike most #travelwritingfrom insufferable peace corps alumni, #thelowerriver aims for the shattered and rude awakening of the return. #malawi is the set for this novel. However that place where you lived the best years of your life, where you imagine your best self to remain alive forever could be pretty much anywhere and doesn’t even need to be a geographical location. #ellishock our main character desperately dreams to #return to that place and time in his past life: #postindependence Malawi and more specifically a small village called #malabo in the southernmost tip of the country. However he returns to a predictable #nightmare , to a ruined fantasy. And I’m not saying that to be in any way condescending to Malawi at all. I think Theroux transcends the geographical location to shatter our idealistic and ultimately obnoxious idea of places, people, ways and lives remaining frozen in time and anxiously expecting our return. The same way he returns to Malawi as a different man, the people and the village have inevitably changed as well. The tribulations of him awakening to the new reality and his eventual #wayout give some interesting twists to an otherwise predictable book. I do however still want to read more of Theroux in the coming future. #nyasaland #blantyre #americanliterature#fightingsnakes #sena #nsanje#marinerbooks
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