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Book Reviews of The Black House

The Black House
The Black House
Author: Paul Theroux
ISBN-13: 9780671498238
ISBN-10: 0671498231
Publication Date: 7/1/1984
Edition: Reprint
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 1

4 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: Pocket
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

2 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

SutterTom avatar reviewed The Black House on + 191 more book reviews
After ten years in Africa, an anthropologist & his wife return to a remote village in the English countryside. Within the dank walls of their rented house, a mesmerizing, sensual presence invades the small dark rooms and threatens their marriage; while the townsfolk grow ever more hostile. A suspenseful & unnerving study of the irrational & instinctive forces in human nature.
reviewed The Black House on + 10 more book reviews
I think Paul Theroux has a firm grasp in describing the most basic interactions in the lives of a couple: The quiet desperation; The meanest of machinations that evolve; The futility of both selfishness and devotion; The telling looks given behind someone's back. He proves he's no stranger to it all-he's lived it. He knows the solid loneliness of two people trying to exist together in an empty house. He recreates experience in word pictures to put you in the scene, almost screen by screen, like in a movie.