For ten years Louis Theroux has been making programmes about off-beat characters on the fringes of US society. Now he revisits America and the people who have most fascinated him to try to discover what motivates them, why they believe the things they believe, and to find out what has happened to them since he last saw them. Along the way Louis thinks about what drives him to spend so much time among weird people, and considers whether he's learned anything about himself in the course of ten years working with them. Has he manipulated the people he's interviewed, or have they manipulated him? From his Las Vegas base, Louis revisits the assorted dreamers and outlaws who have been his TV feeding ground. Attempting to understand a little about himself and the workings of his own mind, Louis considers questions such as: What is the difference between pathology and 'normal' weirdness? Is there something particularly weird about Americans? What does it mean to be weird, or 'to be yourself'? And do we choose our beliefs or do our beliefs choose us?
I have always liked Theroux's documentaries and found them interesting. His book, not so much. I found it a little dry and a dull to read. The content itself was quite interesting however it was not very well executed. His writing style made it difficult to connect with and didn't really give you much ease into wanting to read more of his book. I found it difficult to follow and just very dry.
The characters he met, you wanted to find more about them than he portrayed, he gave a very shallow oversight but you really did not feel you got into the heart of the characters. His awkwardness around these situations really didn't help. You almost need a sense of humour to work in this field and he does not do this very well.
I think he comes across better on the screen than in books and this was a shame. I wanted to enjoy this book but i just struggled with it. Just stick to watching his shows.
No comments:
Post a Comment