The Consul's File
by Paul Theroux
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Description
In this 1978 compilation, Paul Theroux offers twenty stand-alone (and originally serialized) chapters told through the eyes of a young American consul posted to a small Malaysian town in the 1970s. The stories are chronological picking up when the narrator arrives in country and ending with a letter he writes as he departs. --Richard T at Amazon.com.Tags
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Member Reviews
I like Theroux and this is a droll one. Wonderful insight into living abroad as an expat.
Theroux is passionate about seeing new places and meeting new people. Although this collection is really fiction, there is a large amount of Theroux's own life that shows through in the gaps.
Vintage early Theroux. Especially liked the story about the guy with the earring.
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112+ Works 32,275 Members
Paul Edward Theroux was born on April 10, 1941 in Medford, Massachusetts and is an acclaimed travel writer. After attending the University of Massachusetts Amherst he joined the Peace Corps and taught in Malawi from 1963 to 1965. He also taught in Uganda at Makerere University and in Singapore at the University of Singapore. Although Theroux has show more also written travel books in general and about various modes of transport, his name is synonymous with the literature of train travel. Theroux's 1975 best-seller, The Great Railway Bazaar, takes the reader through Asia, while his second book about train travel, The Old Patagonian Express (1979), describes his trip from Boston to the tip of South America. His third contribution to the railway travel genre, Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through China, won the Thomas Cook Prize for best literary travel book in 1989. His literary output also includes novels, books for children, short stories, articles, and poetry. His novels include Picture Palace (1978), which won the Whitbread Award and The Mosquito Coast (1981), which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Theroux is a fellow of both the British Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Geographic Society. His title Lower River made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012. Currently his 2015 book, Deep South , is a bestseller. (Bowker Author Biography) Paul Theroux is the distinguished author of numerous award-winning books, including "The Mosquito Coast," "Kowloon Tong," & "Half Moon Street." (Publisher Provided) show less
Awards and Honors
Distinctions
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- The Consul's File
- Original publication date
- 1977
- Important places*
- Maleisiƫ
- Quotations
- I am an unrepentant eavesdropper and I find anonymity a consolation.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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Statistics
- Members
- 267
- Popularity
- 120,880
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.34)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 14
- ASINs
- 10



























































