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August 15, 2021
A former BBC journalist and broadcaster reflects on the last year of her two-decade marriage to acclaimed American travel writer Paul Theroux. Long after their marriage ended, the author read this comment from her former husband in a published interview: "Writers choose their wives. They choose them for certain purposes. They need a specific kind of woman--protective and self-sacrificing types....What they want is a secretary, mother, a guardian of the gate." Naturally, she felt compelled to reply. "If you had given me the job description in advance, I wouldn't have applied." Instead, she was married to the man, whom she met in Nairobi in 1967, for more than two decades and bore him two sons. This memoir, documenting the final year of their union, is based on a diary she kept in 1990 and then annotated with further memories and corrections later in the decade. The entry for Jan. 18: "Paul left today--the beginning of our six-month separation. I cried horribly as he was leaving. He cried too then left in a taxi and I spent a miserable day, drinking, smoking a joint and hoping I can pull myself together tomorrow." As she suspected--and later confirmed, with the uncomfortable assistance of her sons--he was with another woman; it was not his first affair, but she, too, had been unfaithful. Still, their phone calls could be so warm, it seemed their love must prevail. "Talking to Paul was like talking to myself; we used words that no-one else knew, laughed at unnamed memories, shared the network of associations that sprang to the other's mind at the mention of a person or place." The author's insightful commentary on her attempt to cope with so much uncertainty, loneliness, and suffering includes many lovely observations--e.g., "Trying new recipes is always a sign of hope." "There is nothing like an early morning walk on a sunny day to remind you that life is worth living." A sensitive, thoughtful document of the immediate pain of separation and betrayal and its gradual mellowing into rue.
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August 30, 2021
Decades following its end, former BBC presenter Theroux debuts with a moving reflection on the dissolution of her marriage with American travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux. Beginning in January 1990, after the couple agreed to spend time apart, she kept a diary, the contents of which serve as the emotional thrust of her story. “I was trying to write truth, not fiction,” she exclaims, arguing that her ex-husband took liberties when depicting their relationship in his autobiographical writing. When they met in 1967, “All he wanted... was a pretty girl who would applaud him and love him.” Anne describes how through pregnancy and marriage Paul’s career subsumed hers, as they moved to Singapore, then Dorset, and finally London. He dismissed his numerous infidelities as unimportant and yet Anne’s own affair in 1973 became, in Paul’s eyes, the “root” of their marriage’s end: “he never got over the pain, jealousy and humiliation.” The turmoil reached its apex when Anne found out Paul had spent their year apart living with another woman. In an interview long after their divorce, Paul declared “writers... need a specific kind of woman—protective and self-sacrificing.” This searing reckoning makes it clear that Anne had bigger dreams. The result yields a smart and dishy book that’s hard to put down.
September 1, 2021
Anne Theroux's new memoir provides an introspective snapshot of her life after separating from well-known American novelist and travel author Paul Theroux. The book was inspired by her diary, which she kept in 1990 as a healing tool and later added to while reminiscing about that tumultuous period. Readers learn how the journalist, BBC World Service broadcaster, and mother of two finds herself in a quest to reclaim her identity after being married for more than 20 years. She shares her account and becomes part of the narrative, something often overlooked due to her marriage to a famous writer. Her style is uncomplicated, often just elaborating on quick notes about her everyday life. Although at times her privilege renders her experiences unrelatable, readers will connect to the vulnerable person trying to start all over again without losing herself. This is not an overly scandalous tale focusing on Paul and his blunders, but one about a human being who fell in love and out of love and everything that happened in between.
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