Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Deep South by Paul Theroux

Reviewed by Desere 


The Deep South has always been a place of wonder to me, I wonder how they do this, how they do that, I have read a few books on the subject, but never has any of those felt like I was really there front and center for the action.

Of course I doubt that one can ever really experience any country unless you have really been there to experience it, but heck I am a firm believer in books offering me the chance to escape so yeah.  The author is unknown to me, and having not read any of his works before I was pretty excited to find out what he was about to show me.

I should probably mention that my perception of the south is lots of history, great food, real southern like charm and beautiful plantation , and sadly the slaves who suffered at the hands of those who thought of them as no more than workhorses.   So when the author started to mention the schools, the housing the unemployment rate, it was very much like I had just stepped out of my country and right back into it.

But what the author did do with this little reality check was remind me that the bad housing, the harsh school conditions, it’s everywhere, sure on TV we see the pretty plantations and the rich history, but they never show us what lies beyond that, so a huge thank you to this author for reminding me that nothing is always as perfect as it seems.

On his various road trips he talks to mayors, social workers, every day normal people. But he also brings alive what they see, what they feel, what they need. It is a combination of an eye opening trip and being bombarded with emotion as deep as the Deep South. I immensely enjoyed this read and I found it to be more informative then other reads of the same line.

The history was brought alive in vivid color and I cannot express how happy I am that this author took the time to pen it down. Highly recommended for all fans of traveling books. 


5/5 star review