The Vanishing Point

Reviews / Votes

Illuminating . . . A collection of wryly observed short stories from the octogenarian writer shines a light on the process of ageing . . . time hasn't whittled away Theroux's ability to amuse and provoke . . . These literary snapshots - a rowdy boyhood summer camp, a visit to a carnival stripper, an elegiac chess game - are poignant and well honed * Financial Times * A master of the short story . . . Unexpected endings and frequent insight make for a high strike rate, but perhaps best of all are those where Theroux reassumes the biographical mantle of Andre Parent he previously employed for his 1989 novel My Secret History . . . If this is the last round-up from a grand old man of letters, his final words are good and true ones * The Irish Times * A live-wire read * Sunday Telegraph * One of the best-known travel writers of our times . . . The title is not just that of a single story, but is the theme of all the tales here, in which characters find themselves at a crucial junction in their lives * The Herald * Theroux has a way of slipping profound truths into his prose, the type that diligent readers copy into notebooks . . . His writing gives fiction life. He describes the things we all see but don't mention in polite conversation, and he shines a light on thoughts we actively avoid * Electric Lit *