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The Mosquito Coast (Paperback)

~ (Author) "We drove past Tiny Polski's mansion house to the main road, and then the five miles into Northampton, Father talking the whole way about savages..." (more)
Key Phrases: sounding chain, miracle beans, finger stump, The Acre, Francis Lungley, Mosquito Coast (more...)

4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (75 customer reviews)

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Formats		Amazon Price	New from	Used from
Hardcover, Large Print $29.99 Usually ships within 1 to 3 months. Published July 31, 1982	Hardcover, Large Print	$29.99	$29.99	$1.64
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Paperback $10.17 In Stock. Published May 31, 2006	Paperback	$10.17	$3.06	$0.87
Paperback Available from these sellers. Published April 1, 1996	Paperback, April 1, 1996	--	$5.95	$0.01
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Audio, Cassette, Audiobook Published September 17, 2000	Audio, Cassette, Audiobook	--	--	--

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Allie Fox is going to re-create the world. Abominating the cops, crooks, junkies and scavengers of modern America, he abandons civilization and takes the family to live in the Honduran jungle. There his tortured, messianic genius keeps them alive, his hoarse tirades harrying them through a diseased and dirty Eden towards unimaginable darkness. 'An epic of paranoid obsession that swirls the reader headlong to deposit him on a mudbank of horror' - Christopher Wordsworth, "Guardian".

About the Author

Paul Theroux was born in Medford, Massachusetts, in 1941, and published his first novel, Waldo, in 1967. His subsequent novels include Picture Palace, winner of the Whitbread Prize for Fiction, The Mosquito Coast, and the hugely acclaimed, Kowloon Tong. His travel books include The Great Railway Bazaar and The Pillars of Hercules.

Product Details

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (April 1, 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0140060898
ISBN-13: 978-0140060898
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces

Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (75 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #875,518 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category: (What's this?)
#52 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( T ) > Theroux, Paul

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
We drove past Tiny Polski's mansion house to the main road, and then the five miles into Northampton, Father talking the whole way about savages and the awfulness of America - how it got turned into a dope-taking, door-locking, ulcerated danger-zone of rabid scavengers and criminal millionaires and moral sneaks. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
sounding chain, miracle beans, finger stump, fat boy

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Acre, Francis Lungley, Mosquito Coast, United States, Worm Tub, Little Haddy, Santa Rosa, Laguna Miskita, Captain Smalls, The Gardenia, Tiny Polski, Emily Spellgood, Gurney Spellgood, Brewer's Lagoon, Brewer's Village, Cabo Gracias, Rio Sico, Monkey House, Alice Maywit, Bonito Oriental, Central America, Miss Barsotti, Uncle Sam

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Concordance | Text Stats

Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Citations (learn more)

95 books cite this book:

The Family Arsenal by Paul Theroux in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Back Matter
In Search of River Phoenix: The Truth Behind The Myth by Barry C. Lawrence on page 95, page 100, and page 101
Reading Against Culture: Ideology and Narrative in the Japanese Novel by David Pollack in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Back Matter
Blinding Light: A Novel by Paul Theroux in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Back Matter
Moon Honduras (Moon Handbooks) by Chris Humphrey on page 391, and Back Matter

See all 95 books citing this book

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	77% buy the item featured on this page: The Mosquito Coast 4.3 out of 5 stars (75)
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	6% buy Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown 4.0 out of 5 stars (77) $10.85
	5% buy Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar 4.1 out of 5 stars (64) $10.85

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Customer Reviews

75 Reviews

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (75 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inimitable Novel, May 16, 2000

By A Customer

I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a novel with unique characters and an unpredictable plot. This story is told from the point of view of Charlie Fox, son of Allie Fox. Allie is a selfish man who is fed up with American society. He improves upon the "imperfections" of the world with his ingenious inventions. He moves his family to the South American jungle to escape the defective society and create a suitable town of his own. Charlie relates his father's actions through admiring eyes at first, but he soon sees the flaws in his father's civilization. The family suffers many losses and eventually realizes that Allie is not saving them from a faulty society, but he is squelching them from thriving. This is a very well written, detailed novel that has a great deal of suspense. While the story is unique, all can relate to the feelings and thoughts of the characters in this exciting, thought-provoking novel.

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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hubris in a jungle hell, December 15, 1999

By	Doug Vaughn (Washington, Dc USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Paul Theroux never repeats himself and what he chooses to present in each book is quaranteed to surprise anyone who has read any of his other books. In this novel, part travelogue/adventure and part American social critique, the chief character is one of the most fascinating and least likeable figures I have encountered in recent fiction. An American genius with no patience for the opinions of anyone else and a hatred for most of modern life, determines to take his family into the jungles of South America, where he sees himself becoming something of a saviour to the natives - bringing them a few simple forms of technology that will uplift and transform their lives. Instead, he plunges himself and his family into a hell of conflicts that he doesn't even try to understand.

The story, told from the point of view of his initially adoring (and fearful) son, follows the decline in the family's fortunes until it is clear that it is the father himself who is their real enemy. A tragic and deeply moving tale, this book stays in the mind - not always pleasantly - long after it has been read.

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26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary Character Study, December 14, 2003

By	Westley (Stuck in my head) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Paul Theroux's novels generally feature carefully etched characters, but he surpasses himself with Allie Fox, the protagonist of the Mosquito Coast. Allie is a husband and father of four, but he seems to care far more about his "inventions" and radical social ideas than he does about their welfare. To act out his ideals, he moves his family to Central America to start a utopian society, unencumbered by traditional materialism. Some of his contraptions work and the community begins to flourish, until his plans become grandiose. Although the reader can see the tragedy that is to come, Theroux constructs an intriguing plot that keeps the reader drawn into the novel.

Some readers may be greatly off-put by Allie and his behavior; however, he is undeniably a magnetic and fascinating force. Fortunately, the book is narrated from the point-of-view of the teenaged son, Charlie, which allows the reader some distance from the sometimes repugnant Allie. Other readers may be disappointed by Allie's wife. She plays a relatively small role in the proceedings, and she seems to blindly go along with Allie, even when she suspects detrimental effects on her family. However, a man like Allie probably would be married to such a woman, as he likes to be in charge and assert himself on others strongly.

Overall, the Mosquito Coast is a one-of-a-kind literary experience, with a fantastic main character embedded in a rollicking-good story. Most highly recommended.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Story About A Schizophrenic
I did not read all of the reviews of this book, so this may have been mentioned already. This is a story about a schizophrenic father and the son who loves him and tries to... Read more

Published 16 days ago by W. Wilson Beckett

2.0 out of 5 stars why?
I was wondering what his novel was about from pretty much start to finish. Paul Theroux has certainly learned from all of his travel experiences and I sense that there is some... Read more

Published 2 months ago by druzhba

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting Novel By a Master
This is easily the best thing I've read by Theroux, although I have some more to go. From start to finish, it is a riveting read. Read more

Published 9 months ago by zorba

5.0 out of 5 stars An English Teacher's Wet Dream
Im 28 and I just finished reading the Mosquito Coast last week. I LOVED the story and the writing but another thought crossed my mind; I would have hated to read this book in high... Read more

Published 14 months ago by Anthony Vera

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Character Study
This book explores the character of a father who takes his family to several remote locations in Honduras to escape what he sees as the evils of mid-20th century America. Read more

Published 17 months ago by DrJoe

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Character Study
Allie Fox not only thinks he is right, he thinks everyone else is wrong. In fact, every person and thing is so wrong, he can see nothing good in New England, and everything right... Read more

Published 19 months ago by Loves the View

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark, disturbing and utterly enthralling
Who hasn't dreamed of leaving the world behind and venturing into the unknown to recreate the world without imperfections? Read more

Published 20 months ago by Joe Cutts

4.0 out of 5 stars The Mosquito Coast
This book is extremely well written. Its subject matter of a dysfunctional family is somewhat of a downer.

Published 23 months ago by Ginny Lee

4.0 out of 5 stars A haunting, disturbing read
Save for an anticlimatic ending, The Mosquito Coat is what all literary novels should be: compelling without relying on excessive action or much going on at all. Read more

Published 24 months ago by Peter M. Bush

4.0 out of 5 stars The Pain
I only give this thing 4 stars because it awakens such pain in me. You have here several pretty good reviews that explain the external circumstances of this story. Read more

Published on July 21, 2007 by C. Kaye

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