Sub title -Four Seasons on Back Roads.
This is a travel / social commentary on areas of the southern United States. Theroux makes four separate trips into the south travelling the back roads meeting the poor, the strugglers, living in areas where the work has gone to Mexico or China and there are very few options for those living in these localities.
He meets people and then re-visits some months later, we hear if things have changed; whether money for projects has come through; usually it hasn't and more people are being helped with the same resources.
This could be really depressing but its not. Paul Theroux has the ability to stay realistic and this stops his reportage becoming mawkish. The thread on the state of and the ownership of the many motels he uses is worth the price of admission alone.
Mr Theroux, like the rest of us is not getting any younger and while this isn't as good as " Dark Star Safari" its quality writing and more of the same is needed.
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