The Family Arsenal

by Paul Theroux

Hood, a renegade American diplomat, envisions a new urban order through the opium fog of his room. His sometimes bedmate, Mayo, has stolen a Flemish painting and is negotiating for publicity with "The Times". Murf the bomb-maker leaves his mark in red whilst his girlfriend Brodie bombs Euston.

Genres: Fiction, Novels, American, American Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Literature

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

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 known as a travelogue writer, Theroux has also published numerous works of fiction, some of which were made into feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel The Mosquito Coast.

He is the father of Marcel and Louis Theroux, and the brother of Alexander and Peter. Justin Theroux is his nephew.

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Family Arsenal shows Theroux in his grumpy Graham Greene imitation days. Pretty sour.

It’s somewhat dated (Irish terrorists in 1970s London) and strangely slow for a book on bombers. It does have its good parts as an interesting depiction of London and radical politics of the 1970s. The upper class reverse snobbism is fun. One character with family name and some money think she’s hip because she thumbs her nose at her exalted peers and tries to adopt East End youth and Trotskyism. That’s a little reminiscent of Leonard Bernstein and Norman Mailer In Manhattan in the 1960s. Both of those men studied at Harvard and ran with a very chi chi ta ta crowd. Bernstein ended up having a notorious fancy party with Black Panthers and was roundly mocked by Tom Wolfe. Mailer helped free a convicted murderer who sadly murdered again. Of course Mailer himself had already stabbed a wife in 1960 (she lived).

The “family dynamic” in Theroux’s book is interesting. The shady American is “dad” and controls events and the young people in his orbit. Bad dad/anti hero dad.

[dini · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first thirty pages were a struggle to get through. The writing seemed clunky, the characters
were cliched, and my own unfamiliarity with the era Theroux describes made it worse. I found this at a book sale for $1.50 and I would not have felt bad about putting it down.

However, something kicked in when I was done with the first section, pulling me through the story as Theroux revealed new faces to these formerly dull characters before flipping them around and killing them outright and bringing them back to life. No one is flat and no one can be reduced to a stereotype here - not even Hood, who out of all others in this novel is the most upfront about himself, yet he leaves all those who come in contact with him mystified. Nothing is what it seems.

This is the kind of book where when you finish it, you wish there was a sequel, and then you realize that a sequel would utterly ruin every single idea presented here. It's not very gripping at first but if you choose to continue reading, you will be rewarded.

--
I forgot to mention, every single book I've read about London makes me want to visit it even more. There must be something about this place.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Theroux definitely honed his writing skills. Not a bad story though.

[Wachia Kayanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The older I get the more captivated I am by the archetype of the improper protagonist. So many times a protagonist is presented an a well-intentioned, albeit ill-equipped model. Relatable but sort of still, lovable. Hood is none of that. He's misanthropic, moderately sadistic, and just a generally dark dude you wouldn't want to meet in the corner of a bar.
I liked how the story pieced itself together eventually when I'd ask "why is this character here?" and finding out later that she or he is a catalyst for an important plot point.

A few racist remarks here and there like when the protagonist thought of Africans as "pathetic blacks" but that's the nature of this character, he just hates people. Black. White. Woman. Man. Child. So the downsides of his personality, which is nearly all sides, are excused for fiction's sake.

Remember, the 70's is post-vietnam. Masculinity is still defined as gruff, hardened, and unfeeling.
But remember that protagonists, don't have to be likable. They're too busy living through the story that's being told.

[Claire]

An opium induced froth!

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

i iked this strange book when i read it as a teenager (also living in the london where it is set), perhaps drawn to the mix of drama and unheroic characters. not sure what i would think of it now, as later i read one of theroux's travel books and was less impressed - hard to be gripped by travel writing, i find. anyway will nostalgically stick with 4 stars.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as enjoyable as other novels I’ve read by this author. Set in London during the 80’s, this is a a fairly dark and somber affair which I’m not sure ever really gets to the point the author is trying to make apart from some folks drifting through life.

I may be a bit harsh as I left this book for a large period during the summer, but not one of my faves.

[James Harper · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this a thoroughly boring read. The story is slow and for me nothing much happens and the characters are unlikeable, and worse, not interesting. Some of the writing is great but too little to warrant reading until you've read every other book out there.
I'd be interested to get feedback from someone who enjoys the book as I may have missed something! Thanks

[Helen Geng]

From bookishly UK

[Mikael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather unusual plot for Theroux, bringing us back to class struggle in 70s United Kingdom.

[Sophia Rigby · Rating 3 out of 5]

No real plot. More a snapshot of a life. Good writing though.

[Isla McKetta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some incisive comments on humanity, but overall I did not love this book.

[Seb · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a muddled book, the interlinks between characters were interesting as they became clearer. You could see the theme that Theroux was going for throughout the book but it never quite came to fruition, sort of like Mr Gawber’s big bang. Definitely seen a lot better from him

[Carol Waters · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story about family is way different than the usual. The author describes a group of characters that are so diverse in their motivations and values that "family" seems an unlikely sobriquet. But then again, they're on the same team. Sort of.

Hood, the main character, is an anarchist. It's Murf who really wants to blow things to smithereens, and Brodie who seems to be the puppy following him along. What's Mayo's thing? Anarchist, bored housewife, selfish child.....

The supporting characters include several gangsters, a self-absorbent actress, a self-absorbent socialite, and Mr. Gawber, a a accountant straight out of Dickens. He lives in the house where he was born, having graduated to the big bedroom after his mother died.

The story is about commitment as much as anything. How does one value a life? A culture? Another person. If Hod's goal is to blow things up, what got blown? And how did the one big explosion really change anything>

I found myself thinking about the characters between reads. It was on the news last night that ISIS wants to bow people up on the streets of America. How far does one go for one's beliefs?

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hood, a disgraced and fugitive American diplomat from the far East, has gone underground in London. He is living with a trio of supposed recruits to the IRA, two of whom are little more than children and the third is his sometime mistress. Hood's life is aimless, but it gains focus when he commits a senseless murder and tries, in his own way, to atone for it. Theroux mixes political and social commentary with gathering tension, developing his family theme along the way. There are passages of insight and acute character analysis, although a few of the characters never really come to life in a persuasive way. The wrap-up is satisfying, if a little too pat.

[Julia]

so far so ace... really early on but already feel that this is going to be very memorable... each phrase has so much in it... yet the detail, the intertesting metaphors do not weigh down the pace...

... why is it books from the 1970's somehow seem older, more far away than books from older decades? part whistful nostalgia and part clamour for the new (in terms of ideas, society) that these days seems unfamiliar...

[Rachael Wolfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Family Arsenal is at times compelling, at times confusing and at times a bit tedious. While a handful of interesting characters exist within it's pages, there also exist one of the most infuriating and obnoxious characters I have ever come across (in my opinion), The Ms. Arrow. I could barely force myself to read any of the passages which pertained to her.
There is a sense of drama and impending doom in this story but I found the ending to not quite live up to my expectations.

[David Buhler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in London during the time of IRA bomings. Is it a murder mystery? NO, there is no mystery about who-done-it. It turns out to be a strange love(?) story built around violent intrigues. The characters are well done - most quite likeable in spite of their idiosyncratic weirdnesses. "All is well that ends well"... ends well for the "lovers."

[Cathy Vincevic · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a dark, wonderful book that leaves you wondering about the main character--and I found myself perversly attracted to his noir-esque figure. It isn't what you'd expect, and that's what makes it great.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I got a little bit lost with the complexity and symbolism in this book, or maybe there is no symbolism or complexity and it is just a good story. Either way it has well-developed characters, but I am not really familiar with the political circumstances of that time.

[Surbhi Verma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book presents an interesting contrast of the poor and the rich versus the bourgeois and how both of them decline the latter for the deterioration of society. The protagonist Hood's opium-filled reality walks us through each of these three classes and shows the highs and lows of all classes.

[Agness.c]

didn't manage to finish it...

[Pam · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this book because I had read The Mosquito Coast by Theroux. I really liked it but this book just didn't hold my interest.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: an amalgam of London, the IRA bombings, an unusual romance, and brutality. It's weird.

[Judy · Rating 1 out of 5]

couldn't get into it.

[Chahula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forty years on and this book still works: a ragtag group of bumbling terrorists, a stolen painting, and misplaced weapons. Fairly fast-paced with the occasional opium dream to slow things down.

“Boom widdy-widdy, boom-boom.”