The Lower River
By Paul Theroux
If ever you were a Peace Corps Volunteer and reminisce on
your time and place of service as a golden era in your life and one that you
wish to revisit, this may not be the novel for you. Then again, you may really need to read it in
order to reset your perspective. Either
way, return is the plot of The Lower
River, Theroux’s latest and one of his most compelling novels set in Africa,
Malawi specifically.
The tale revolves around Ellis Hock, a man in his sixties
who returned from a PCV teaching stint in a small village in the backwaters of
Malawi some forty years earlier. Hock’s current
life in Massachusetts falls apart, his marriage dissolves, his daughter rejects
him, and his business fails. Throughout
he remembers Malawi and his time in Malabo, a small village on the lower river.
There he was respected, even revered.
Life was fascinating and hopeful; the village’s prospects
encouraging. Hock’s memories also
include a lost love. Thus, with his
current life in shambles, Hock decides to go back. Certainly he knows that times have changed,
but he hopes to reclaim some of that earlier magic.
The Malawi that Hock finds has indeed changed. It is busier,
dirtier, filled with cynical aggressive people. Yet Hock is sure that Malabo will be
different, but of course, it is not.
The older gentler generation that Hock remembered is gone. Hock’s school lies in ruins, the clinic
abandoned, the priest no longer visits. The vestiges of courtesy and respect
for elders and outsiders are a sham.
Hospitality and generosity are gratuitous, reluctantly granted in
expectation of reimbursement. Instead of
welcoming him as a long lost friend, Hock is viewed as a resource, a cash cow
that must be conserved and carefully milked until she runs dry.
Manyenga , the grandson of the chief Hock previously knew,
presides over the village and ingratiates himself to Hock. He provides a young
woman, Zizi, to look after Hock’s needs, even as he wheedles money from his
ostensible guest. Hock is struck down by
malaria, lassitude and despair but soon comes to realize that he is not an
honored guest but a hostage. His efforts to come to grips with the
situation and to escape constitute the plot of the novel.
Although the plot proceeds with unexpected twists and turns,
the story really is about Hock, how things change, how we think about and react to them, and how
we come to see truth. The setting is
immaculate. The village is real and grungy; its inhabitants believable and
their actions – for the most part – plausible.
Theroux’s dark side, however, comes through. For example, he seizes the
opportunity to mock external relief efforts. He portrays characters at their
worse – feral children, aggressive thugs, greedy and conniving chiefs, and
defeated idealists. He posits that on
account of poverty and hunger villagers
are devoid of positive human qualities. These sorts of people may inhabit the
real world and maybe even present day Malawi, but Theroux’s portrait of them is
disturbing.
Nonetheless, the story is well told. The writing is lucid, even elegant. The
setting is impeccable. The interspersion of local language adds credibility. Readers
who know Africa, especially returned Peace Corps Volunteers, will find this a
gripping tale of a search for redemption and inner peace.
