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The Elephanta Suite: Three Novellas

by Paul Theroux

3.21 · rating details · 487 ratings · 116 reviews

A master of the travel narrative weaves three intertwined novellas of Westerners transformed by their sojourns in India.This startling, far-reaching book captures the tumult, ambition, hardship, and serenity that mark todays portraits of people and places explode stereotypes to exhilarating effect. The Elephanta Suite urges us toward a fresh, compelling, and often inspirin...more

Hardcover, 288 pages

Published September 26th 2007 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (first published January 1st 2007)

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Apr 10, 2009

Mayank Chhaya added it

Dissecting India with discommoding success

Unqualified praise is but one response to any work by master stylist Paul Theroux for he is able to provoke, infuriate, annoy, anger, rile, stimulate and eventually persuade with equal facility.

His latest book, “The Elephanta Suite” sets out to slice through myriad and complex cultural layers that make up India. He does it with discommoding success. Mind you, a lot of what he says about India through his protagonists can be ...more

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Aug 27, 2007

Sanjay rated it

· review of another edition

Should be two-and-a-half stars, actually. Well-written, with an eye for the telling detail, but containing too many generalisations about India -- at times, one wasn't sure whether these were the characters' thoughts or the author's. These three interlinked novellas chart the consequences of interactions between visiting Americans and India, telling of what happens when they leave the safety of their hotel room, spa and ashram. Somewhat stereotypically, sex and spirituality play large roles. Som...more

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Aug 07, 2011

Andrew Rosner added it · review of another edition

Modern India is a fascinating study in contradictions. On the one hand, it's the world's largest democracy, a burgeoning world economic power with an ever expanding middle class (and a far better long term bet than China, in my opinion). On the other hand, it's still a country where millions of people live a life of superstition and grinding poverty. For anyone seeking an understanding to this dichotomy, my first recommendation is V.S. Naipaul's books, particularly the wonderful "A Milli...more

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Aug 13, 2010

jane rated it

Shelves: adventure

Typical Paul Theroux-an extremely descriptive story about India. "For everyone with an urge to pack a bag and head for the unknown, even while sitting in place."

"With the whole day ahead of her, she sat by the window and watched India slip by in a stream of simple images-women threshing grain on mats, men plowing with placid oxen, children jumping into muddy streams, clusters of houses baking in the sun..."

After adjusting to India--the days that followed w...more

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Jan 15, 2010

Chip rated it

Its hard to say what I think about this book. Competently well written. Interesting insight into a culture different from mine. I couldn't get an accurate feel for whether the author has actually been to India or not - most of the specific details are things one could see on the National Geographic channel. There's a "glossing over" of details related to India that leaves the door open to my curiosity about the author's experience and the book wavering on credibility. At face valu...more

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Jan 25, 2011

Sean rated it

"The Elephanta Suite" by Paul Theroux is a collection of novellas that the explores complex emotions and experiences of Westerner travelers in India. Theroux brings to these his typical acerbic observations and tight, interesting storytelling in three intertwined if uneven stories of desire and illusions in India. "Monkey Hill" follows a rich middle aged couple indulging in the rhythm of an idyllic India confined within the walls of a luxury resort. Each experience India diff...more"The Elephanta Suite" by Paul Theroux is a collection of novellas that the explores complex emotions and experiences of Westerner travelers in India. Theroux brings to these his typical acerbic observations and tight, interesting storytelling in three intertwined if uneven stories of desire and illusions in India. "Monkey Hill" follows a rich middle aged couple indulging in the rhythm of an idyllic India confined within the walls of a luxury resort. Each experience India differently, one as a loosening of the mind, the other as a heightening of the senses. Both struggle with desires to possess India physically and in failing, shatter their illusions. "The Gateway to India" follows a middle aged American lawyer who facilitates businesses seeking to outsource to India. At first repulsed by the place he descends into a debauched existence of imagined freedom through the slums. Finally, "The Elephant God" follows Alice, a recent American college graduate who lives a double existence between an ashram and a call center, all focused around a chained elephant she feels a deep connection. What makes these stories interesting is that we see characters who delight in the danger of loosing themselves in India, the place Theroux calls that "million person festival of futility." All four characters experience bliss in the embrace of India and seek to extend their stays hoping to keep a hold of exotic India. The land becomes the vehicle for their desires and they impose them onto the location. However, these illusions become shattered when ultimately they realize they lack the freedom and anonymity they thought they would find in India. In the end, they feel scrutinized and lost by their experiences. Theroux is a great writer and brings to these stories his typical acerbic observations and ruminations about humans and travel. What made this book interesting for me was that I can see shades of experiences he wrote about in his travel book "Ghost Train to the Eastern Star." The book becomes an interesting experience in seeing how the experiences of an author can influence their writing. The book is not perfect. I like the structure of the book but found the novellas were not equally enjoyable. The weak story of the three is "Monkey Hill" which at times lacks the nuance of the second two stories and has a weak, incomprehensible ending. The book is not for everyone but if you have enjoyed his other works, I would highly recommend "The Elephanta Suite." (less)

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Aug 05, 2010

Sarah rated it

Shelves: india, culture, relationships, travel, business, prostitution

Theroux uses India as a backdrop for three novellas in this brilliant collection, The Elephanta Suite. In Monkey Hill, an American couple, Audie and Beth Bluden, have traveled to a holistic spa for relaxation, mediation and renewal. They expect luxury and adornment, but soon venture into exploitation of their Indian staff to meet their needs.

Dwight Huntsinger, lawyer and businessman, is traveling through India in The Gateway to India. His local colleagues instruct him on customs. He...more

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Jan 25, 2010

Stefani rated it

Shelves: exotic-travel

I liked this book because, like other books about foreign places I have read, it transported me to an exotic locale that I am unlikely to visit anytime in the near future. I'm not sure if all the insights about Indian people/culture were entirely true or representative of the culture as a whole, nor where the characterizations of Americans as predatory, sexually repressed, or morally reprehensible really valid either. Theroux ties all three novellas together by uniting the characters with a sh...more

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Sep 25, 2011

Patrick McCoy rated it

Shelves: contemporary-fiction

I have to say I really enjoyed the three novellas in The Elephant Suite set in India by Paul Theroux. And a part of the reason I enjoyed them so much was that I knew about the inspiration for them and some of the real life experiences that Theroux had while traveling in India for his book, Ghost Train To The Eastern Star. Theroux was disturbed by India and couldn't fully reconcile himself to those experiences he had and I think writing these novellas were a way to set down his feelings and exper...more

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Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it

With The Elephanta Suite, prolific travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux wins favorable comparisons to Graham Greene and Somerset Maugham. This suite of three novellas explores the gritty reality of American tourism in India: the book is not for those readers who seek another sunny portrait of an exotic land. As The Washington Post noted, "Theroux isn't likely to bring many new tourists to the subcontinent." As with much of Theroux's fiction, sexual and economic exploitation is the d

...more

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Apr 10, 2009

Negina rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I rated this book with 4 stars, not necessarily because I really loved it, but because it raised a lot of questions in my mind about individual versus societal behaviors and unexpected intercultural experiences. Please understand...I have such an urgent need to voice these ideas that I run the risk of babbling... *WARNING: spoilers ahead*

In "Monkey Hill" I found myself noticing the gender disparities among the American couple in their knowledge and expectations of extramari...moreI rated this book with 4 stars, not necessarily because I really loved it, but because it raised a lot of questions in my mind about individual versus societal behaviors and unexpected intercultural experiences. Please understand...I have such an urgent need to voice these ideas that I run the risk of babbling... *WARNING: spoilers ahead*

In "Monkey Hill" I found myself noticing the gender disparities among the American couple in their knowledge and expectations of extramarital affairs. Seeing her nervousness and fear, the husband does not have sex with the female therapist, but gives her money anyway. Afterward, he is proud of himself for his altruism. Naively, the wife observes the male therapist's shame after their sexual interlude, but refuses to give him money for his sacrifice, saying instead, "Haven't I just given you something?" I found this ironic given the way modern America boasts about gender equality. Mirrored decisions, behaviors, and regrets from both therapists were met with drastically different results.

In "The Gateway of India" I saw parallel instances of cultural elements changing a person for better or worse. Shah shares details of his Jain lifestyle in India and boasts of his eventually taking the holy path of his father. But after an extended trip to America he adopts aspects of the greedy, capitalist mentality of the locals. Dwight, on the other hand, starts down the depraved path of a lecherous American, but eventually finds himself following the Jain lifestyle and relocating to a holy Ashram with daydreams of becoming Shah's mendicant father. Interestingly enough, it wasn't until Shah returned from America with his newfound habits and confidence, that Dwight reconsidered his current path. Their initially symbiotic relationship resulted in their final switching of life's desires and goals.

Most obviously in "The Elephant God" did I see the resultant downward spiral of intercultural influence. A young American girl starts out wanting to explore the mysteries of India. After some weeks living in an Ashram and teaching Americanisms to salespeople at an Indian call center, she ends up jaded, corrupt, and vengeful. A young man starts out harmless, innocent, and fearful. After learning to speak American and receiving a promotion, he ends up brash, cocky, and dead. As with learning any new activity, it's easy to learn enough to fit in, but not enough to know how much more there is to learn.

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Aug 19, 2010

Brandon O'Neill rated it

· review of another edition

On the advise of a co-worker, I tried this, my first Paul Theroux. Three novellas which take place in India, make up The Elephanta Suite. Excellent writing style, interesting stories. There is a loose connection between all 3, but that isn't terribly important. India is a country I've never particularly wanted to visit, but the stories, each with someone from the U.S. in India, could probably be true of visiting any developing country - the themes such as the realization that your white...more

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Mar 31, 2011

HKd rated it

All three stories are a bit disturbing, the first two left me feeling a bit "what was that about?" The people in them weren't very interesting or likable, and I found the ending unsatisfying . I liked the third story best, Alice's experiences with her travel-mate, at the ashram and her relationship with the elephant who avenges her made for interesting reading, even if they ending was as dark as the others.

Some of his descriptions are very good, but with few exceptions ...more

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Nov 08, 2010

Dan Dubois rated it

Have long been a fan of Theroux, both as a travel writer and novelist. I have followed with some interest his contretemps with V.S Naipaul, and wondered whether this collection grew out of it. This is not my favourite work of his, but it is an engrossing read: bracing, wickedly funny, and bitter in its condemnation of Indo-american affairs of the heart, sexual or otherwise. The Indians we encounter, particularly in the Elephanta Suite, come off as unfathomably wise, devious, and in it for the ...more

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Mar 08, 2010

Katy rated it

Interesting book. I always enjoy reading Theroux's work, but once again find myself finishing one of his books with ambivalence. He writes brilliantly, but his view of humanity seems so jaded and depressing. Not sure his characters ever really learn or grow, it feels like I'm catching them at a midpoint in their journey. The book doesn't end with a nice neat bow tied around it to provide you with a sense of resolution. I'm now several weeks out and still chewing over what I read. Maybe that's wh...more

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Mar 15, 2010

Beth rated it

The only reason I managed to finish this book is because it was three short stories. I did not like the first two, Monkey Hill and The Gateway of India. The last one, The Elephant God, I enjoyed until the end. According to the front jacket "Theroux's portraits of people and places explode stereotypes to exhilarating effects." I did not find this to be the case at all. In fact, I found the stereotypes to be just that, stereotypes-both of the Indian and American characters.
Th...more

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Apr 10, 2009

Andrew rated it

In Theroux’s non-fiction books he skims over the personalities that he meets, particularly Americans that he encounters en-route. In this book he uses the three stories to develop characters and show how they interact with a culture, this time in India. They aren’t short stories: the shortest is 80 pages and the longest 106 pages but all tell the tale of Americans who spend an extended period in India.

The first two stories are of Americans who happen to reside in the Elephanta Suit...moreIn Theroux’s non-fiction books he skims over the personalities that he meets, particularly Americans that he encounters en-route. In this book he uses the three stories to develop characters and show how they interact with a culture, this time in India. They aren’t short stories: the shortest is 80 pages and the longest 106 pages but all tell the tale of Americans who spend an extended period in India.

The first two stories are of Americans who happen to reside in the Elephanta Suite, one in a Mumbai hotel and the other a couple vacationing in a resort near Hanuman Nagar that has a suite by the same name. The third story is that of a hitchhiker, who takes a “temporary” job in Bangalore when her female traveling companion bails out of their around-the-world trip.

The first Elephanta Suite story involves a couple in a secluded resort. For weeks they are blissfully unaware of the India around the resort. As they extend their stay they become connected and corrupted by the world around them, sneaking in and out of the compound without even telling their mate.

The second story involves Dwight Huntsinger, an American lawyer who takes on commercial contract work for his Boston firm in Mumbai. Huntsinger, who is recently divorced, finds the experience leaves him free from the encumbrances of the law firm and Boston social life. He too finds ways to connect with the local culture and becomes corrupted by it. An Indian colleague takes advantage of the situation and virtually replaces Dwight in Boston – but at the end of the story you wonder who is more encumbered: Huntsinger or his colleague, Shah. Both stories show Americans who think that their actions are invisible to locals.

Near the climax of the story, Shah asks Dwight what the most-visible sight in Hyannisport was when the Indian went to visit Cape Cod. Says Shah, “I was the sight. That day, in that place, I was the most unusual feature. There were no other Indian anywhere … With this face and these hands, I was the most visible.” Shah uses it to tell Dwight that his secret life was seen by everyone.

The third story is about Alice Durand, a recent college graduate headed for an ashram in Bangalore. When life at the retreat becomes tedious, she takes a job with a technology firm, teaching their call center employees how to sound American when soliciting business or answering tech support questions. She becomes trapped by the Indian legal and social system following an assault and the story tells of her struggle to deal with being a foreigner in that trap.

All three stories seem to reflect Theroux’s Catholic upbringing and a conservative attitude towards sex. They also provide an excellent reflection of Indian attitudes towards dealing with Americans as the countries become more actively involved commercially.
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Nov 01, 2008

Robert rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone

The Elephanta Suite is a triptych of three lightly interrelated novellas that riff on the theme of the foreign visitor--in this case American--overwhelmed and transformed (not always for the better) by the experience of visiting, living in, and traveling in India. It's a very fine collection, written with strength, insight,and humor..

Thematically, of course, this is a very old trope: it's culture shock, it's 'India is older and wiser than we are,' it's the freedom to descend into o...moreThe Elephanta Suite is a triptych of three lightly interrelated novellas that riff on the theme of the foreign visitor--in this case American--overwhelmed and transformed (not always for the better) by the experience of visiting, living in, and traveling in India. It's a very fine collection, written with strength, insight,and humor..

Thematically, of course, this is a very old trope: it's culture shock, it's 'India is older and wiser than we are,' it's the freedom to descend into one's one primitive nature, unobserved by friends and relatives. But Theroux applies this trope expertly. Each novella moves at the pace of a longer work,slowly, sometimes to the point of repetition (India is clamorous, the dust is choking and fiery, the smells overwhelm, the native cunning undermines all foreign judgment) but achieving a full sense of the principal characters, if not always their Indian antagonists (or friends, in one case.)

One amusing motif is the occasional reference to how different India seems to the visitor than it is portrayed in the many-layered, comforting, family portraits offered by Indian writers in vogue in "the West" today. Hard to know who is right, but having lived abroad in many countries, I would attribute this discrepancy to the hard shell of culture seldom penetrated by the non-native...and to the self-love of the world's diverse peoples celebrating themselves in their art.

The only place I've ever visited where the people consider their cuisine defective, for example, is Catalunya in Spain. "We eat badly," one Barcelona journalist told me once. And a politician said that the paella for which Catalunya is well-known around the world is really a dreadful mishmash that shouldn't be served in decent restaurants. Otherwise, people will tell you that their questionable food, miserable weather, and peculiar family customs (dinner together every Sunday for decades, to be released only by death) are just wonderful...the best. And so we receive the account Indian writers give of themselves: a Merchant-Ivory version of a reality that clearly fascinates Theroux, but with reservations.

I first read Theroux when I lived in Guayaquil, Ecuador in 1980. Sometimes being right about a situation (he was appalled by Guayaquil for good reason) is enough to turn a reader (me) against you. He described perfectly the rotted hell of the place, to which I added a few miserable details: the frigate birds wheeling menacingly over the Guaymas river, the iguanas scuttling in the patches of scruffy garden along the Malecon (Guayaquil's dismal promenade). After that, I didn't want to read Theroux much. Brought up bad memories.

Now I'm glad he has a mellower view of India than of Ecuador (probably deserved, but I have never been to India, so I don't know) and that I picked up this new volume of novellas. It's good; I'd recommend it to just about anyone.(less)

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Sep 03, 2008

Mikey B. rated it

Shelves: fiction-short-stories, short-stories

3 Novellas Set in India

These are three novellas set in India. They revolve around three sets or types of Americans in India. The most convincing is that of the young American female tourist. The other two are about an American businessman (in his forties) in Mumbai, and a middle-aged couple in a yoga camp or ashram.

The stories are all entertaining and very readable and the Indian settings conveyed by Paul Theroux are indeed vivid.

I do have a problem with...more

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Apr 10, 2009

Alex V. rated it

Like the grubby Americans whose adventures are documented in the three stories here, I was expecting a romantic experience with India in this book: the scents, the crushing poverty, moments of serene beauty and transformation.

What you get instead is a grim two-sided world. The pampered pale foreigners on one side, and the intricate mass of india on the other, both relying on dehumanizing usage patterns to survive. The Americans are clearly, brazenly using the Indians, and the Indians...more

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Apr 10, 2009

Jeanne rated it

Shelves: india

In a trio of novellas, Theroux takes us to India. Through the eyes of Americans, the reader discovers the beauty and the horror of the country.

Monkey Hill tells the tale of a wealthy couple visiting an exclusive spa in India. Both husband and wife encounter sexual temptation and its frightening aftermath.

The Gateway of India focuses on a lawyer and business man, Dwight Huntsinger. When the story begins, he is terrified of everything outside of his luxurious hotel room ...more

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Apr 10, 2009

Sunil rated it

Shelves: reviews, india, return-tickets

In two words, Not bad.
Paul Theroux’s latest novel, is actually a compilation of three novellas- each, a story at the Indo-american interface set in contemporary times. The first is rather a weak story of an American couple holidaying in an Indian spa; the second , perhaps the most intense of the three is a story of an American businessman forced to visit India because of his work and the last is about a young American backpacker. Interestingly, all the characters come to India with their...more

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Jan 20, 2010

Meg rated it

Whew. Definitely some "questionable" material in this one. If you are uncomfortable with rape, murder and child sex do NOT read this book.

The flow in The Elephanta Suite is incredible. The plot (all three of them) were deep and rich. Each ending was a learning experience for me, which was reached at the cost of being pushed and pulled by the writing with gross feelings of confusion and challenges.

I can't wait to get my hands on more Paul Theroux! Next o...more

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Sep 11, 2010

Jennifer rated it

Three amazing novellas about Americans in India. The characters when they are first introduced seem like stereotypes: a wealthy 50-ish couple staying at a spa; an American businessman arranging outsourcing deals in Mumbai; a pair of backpacking female college graduates. The Indians they encounter are stereotypes too--or is that only in the minds of the American characters? Eventually in each story, things take a turn that you--and the American characters--never saw coming.

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Apr 10, 2009

Becky rated it

This book was compelling. I'm not sure I liked it,however, even though it kept me up late reading. I definitely couldn't put it down, but would I recommend it... I don't know? I plan on trying another from this author. He paints a very bleak, horrific, violent picture of India. Both the tourists and Indians are parasitic, opportunistic, sexually aggressive and fearful. Theroux breathes life into his characters only to punish them for their character flaws. The three nouvellas are all punitive an...more

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Apr 10, 2009

Loyola University Chicago Libraries rated it

Shelves: bill

The Elephant Suite compiles three fascinating, morally complicated novellas about Americans, primarily tourists, in India. Typically, the stories find the Americans wholly out of their element, devastated or seemingly destroyed by what they find. But for some there is redemption, and for fewer still a form of salvation. What makes Elephanta Suite an uncomfortable but revealing book are the strongly implied (ultimately ambiguous) parallels drawn, or suggested by appearance, between animal and hum...more

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Apr 10, 2009

William rated it

Shelves: india

The Elephant Suite compiles three fascinating, morally complicated novellas about Americans, primarily tourists, in India. Typically, the stories find the Americans wholly out of their element, devastated or seemingly destroyed by what they find. But for some there is redemption, and for fewer still a form of salvation. What makes Elephanta Suite an uncomfortable but revealing book are the strongly implied (ultimately ambiguous) parallels drawn, or suggested by appearance, between animal and hum...more

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Aug 28, 2010

Carrie Kahle rated it

If you can, listen to this book. Three novellas set in India. American characters traveling in India each have some association with the Elephanta Suite, one of the best suite's in The Taj Hotel im Mumbai: a wealthy,hedonistic couple; a corporate lawyer who doesn't want to go to India at all; an idealistic college grad abandoned by her traveling companion. Each person discovers an India very different from what had been expected. Compelling and dark.

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Nov 10, 2011

Saurabh Sharma rated it

Recommends it for: Those who Love reading about cultures, countries and people

Recommended to Saurabh by: None

The Elephanta Suite is basically a collection of 3 novellas. Each of these deal with foreigners coming to India and gradually discovering the various shades of life in India. The author presents a vivid picture of the country from its spiritual appeal, to its in your face poverty and the bustling, rampaging IT and Outsourcing industry. The Indian people and the culture are full of stereotypes but then there are those glimpses into the real India which make the book interesting and worthwhile.

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Aug 20, 2011

Carolyn rated it

"The Elephanta Suite: Three Novellas","Paul Theroux",
"I have read with pleasure all of Theroux's travel books and a couple of his novels, but always felt that for a travel writer he did not enjoy most of the places he visited, or the inhabitants or his fellow travelers. This book is set in India, and is composed of 3 separate stories. There are some wonderful sights in India, and some lovely people. However he only dwells on the ugliness. The first two stories inv...more

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About Paul Theroux

Paul Edward Theroux is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work is The Great Railway Bazaar (1975), a travelogue about a trip he made by train from Great Britain through Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, through South Asia, then South-East Asia, up through East Asia, as far east as Japan, and then back across Russia to his point of origin. Although perhaps best know...more

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