Theroux's India

Inexplicably, one stopped reading Paul Theroux after his Sir Vidia's Shadow, bitchy and compelling though that work was. Now, however, he has a new book on the cards that sounds interesting. Titled The Elephanta Suite, it's a series of novellas based in India. As the breathless blurb has it: "A holidaying middle-aged couple veer heedlessly from idyll to chaos. A buttoned-up Boston lawyer finds relief in Mumbai's reeking slums. A young woman befriends an elephant in Bangalore. We also meet Indian characters as distinctive as they are indicative of their country's subtle ironies: an executive who yearns to become a holy beggar, an earnest young striver whose personality is transformed by acquiring an American accent, a miracle-working guru, and more."

On second thoughts, it sounds suspiciously exotic.