About this title: Allie Fox hates America and everything about the 20th century, so he decides to take his wife and two sons to live a better and simpler life in the Honduran jungle. However, when he starts to go mad, life for his family becomes much more frightening than ever before. "Penguin Readers" is a series of simplified novels, film novelizations and original titles that introduce students at all levels to the pleasures of reading in English. Originally designed for teaching English as a foreign language, the series' combination of high interest level and low reading age makes it suitable for both ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Spine is well creased. Covers show wear at the edges and corners. Good Grade C average reading copy. Binding is Mass Market Paperback. Pages tanning. Used books may have price stickers. Most orders ship on the next business day. read more
Description: Good. Spine is well creased. Covers show wear at the edges and corners. Good Grade C average reading copy. Binding is Mass Market Paperback. Pages tanning. Used books may have price stickers. Most orders ship on the next business day. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Avon Books
Date Published: 1983
ISBN-13:9780380619450ISBN:0380619458
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Nice soft cover, lightly read, light shelf wear to cover, bend on top corner of front cover, light aging, stk #2521o8. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
"The story of a crazy father who takes his family down to the jungles of Honduras, where thanks to said father they find themselves barely surviving. The story is from the point of view of 13-year old Charlie and his relationship with his father is interesting to watch develop. The book reminded me in many way of Poisonwood Bible and was fascinating in the power this father had over his family."
"I always tell my students that they need to give a book at least 50 pages before they judge it. I've given this book 80 pages and have no desire to finish. It made me want to get on a boat and leave the country just to avoid having to read it. Someone give me a reason to keep reading..."
"Re-reading . . . how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love the guaranteed happiness (how often does one get that?); I love meeting old friends and familiar enemies; and oh, how I love the anticipation of coloring in the faintly remembered.
Truly-addicted readers have books to which they repeatedly return; we become so entranced by an author's words we even hope (in bouts of the truest example of suspension of disbelief) that perhaps this time, if we read very slowly, or very carefully, or with one eye squinted half shut, events may change. (Don't leave her, Rhett!)
First published in 1982, MOSQUITO COAST is on the highest rung of books to which I return (even buying a second copy when the first hid and I couldn't find it quickly enough to satisfy my urge.) Upon finishing it for the second, third, fourth time, I'll begin anticipating the day I've forgotten enough plot details to sink into it once again. MOSQUITO COAST created by Paul Theroux satisfies every bit of my readerly soul with young Charlie, a watchful narrator who captures one's heart with his push-pull toward his larger-than-life father, Allie, a villain who terrifies by his good intentions gone wild. Charlie's family is in thrall to this growing madman, including Charlie's mother, who we watch, waiting, praying she will speak the truth. Minor characters pop off the page and into our imagination like toothsome treats both wholesome and delicious, satisfying both our mouths and cellular matter.
You'll know Allie Fox immediately. He could be the current day environmentalist gone many steps cracked, the one who upbraids and lectures employers, neighbors (he has no friends) his wife, children, anyone crossing him on his mission to redeem a greedy world. Using both enforced simplicity and brilliant inventions, Allie attempts to convince an unwilling world of his ability to see what no other man can, while Charlie, his fourteen-year-old son, a watcher, and narrator of the book, brings the reader with him as he moves down the uncomfortable road of a son moving from admiration to horror.
Theroux manages to provide a magnificent balance of Scheherazade-worthy story-telling and deceptively work-man-like prose upon which you could balance a Pulitzer. Allie Fox drags his family from Massachusetts to the jungles of Central America, intent on rescuing the steaming encampment in which they settle into a new world on the shoulders of a giant ice-making machine in the midst of the tropical jungle.
As Allie moves deeper into a mission turned folly, his family, most especially his son, Charlie, wrestle with their loyalty to the bully who rules their shrinking world. The demons they must fight up to the dramatic end-how does one say no to a parent, a husband who's towered over them forever? -make THE MOSQUITO COAST the most thrilling and unusual of coming-of-age stories.
I count the days until I've forgotten it, and can read it once more."
"In this novel Paul Theroux does maddening characters better than anyone! The disillusioned father drags his family to Honduras and basically ruins everything. Good descriptive literature with lots of good plot and narration from the protagonist son."
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