Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads

A well written but essentially dishonest book, the dishonesty being the result of an imbalance. It’s clear Theroux had a vision of the south and southerners, whites in particular, before he made his excursions. In the course of his wandering he appears to have purposely went looking for (or only reports?) those encounters that support his prejudices The vast majority of people he spends time with are either minorities (blacks, native Americans, or what he calls “dot-Indians” from India) or whites he meets at gun shows. From the minorities he extracts anecdotal stories and selected histories in support of racial prejudice, while the gun-show visits allow him to present a somewhat narrow slice of southern men and women who conform to a view of them as gun-mad bubbas.Anyone both honest about and familiar with the south would have to admit there is truth in what Theroux writes. He does not deal in out-and-out falsehoods; rather he misleads by leaving out. He mentions that “progress has been made” and even touches on the phenomenon of northern blacks returning to the South because it represents a vast improvement over their lives in places like Chicago or Detroit. But he skims over this fascinating, revealing, and remarkable bit of history quickly and lightly. No where in the book do you get a true impression of the substantial and positive changes that have taken place in the South. Rather you get concentrated doses of its past history and the remnants of that history that indeed still remain.As I say, the books is dishonest because of its imbalance. One quits it, or at least I did, with a desire to say to Theroux: “Yes, yes, all you have chosen to say is true – as far as it goes; but why didn’t you give the other side of the story equal time and emphasis?” While there remain problems in the South, there is also much to admire in the way it has attempted to reform itself. It is in fact a better, more tolerant, more hopeful place than much of the rust-belt north, or even Theroux’s home state. It’s a shame, and venal of Theroux, to begin by pretending to liking the South and then to go on for over 400 pages not-so-subtly undermining it.

I have been a follower of Paul Theroux’s books for years now. This one made me so mad I had to stop reading it because it is so unbalanced. It’s true there are social injustices everywhere, in every area of the country in back rooms and board rooms and ball fields. To compare the American South to the hopelessness of third world countries is just not true. Everyone in the South bears the burden of the Civil War mentality. I had to stop reading at the chapter where racial slurs were discussed. I just could not take it going on and on and on for hundreds of pages. Theroux’s book on the South is well written indeed as far as mechanics of writing go. It’s truly disappointing that his travels missed the good things that stared him right in the face but he chose to ignore the generations now of people who have fought so long and so hard to better the situation for all. Most people don’t just decide how they think a place is and then go in search of evidence to support it even as so many push forward to change. I wish the author would concentrate on his fiction and not on continuing the perceived racist gun show mentality of the Deep South.

In reviewing Deep South your perspective depends on where you are from and where you reside. I am a black southerner and found the book deeply offensive. Although he puts denigrating comments in quotes, it is hard to imagine any southerner saying some words to a total stranger especially an outsider. Consider for example, that racial slurs are attributed to the speaker being interviewed. Most white southerners in today's world would not say these words aloud. Perhaps in the 1960's but certainly not now. Also Theroux paints a dismal portrait of rural southern blacks giving them little hope. He basically ignores the large and growing black middle class in the south who are well educated with nuclear families. He astondingly states that blacks in Africa have a brighter future than rural southern blacks. What Theroux needs to do is simply look at the GDP of rural blacks and compare it to the GDP of the countries of their ancestors. Doing would reveal that Theroux is simply wrong. I felt, contrary to some reviewers, that he was constantly looking down his nose at the south and at southerners. But again, such a book is viewed differently depending on the reader and in particular where the roots of the reader reside.

. . . this book will sink your spirits faster than a headlong plunge into the Mississippi River with a concrete block tied to your ankle. I thought travel books were to extoll the virtues of a place. Transport you out of your humdrum existence. Maybe even whet your appetite for—oh, I don't know—TRAVEL. Deep South does none of these things. It's more like a mystery: given Theroux's apparent contempt for so much of the South, why does he keep going back there?For example, regarding:—the Greensboro courthouse: "a glorious building of the colonnaded sort I saw all over the south, often the only building in town with a claim to the majestic, yet . . . nearly always representing a history of injustice"—Philadelphia, Mississippi, where: "three civil rights workers were murdered by a lynch mob of the local Klan . . . altogether a bleak place"—a Reagan campaign stop: "[he] stood squarely with the good old boys and the Klansmen"—Jackson, MO: "a city of black paradoxes and white flight and stifling grandeur, with an unavoidable downtown ghetto and back streets of beautiful homes"Not to mention the entire chapter devoted to his analysis of the N-word.I kept wanting to throw my Kindle across the room, but at the same time, it was like a bad accident—I couldn't look away. If you're looking for an inspiring, feelgood read, give this one a wide berth.

Ok, here comes another review of the sort that is going to 'anpissen' (-anybody speak German here ? ;) ) any serious reviewers and buyers here. And I understand... I get like that myself often enough.I haven't even read the book yet, except for the first couple of pages. I've only looked at the pictures and I'm sold on this book already. That, and the subject of it. I love the American South, for some strange reason, but - photographed by Steve Mc Curry. Need I say more. Stunning pictures, as usual, all in that graphically reduced to the essential elements Steve McCurry signature style. Of the uniquely beautiful American South. My only gripe so far, the book's format is still too small to do the pictures justice. (I've got the hardback version.)I've heard of much that I would like about Paul Theroux's style, and, given the subject and the pictures, I'm sure I'm going to thoroughly enjoy this one.It's worth the buy just for the pictures. If you like great photography, like me.

This is a very recent look at life in the southern States and how things have changed (or not) since segregation was supposedly ended. Given that it's so recent, it's a shock to read that extreme poverty still exists in the wealthy US that exceeds even that in Africa, where Theroux has travelled extensively (and Theroux himself is shocked by this discovery), while segregation still exists, either overtly or covertly. In fact, it was reading his Dark Star Safari that drew me to sampling more of his work and I found that I preferred the book on Africa, as it was more of a journey down the length of the continent with a beginning, middle and end, whereas Deep South is based on a number of visits, returning to the same places and people during the different seasons. That's not to say that it wasn't interesting and enlightening, just a different sort of journey.

Not one of his best by some distance. Like many of his travel books they have the happy knack of discouraging you from going yourself - but that's fine. I want to know warts and all. Seems to be an uneven book: some passages - not enough - really take off and flow, like the first visit to a gun fair, but then he visits others which smells a bit like padding it out. Many of the verbatim (one assumes) conversations are not particularly riveting or informative, better if they were excluded. Not knowing the area at all I tried to find some of the places on Google Earth but maybe I missed the derelict houses he describes for it looked not too bad to me, though trailer homes predominated. And of course Google Earth excludes people. In his initial review of authors he fails to mention Bill Bryson's early work The Lost Continent of a tour into small town America which I found both more informative and readable. He has a strong dig against Clinton which I found a bit disturbing and maybe unnecessary. While he makes a great play of re-visiting towns and people he has met before I don't see he adds much more to the tale.

Being an ardent Paul Theroux reader I was intrigued about wanting to know what he wrote about his own country. A few years ago I had visited the deep south but like most tourist went to Charleston, Savanah, New Orleans , Memphis, Nashville and enjoyed all I saw trememdously. Little did I know that there is such a dark side to The Deep South and such poverty and desperation. I and many other people of the post war generation in Europe have grown up admiring everything of the USA , what a let down to know that the country of all oportunities cares so little about its own needing areas. I also hope that Paul sent a copy of the book to the Clintons, asking why their foundation is doing nothing to help the area where Bill Clinton grew up , they certaily could use help.

Having read and enjoyed several of Paul's travel books this one was frankly disappointing. I think he set off withsome sort of agenda. And his attack on some of the great Southern writers was unjustified had no feel for the book at all.Gave up before the end something I hardly ever do.