PRAISE
“The author definitely dispels the popular image of some writers who stay for a week, gushing about the marvelous beaches, the excellent food, the heavenly weather, filling travel pages with holiday hyperbole. As Theroux points out, “Hawaii has a well-deserved reputation as a special set of islands, a place apart, fragrant with blossoms, caressed by trade winds., vibrant with the plucking of ukuleles, effulgent with sunshine spanking the water . . .” and none of this is wrong, although Theroux’s book shows that there so much more.”—Peace Corps Worldwide—review
"Devotees of Kem Nunn's Tapping the Source who have been searching for the next great surfing novel need search no more. In flowing, lyrical prose, Theroux celebrates the sheer individualistic exhilaration of riding waves."—Booklist, starred review
“Immersive…[Theroux’s] fans will appreciate the perfectly rendered exotic setting, which takes the reader deep inside the Hawaiian surf culture.”—Publishers Weekly—review
In this “sprawling” road trip that our reviewer, Monica Drake, called “an unvarnished depiction of reality,” Theroux plunges headlong into the immigration debate as he “crisscrosses” Mexico, starting with “the symbiotic communities lining each side of the United States border.”—The New York Times—review
In Melissa’s conversation with Paul Theroux, the legendary author said something that gets to the root of what these Global Conversations reveal about the ways in which travel helps us to connect the dots in our lives and with each other: “The greatest gift of travel,” he says, “is that there are other people in the world—people less fortunate, people who are smarter than me, people who have figured things out, people who have not. Flaubert said that travel teaches you how small you are. And I guess that’s exactly what I found out. I’m small, insignificant, and the world is huge and it’s complicated…It’s not one lesson. Knowledge derives from direct experience. You don’t get it from a book. You don’t get it from your father or mother telling you something. You need the direct experience of a place…You learn everything from leaving home. Travel gave me the experience. It gave me something to write about. It gave me a life. I wouldn’t be the same person if I had stayed home.” —From Indagare’s Global Conversations with Melissa Biggs Bradley—article
“One of the top American travel writers of our time, Paul Theroux, tells us about his recent road trip across Mexico to see for himself what the situation was like on the other side of the border.”—Rick Steves—interview
“What made you want to write a book about Mexico?
When I was working on an earlier book, I went to Nogales, Arizona, which is right on the border with Mexico. I had never seen the 30-foot rusty steel fence that divides the two before. It's a strange, beautiful object, like a sculpture running through the landscape. It had a door in it, and it was fairly straightforward: I parked my car in Arizona, went through it, and suddenly I was in Mexico, with Mexican food, people, beer, tacos. I met migrants who were trying to get into the U.S., people who had been kicked out. Then Trump became president. One of the reasons for travel is to destroy stereotypes, so I thought, I'm going to write about Mexico and see what it is, every bit of it.”—Condé Nast Traveler—interview
“In his most recent release, "On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019, $30), we find Theroux believing that he has become representative of "the old person in the United States: unregarded, shunned, snubbed, overlooked, taken for granted, belittled, mocked, faintly laughable, stereotypical, no longer interesting, parasitical, invisible to the young."
He proves otherwise in this volume. His exploration of Mexico is keenly observed, his perceptions informed by deep historical and cultural understanding.”—Travel Weekly—review
“In the December 6, 2019, Holiday Books issue of the NYTIMES, the TIMES features Paul Theroux’s (Malawi 1963-65) book: On The Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey in Monica Drake’s list of best travel books. Drake, an assistant managing editor at The Times, and a former editor of the Travel section writes, “Paul Theroux, who is adept at immersing you fully within a setting by the time you’ve finished the first page, recounts a sprawling road trip that delves headlong into the current debate about immigration from Mexico. Reading this work feels like the opposite of scrolling through a photo feed.”—Peace Corps Worldwide—excerpt
“I was that old gringo. I was driving south in my own car in Mexican sunshine along the straight sloping road through the thinly populated valleys of the Sierra Madre Oriental – the whole craggy spine of Mexico is mountainous. Valleys, spacious and austere, were forested with thousands of single yucca trees, the so-called dragon yucca (Yucca filifera) that Mexicans call palma china. I pulled off the road to look closely at them and wrote in my notebook: I cannot explain why, on the empty miles of these roads, I feel young.”—BBC—excerpt
“This magnificent re-creation of Paul Theroux’s journey through Mexico in 2017 bristles with his bright, laser-sharp declarative sentences, stripped of any sentimentality, as he pursues epiphanies and insights.”—Providence Journal—review
“Theroux crisscrosses the country, starting with the symbiotic communities lining each side of the United States border, then heads to Mexico City, Mazatlán and on to southern regions of the country. Throughout the book, he details Mexicans’ stories of their successful journeys and failed attempts to traverse the border. These narratives are ubiquitous, suggesting that a trip to the United States is a life passage for some. For others, it is clearly a matter of survival.”—The New York Times—review
“Our conversation with Paul Theroux takes us from the US border to the jungles of Chiapas, as Theroux tells us about the resilience of the Mexican people in the face of violence and bad government, the preservation of ancient traditions by the poorest communities and the inspiring rebellion in the south by the Zapatistas, who have created their own liberated territory.”—Writer’s Voice—podcast interview
“Travel, for many a 78-year-old American, is what you do on a cruise ship, or maybe just between the couch and the kitchen. For writer Paul Theroux, it’s lately been a matter of Chiapas, Oaxaca, magnificent scenery, charming hitchhikers and the occasional duck taco. Theroux, the author of about 50 novels and travel books in the last 45 years (including “The Great Railway Bazaar” in 1975 and “The Mosquito Coast” in 1981), has just published “On the Plain of Snakes: a Mexican Journey.””—The Los Angeles Times—interview
“Legendary travel writer Paul Theroux joins us this week for a candid, backstage interview delving into his five decades spent traveling the world and writing about it. He delves into what brought him to traveling and to writing, and how those two things are inexorably linked, at least for him. He remarks on why he thinks that growing up in a big family helped teach him how to be a good traveler. He also explains what it means to travel “close to the ground” and offers advice on how to do so (and why you would want to).”—The Bittersweet Life—Part 1 and Part 2
“Theroux traveled to Mexico and found, unsurprisingly, a complex country with a rich history and culture that’s beset by travesty and contradiction exacerbated by class differences and a lack of economic and educational opportunities. But what allowed him to conclude the journey “uplifted, smiling when I set off for home, my hand on my heart, promising to return” was his insistence on celebrating the downtrodden Mexico, which he characterizes as resilient and, despite the odds, self-sufficient. Though his sendoff acknowledges that he has changed, the Mexico he prizes most is the one that adheres (as a form of resistance) to its old traditions and deferential values. Nonetheless, Theroux’s impeccable research and superb descriptive prose make “On the Plain of Snakes” a trip worth taking.”—The Los Angeles Times—review
“This holds true for The Plain of Snakes as well, the chronicle of a journey that wends through a washed-out landscape of supersaturated flavor that features only in the tiniest cameos. There is the funereal feast in San Dionisio called the recalentado — the reheating of food the day after a burial — in which Theroux admires the women “stirring the big pot of maize kernels, slapping tortillas on a griddle and passing from table to table with a local delicacy, pan de cazuela.”—Grub Street—review
“Researching his latest book, the acclaimed travel writer and novelist drove the entire US-Mexico border and then did a deep dive into Mexico itself. And there he fell in love.”—The Daily Beast—review
“On the Plain of Snakes couldn’t be more vital, informed, inquiring or big-hearted. Anyone yearning for an in-depth look at the actualities on the ground will savor this complex, contradictory, empathetic picture of our southern neighbor… Whether you’re a longtime Theroux fan or just curious about Mexican realities beyond the headlines, On the Plain of Snakes offers deep satisfactions.”—The Boston Globe—review
“Each evening, on the days from before Halloween through All Saints’ Day (also called Día de los Angelitos, Day of the Dead Children) on November 1st, and the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) on November 2nd, Oaxaca was transformed. The comparsas—troupes of masked marchers and musicians—subverted the order of the city, asserted their marching multitudes, pushed forward along the cobbles, and sprawled, taking over the streets, thrusting everyone else aside, turning them into spectators. Then the city belonged to the processions of skull-faced children and ghouls and drummers and trumpeters and the Angel of Death.”—Literary Hub—excerpt
“As we learn in the following interview with Managing Editor Michelle Anne Schingler, Theroux’s latest book, On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey, was inspired by President Trump’s 2015 reference to Mexicans as rapists and murderers. Disturbed, Theroux proceeds to drive the full 1,954 mile Mexican border, through cities large and small, and countless backroads seeking to learn more about the country in order to shake loose the stereotype. And. Yes. He. Does.”—Foreword Reviews—review
“Theroux journeys along the U.S.-Mexico border and into the rural interior of the country. He drives a car the entire length of the border and into cities and rural landscapes, recording the stories of the places he enters and the people he meets. Texas Public Radio contributor Yvette Benavides spoke to Paul Theroux and brings us this interview.” —Texas Public Radio—interview
“At the beginning of “On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey,” his latest travel book, Paul Theroux writes that he can “identify” with Mexico. When he left his home in Massachusetts to drive to Mexico, it was during a time he felt “peculiarly ignored and weakened.”—Houston Chronicle—review
“A couple of years ago, the novelist and travel writer Paul Theroux visited the U.S.-Mexico border. South of the line he interviewed several people at a shelter serving migrants and deportees, and his memory of an encounter with a woman named María stalked him thereafter “like an apparition.” She wept as she told Mr. Theroux how she had left her three young children with their grandmother in Oaxaca, deep in the Mexican interior, so that she could find menial work at a hotel in the United States. But she had lost her way in the desert and was arrested, abused and deported. “Later I saw her alone,” he writes, “praying before she ate, an iconic image of piety and hope.” He resolved to come back and travel to María’s home region by car in order to find out why she and so many others risk crossing furtively into the U.S. “On the Plain of Snakes” is the fierce and poignant account of his monthslong quest.”—The Wall Street Journal—review
“If Paul Theroux’s new book on Mexico is a commercial success, he’ll have Donald Trump to thank for it. But the initial inspiration came from a young man who worked in a doctor’s office…”—The Wall Street Journal—opinion
“Paul Theroux, a novelist and one of America’s most prolific travel writers, recently spent over a year making “forays” into Mexico. In a half-dozen trips, each lasting around a month, he drove his own car the length of the border and traveled through the hinterlands: Sonora, Potosi, Oaxaca, Chiapas. In particular, Theroux was interested in exploring the motivations behind Mexican migration to the U.S. “What are they leaving? Who are they leaving behind?” he wondered. The result is his newest work, On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey, which is out Oct. 8th”—Barron’s PENTA—article
“Theroux has taken many trains (as he did in “Riding the Iron Rooster” and “The Great Railway Bazaar”), but for his travels around Mexico, he decided to drive. The choice was wise, as it allowed him to visit villages and landmarks he might otherwise have missed. Whether it’s Frida Kahlo’s legendary Blue House, border towns or coastline, Theroux presents a Mexico riddled with problems and gifted with beauty.”—The Washington Post—article
“In his 70s, the writer embarks on one of the great adventures of a traveling life, a solo road trip from Reynosa to Chiapas and back.”—The New York Times—article
“The richness and beauty of Mexico’s cultural history are marked and accented by strife, struggle and, prosperity. In his latest book, On The Plain Of Snakes: A Mexican Journey, literary maestro Paul Theroux brings to light both the traditions and turmoil’s that shape of the life the deeply proud Mexican people today. Theroux brings a journalist’s clarity, a historian’s depth, and a storyteller’s watchfulness to his latest adventure.”—Unnamed Project—review
“Admittedly, there are no actual snakes on the cover of Paul Theroux’s newest book, but the title’s clever homage to Snakes on a Plane makes me smile every time I see it. World traveler and renowned writer Theroux wanted to see for himself the borderlands that have sparked political battles and acrimony in the U.S. and Mexico. As he spends time among the people who live just south of the Arizona border with Mexico, he talks with those who remain in Mexico even as family and friends go north. Theroux’s global perspective, gleaned from years of travel in a wide range of regions, brings a new view to the border debate. (October 8)”—Amazon Book Review—article
“Dark-edged but ultimately hopeful… Theroux’s usual excellent mix of vivid reportage and empathetic rumination is energized by a new spark of political commitment. Armchair travelers will find an astute, familiar guide in Theroux.”—Publishers Weekly—review
“Illuminating, literate, and timely—a must-read for those interested in what's going on inside Mexico.”—Kirkus *starred* review—starred review
“A textured portrait…Theroux does not hesitate to articulate his point of view on a number of topics as he unapologetically takes into consideration context, anecdotal evidence, and his on-the-road experiences to arrive at his prescription for improving the Mexican situation.”—Booklist *starred* review
“Tourists headed to Mexico and those interested in the current migrant situation will learn a great deal.”—Library Journal
“Relentlessly engaging…Theroux demonstrates how a traveler’s finely wrought observations…sometimes offer the best political and social analysis.”
—Washington Post
“Much of [Theroux’s] writing reflects affection for the people in whose midst he is apt to find himself, and a spirit of inquiry that is part anthropological and part autobiographical.”
—The Wall Street Journal
"Theroux has been whisking me around the planet for more than four decades. I am transfixed, always, by his ability to write convincingly about the human condition, to make me laugh and cry--and stop to think. His work is benign sorcery. And the books keep coming."
—Anthony Summers, Finalist, Pulitzer Prize for History and Official and Confidential, The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover, The Eleventh Day: The Ultimate Account of 9/11
“[Theroux’s] work is distinguished by a splendid eye for detail and the telling gesture; a storyteller’s sense of pacing and gift for granting closure to the most subtle progression of events; and the graceful use of language.”
—Chicago Tribune
“Paul Theroux is an undisputed master of travel literature. He has traversed Mexico with such dedication that he knows its roads as he knows the lines on the palm of his hand. His curiosity does not recognize borders. Nor is he a stranger among us: he is Don Pablo, a wise man who never stops learning.”
—Juan Villoro, journalist, playwright, and one of Mexico’s most famous authors
“A fascinating immersion in my country, free of prejudice and with eyes wide open.”
—Guillermo Osorno, founder of the cultural journal Horizontal and author of Tengo Que Morir Todas las Noches