Millroy the Magician

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alaskagrown
alaskagrown Posts: 208 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
... is a book by Paul Theroux, an author mostly known for his slightly snooty travel narratives. This book is a bizarre departure from that style of writing, instead focusing on the fictional (eponymous) main character, who is not so much a magician as a strange Jesus-like diet guru who advocates a kind of "Bible diet"/paleo/extremely clean plan to his followers.

I read this book while recovering from dengue fever in Nicaragua and whoa. If you want to turn people to clean eating, his portraits of standard American fare are so descriptive and disgusting that I never wanted to even eat butter again.


Just wondering if anyone else has ever read this weird, rare little book-- I wanted someone else who understands...

Happy Friday!

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  • Clew
    Clew Posts: 910 Member
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    I haven't, but I've been doing alot of studying up on clean eating over the past seveal months and can tell you when I eat primal/paleo/whatever you want to call it I feel WAY better than when I don't.

    I'm running to the library tomorrow to return some books, will peek to see if they happen to have it. Thanks for sharing.
  • atomiclauren
    atomiclauren Posts: 689 Member
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    Sounds neat - and we have a copy at work I'm going to snag!
  • alaskagrown
    alaskagrown Posts: 208 Member
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    Let me know what you think. I'm not exactly recommending it-- it was one of the weirder things I've read... but it was, erm, effective.
  • atomiclauren
    atomiclauren Posts: 689 Member
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    Will do - about 30 pages in so far...!
  • atomiclauren
    atomiclauren Posts: 689 Member
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    Aye...

    Well...hmm. I'm usually not so lost for what to say about things. For some reason it's not sitting well with me - I hate to blame it on the ending but I hate the way it ended. I think the character development was interesting - the judgmental yet kind prophet (who is good at concealment but is ultimately the most vulnerable), the newly-inspired followers, the one follower that holds the power. The characters surprised me in the beginning but were kind of ordinary after a while.

    One thing I thought was odd was Millroy's American ethnocentrism coupled with his devout following of (originally non-American) biblical foods.

    I can't decide if this was more a commentary about bad food choices, proselytizing, or media...all three I guess..
  • alaskagrown
    alaskagrown Posts: 208 Member
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    I totally hear you about "lost for words." I felt exactly like that when I was done. I'm actually impressed you stuck with it-- I read it out of necessity/boredom as it was one of the only English-language books around.

    Yeah, the ethno-centrism (which I think is kind of a euphemism, actually) was pretty harsh and misplaced. It really solidified how I feel about the guy as a travel writer-- he's always talked down to the cultures he visits.

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