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Waldo
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256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
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About the author
Paul Theroux
240 books2,620 followersPaul Edward Theroux is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work is The Great Railway Bazaar (1975), a travelogue about a trip he made by train from Great Britain through Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, through South Asia, then South-East Asia, up through East Asia, as far east as Japan, and then back across Russia to his point of origin. Although perhaps best known as a travelogue writer, Theroux has also published numerous works of fiction, some of which were made into feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel The Mosquito Coast.
He is the father of Marcel and Louis Theroux, and the brother of Alexander and Peter. Justin Theroux is his nephew.
He is the father of Marcel and Louis Theroux, and the brother of Alexander and Peter. Justin Theroux is his nephew.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 4, 2021
”Well, why do I have to do anything at all?”
We meet Waldo while he is in Boonville School for Delinquent Boys. He has been turned into the police for several misdemeanor offenses of vandalism by his own father. He lives in a strange household of a crazed mother and a crazier grandmother, and then there is his father who seems to be muddling along as best he can. Waldo almost considers it a vacation to go away to juvie just to get away from his insane family.
He doesn’t have a clue what he wants to do with his life. He meets a bodacious older woman with too much money and too little morality who takes him under her wing. Clovis Techy pays for him to go to Rugg College. Waldo decides ”that what he really wanted to do was meet a nice simple girl, fairly well upholstered and fairly jolly.” That’s all fine and good, but he is trapped in the conundrum that many of us have faced at some point in our lives...ass, grass, or gas, no one rides for free. I like this description of his circumstances with Clovis. ”He wasn’t looking for a roadmap to take him to the right place, but wasn’t Clovis sort of a fleshy roadmap that would take him where he wanted to go?” ***Shudder***
What young man doesn’t dream of meeting some curvy older sexpot who will show him the ropes in the bedroom jungle, but Clovis is proving to be a soul sucking vampire. ”The awful part was when he finished making love to Clovis for perhaps the tenth or fifteenth time that day he slumped down, stunted and shriveled, knowing full well that he looked dwarfish and ugly. He even apologized to Clovis for his condition. She said it didn’t matter much as long as she got her just do. But Clovis had to admit that Waldo looked pretty scruffy.” Plus, Waldo is running out of ideas of new sexual adventures to suggest to Clovis. She is game for anything his perverted mind can conjur, but when his hair starts falling out in clumps and his body starts shrinking into a pygmy, he can barely think beyond achieving his next erection.
This is Paul Theroux’s first novel, and like many first novels, it is a coming-of-age story. He was twenty-six when it was published, and what he really needed more than a contract to publish was for someone to tell him to go back to the drawing board and work on restructuring the novel into something greater than its disjointed parts. I like stuff like this:
”’But I don’t hate anybody. That is, anybody that I know of--unless you can hate parts of people.’
‘Parts of people?’
‘Like my father’s stupid jaw--mostly his mouth. And especially my mother’s eye. And my grandmother’s lips have turned to wrinkles. But I don’t hate them all over.’”
This is really a 2.5 star book, but since I always round up, it will land at three stars. I’m being generous because of my long history with Paul. He’s taken me on many wonderful adventures with his writing, and I hope he will take me on many more. There is really no reason for any of you to read this book unless you are a Paul Theroux completist. He is much better known for his great travel books and has taken some knocks for his novels, which haven’t always been fair. I’ve read many novels by him that I thoroughly enjoyed, but this isn’t one of them.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
We meet Waldo while he is in Boonville School for Delinquent Boys. He has been turned into the police for several misdemeanor offenses of vandalism by his own father. He lives in a strange household of a crazed mother and a crazier grandmother, and then there is his father who seems to be muddling along as best he can. Waldo almost considers it a vacation to go away to juvie just to get away from his insane family.
He doesn’t have a clue what he wants to do with his life. He meets a bodacious older woman with too much money and too little morality who takes him under her wing. Clovis Techy pays for him to go to Rugg College. Waldo decides ”that what he really wanted to do was meet a nice simple girl, fairly well upholstered and fairly jolly.” That’s all fine and good, but he is trapped in the conundrum that many of us have faced at some point in our lives...ass, grass, or gas, no one rides for free. I like this description of his circumstances with Clovis. ”He wasn’t looking for a roadmap to take him to the right place, but wasn’t Clovis sort of a fleshy roadmap that would take him where he wanted to go?” ***Shudder***
What young man doesn’t dream of meeting some curvy older sexpot who will show him the ropes in the bedroom jungle, but Clovis is proving to be a soul sucking vampire. ”The awful part was when he finished making love to Clovis for perhaps the tenth or fifteenth time that day he slumped down, stunted and shriveled, knowing full well that he looked dwarfish and ugly. He even apologized to Clovis for his condition. She said it didn’t matter much as long as she got her just do. But Clovis had to admit that Waldo looked pretty scruffy.” Plus, Waldo is running out of ideas of new sexual adventures to suggest to Clovis. She is game for anything his perverted mind can conjur, but when his hair starts falling out in clumps and his body starts shrinking into a pygmy, he can barely think beyond achieving his next erection.
This is Paul Theroux’s first novel, and like many first novels, it is a coming-of-age story. He was twenty-six when it was published, and what he really needed more than a contract to publish was for someone to tell him to go back to the drawing board and work on restructuring the novel into something greater than its disjointed parts. I like stuff like this:
”’But I don’t hate anybody. That is, anybody that I know of--unless you can hate parts of people.’
‘Parts of people?’
‘Like my father’s stupid jaw--mostly his mouth. And especially my mother’s eye. And my grandmother’s lips have turned to wrinkles. But I don’t hate them all over.’”
This is really a 2.5 star book, but since I always round up, it will land at three stars. I’m being generous because of my long history with Paul. He’s taken me on many wonderful adventures with his writing, and I hope he will take me on many more. There is really no reason for any of you to read this book unless you are a Paul Theroux completist. He is much better known for his great travel books and has taken some knocks for his novels, which haven’t always been fair. I’ve read many novels by him that I thoroughly enjoyed, but this isn’t one of them.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
May 13, 2009
I believe this was Theroux's first published book written when he was 25. Not a bad effort. Shades of Thomas Pynchon's "Crying of Lot 49", but without being quite as psychedelic or emblematic of an era.
A coming of age story, but a weird one. Also makes some commentary on the nature of writing and being a writer - a self-reflective theme which will continue through most of Theroux's work. Theroux does possess an interesting take on the life and role of the writer which often becomes part of the subject matter of his writing. He does this well, in my opinion, and instead of making this focus tedious he makes it illuminating and adds perspective and I think some "honesty" to what he writes.
A coming of age story, but a weird one. Also makes some commentary on the nature of writing and being a writer - a self-reflective theme which will continue through most of Theroux's work. Theroux does possess an interesting take on the life and role of the writer which often becomes part of the subject matter of his writing. He does this well, in my opinion, and instead of making this focus tedious he makes it illuminating and adds perspective and I think some "honesty" to what he writes.
April 18, 2024
Didn't like the story.
April 29, 2014
Weird in an unappealing way - can't recommend.
Read
December 12, 2016Feels forced and contrived.
When the author admits in the introduction that he is disappointed with the book and finds it clumsy then you have been warned.
When the author admits in the introduction that he is disappointed with the book and finds it clumsy then you have been warned.
August 4, 2020
Amazingly awful, how did it get published?
October 21, 2009
I liken this book with the Catcher in The Rye.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews