Mr Bones: Twenty Stories - Softcover

Theroux, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0241146755 ISBN 13: 9780241146750

Publisher: Hamish Hamilton, 2014

Synopsis

Mr Bones is a sparkling and darkly humorous collection of short stories by bestselling novelist and travel writer Paul Theroux.

A family watches, horrified, as their patriarch transforms into the wise-cracking lead of an old-timey minstrel show. An art collector gleefully destroys his most valuable pieces. A young artist devotes himself to a wealthy, malicious gossip, knowing that it's just a matter of time before she turns on him.

In this new collection of short stories, Paul Theroux explores the tenuous leadership of the elite and the surprising revenge of the overlooked. He shows us humanity possessed, consumed by its own desires, always with his carefully honed eye and the subtle idiosyncrasies that bring his characters to life.

'As cool as Somerset Maugham . . . as observant, intuitive, wry, inventive and eloquent as Graham Greene' Sunday Times
'Theroux is fluent, witty and almost faultlessly able to deliver a satisfying story' Melvyn Bragg
'One of the most accomplished and worldly-wise writers of his generation' The Times

Paul Theroux's books include The Last Train to Zona Verde, Dark Star Safari, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, Riding the Iron Rooster, The Great Railway Bazaar, The Elephanta Suite, A Dead Hand, The Tao of Travel and The Lower River. The Mosquito Coast and Dr Slaughter have both been made into successful films. Paul Theroux divides his time between Cape Cod and the Hawaiian islands.

About this title

Review:

Twenty delicious tales . . . from the off, this collection had me grinning. Scattered with gems infused with Theroux's international knowledge (Big Issue)

Plumbing the depths of eccentricity and violence swilling beneath the surface of ordinary American life, Theroux understands, often with devastating effect, how dramas both big and small can produce catastrophic and lasting psychological consequences (Guardian)

Quirky, unpredictable fun and pure literary entertainment (Sunday Sport)

With its unsettling strangeness, precisely drawn characters and geographical sweep, Mr Bones is a psychologically complex, vastly enjoyable and nuanced collection by a writer in complete control of his art (Financial Times)

There's more than a whiff of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness about these tales, by turns savage, funny, unsettling (The Times)

Skilful and unsettling (Independent)

Mr Bones is a series of characteristically dark and sharply focused snapshots from the world that Paul Theroux has observed - and ­invented (New York Times)

Suave and accomplished (Washington Times)

Mr Bones showcases the author's virtuoso storytelling abilities, as he tells stories of tricky situations, slippery personalities and unsettling motives (Seattle Times)

Misfits and twisted individuals loom large throughout these urbane stories . . . satirically edged. (The Culture)

From the Back Cover:

Suave and accomplished . . . [The stories] are unsettling, resistant to tidy denouement and faintly misanthropic. Washington Post

Beneath the deceptive elegance of these stories, land mines lurk, and Theroux detonates them with gusto. O, the Oprah Magazine

A family watches their patriarch transform into the singing, wisecracking lead of an old-timey minstrel show. An art collector publicly destroys his most valuable pieces. Two boys stand by as their father wages war on the raccoons living under their house. In this new collection, acclaimed author Paul Theroux shows us humanity possessed, consumed by compulsive desire, always with his carefully honed eye for detail and the subtle idiosyncrasies that bring his characters to life. Searing, dark, and sure to unsettle, Mr. Bones is a stunning display of Theroux s fluent, faintly sinister powers of vision and imagination (The New Yorker).

Fans of Theroux s fiction will be pleased to observe, in the twenty stories collected in Mr. Bones, clear evidence of how little he has mellowed over time . . . Mr. Bones is a series of characteristically dark and sharply focused snapshots from the world that Paul Theroux has observed and invented. Francine Prose, New York Times Book Review

PAUL THEROUX is the author of many highly acclaimed books. His novels include The Lower River and The Mosquito Coast, and his renowned travel books include Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and Dark Star Safari. He lives in Hawaii and on Cape Cod."

About this edition

• Publisher: Hamish Hamilton
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0241146755
• ISBN 13: 9780241146750
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368