I'm a fan of Paul Theroux's work, but it has been a while since I read one of his books. Unfortunately, the one I chose to end my hiatus wasn't very good.
Blinding Light tells the story of Slade Steadman, a writer who 20 years before had a huge success with a gimmicky travel book but has published nothing since. He travels to the jungles of Ecuador in search of inspiration, and he finds it in the form of a rare drug. The drug enables him to write again, ecstatically, but also renders him temporarily blind.
The first section of the book, describing the trip to Ecuador, is wonderfully full of Theroux's trademark travel descriptions and misanthropy. Once he discovers the drug and returns home to Martha's Vineyard, though, the book goes off the rails. Slade is an unlikable narcissist, but that's not what bothers me. I couldn't fathom his motivations or those of his girlfriend Ava, and their conversations were repetitive.
My favorite character was an exceedingly minor one: a friend of Slade's first wife who appears for a few pages (starting on page 216) to contradict everything Slade says. Her dialogue is hilariously realistic.
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