The Mosquito Coast, by Paul Theroux
Monday, June 2nd, 2008I’ve just finished reading The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux and it’s a book I’d like to recommend to all. It was first published in 1981 but contains surprisingly up to date themes about global warming, fossil fuels and environmental/social concerns. It’s interesting to see that these things are not as new as we’d assume them to be.
It’s the story of a man, a genius inventor called Allie Fox who takes his family away from America to abandon civilization and live on the Mosquito Coast of Honduras. To begin with you feel like it’s all possible. We can change: abandon our fossil fuels, our wastefulness and self-deceit about the unsustainability of mankind. But like anyone who takes on the world, soon Allie starts to loose his battle to remain sane. To be fair he’s obviously fairly mental from the moment we meet him, but the story follows his descent into madness in the jungle.
Beaten by life, man and nature and mad as a box of frogs he might be. But he never gives up. For me that makes it an amazing read.
