The Burma that he conjures in these pages is wonderfully present in lush and dense prose ... Theroux is now in his early 80s and this novel is one of his finest, in a long and redoubtable oeuvre. The talent is in remarkable shape.
The furious semaphoring and telegraphing are ultimately distracting, undermining a narrative that is otherwise propulsive and well-constructed. The thick descriptions of nature and male-point-of-view ogling will not be to everybody’s taste, but they do accord with tone and time, while the period detail and language hit the mark ... The examination of Blair’s divided self is intriguing, if heavy-handed. Mr. Theroux has done his research and, although he wears his learning gaudily, many readers will enjoy the bright display. But the frequent repetitions and hectoring tone are less forgivable.
Theroux brings to this story a sense of lived experience – he also came of age in the last knockings of the British empire ... By the time Theroux recasts these storied events, he has evoked a deeper understanding of the complicated life beyond their edges.
Theroux is writing for Orwell connoisseurs. We know very little about what Orwell was reading during these years, but Theroux imagines it all for him ... Theroux brings the empire and its evils alive as a day-by-day experience. This is what writing the book as a novel enables him to do, in a way that more abstract academic discourses around colonialism can’t.
Although more straightforward in plot than Tan’s novel, Burma Sahib is a much denser work. Theroux conjures the minutiae of Orwell’s life, including the names of people who exist only as footnotes in his biography.
Stellar ... With piercing prose, Theroux lays bare the fraudulent and fiercely despotic nature of the British Empire. This brims with intelligence and vigor.
