Customer Reviews
Insight or voyeurism? - By: Andrew Walker, 24 Jun 2008 
There are some great features to Amazon: competitive prices, the chance to browse for a vast selection of books at any hour of the day, generally good service. Here is a bad thing: judging a book by its cover (or the reputation of the author). I bought this because I have enjoyed some of Theroux's TV programmes & it sounded a bit different.
Theroux's plan is to revisit subjects he had met during the making of a TV series on weird Americans & see how they have changedin the intervening few years. The problem is that it doesn't quite work & I think Theroux realises that quite quickly. The writing is engaging & honest but it's partly a story of tracking the people down & partly a story about what they said when he found them. Neither story is terribly interesting.
The story of finding the subjects again is fairly tedious, to be honest. Theroux tracks them through the internet, phone calls & visits to likely hangouts but there's no great detective work or suspense, just description. And this is ok - Theroux comes across as likeable & decent, you'd actually like to meet him, but there are limits to how interesting the story of him tracking people down can be.
Then there's the times when he finds his subject & draws them out. Again, it's hard to get very involved. Another reviewer calls the interviewees dreary & some of them are. Some are sad, as well, & neither feature makes for very gripping reading. You could wander into your local psychiatric out-patient clinic & have the same sort of chat, I suspect.
Louis Theroux is a talented journalist & author & his best work is ahead of him. You wish his weird subjects would grow up & get on with their lives (some of them have) & you wish Theroux would stop hanging around with them & get on to something that really matters. The Victorians used to visit asylums to gawp at the lunatics & this feels a bit like the same voyeuristic serving up of human frailty.
Hit and miss - By: Paul Holland, 12 Apr 2008 Louis Theroux's television persona & subject matter are always engaging, warm & interesting. He comes across as a thoroughly nice chap & treats his weird & wonderful subjects with dignity & respect. His book, a contituation of the meetings he had continuesin this vein & very readable it is. However he doesn't really delve as well as you had hoped & and you are left wondering "Is that all I get".
Probably best as an introduction to Louis' weird world. If you have seen the TV shows you may end up disappointed.
Brilliant read! - By: M. Godby, 09 Feb 2008 
This book is undeniably fun & VERY entertaining! There is very little else to say. Definetly worth a read!
Ok, not great - By: Londoner, 23 Jun 2007 I have to say I would give this 3-4 stars, I didn't enjoy the book anywhere as much as his series. I am a fan on his documentarys however it does not necessarily transfer too well to book, perhaps because you see everything through his eyes (or indeed words) rather than for yourself & this has obvious bias. It is interesting to read what eh personally thinks though & I do think it was a well written book if a little disjointed. I would certainly recommend it to any fan but if you're not especially keen on Louis then probably not one for you.
If you were a fan of the TV series,,, - By: HenvY, 21 Jan 2007 If you were a fan of the TV series, & you are interestedin what happened to the people who he interviewed, then by all means this book is for you.
For me, however, this book was a little disappointing. While it does explore the gaps between Louis' previous meetings with these characters & their recent meetings, there is little character exploration or in-depth discussion about these people & what makes them who they are. There are brief summaries of their previous meetings & why Louis was drawn to them, but at the end of the book this leaves you with little. Unfortunately, it also resultsin these catch-ups becoming trite & somewhat grating. Whilein the TV series these aspects would have been neccesary, Louis seems to feel that because of the nature of this book their ommision is no problem. I disagree.
Even for fans of the TV series, there is probably little new ground here. This might not be a problem for some, but it leaves the book somewhat lackingin a genre where books regarding the examination of gonzo characters are nowin abundance. For newcomers to Theroux like myself, my advice would be to buy the DVD instead.
