Theroux opens darkly sexual door on India in ‘Elephanta Suite’

Paul Theroux is not a nice man.

At least that’s how he comes across in his writings, which usually focus on travel-whether of the fictional or non-fiction variety.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s often a good thing, especially when he writes about destinations that are not necessarily vacation spots.

And he always shines a light on real people being themselves in far-off lands.

In this entertaining trio of novellas dubbed “The Elephanta Suite” (Houghton Mifflin, $25), Theroux is his curmudgeonly self. Here, we see India through the eyes of Americans of three different varieties. And sex is a key part of what all these Americans encounter on their travels – although you couldn’t call this a trio of sexy tales.

Right from the start, the physical contact is unsavory, with the first story, “Monkey Hill,” focusing on a rich American couple who are staying at an expensive resort that they think puts them on intimate terms with India.

When each of them, separately, takes that intimacy literally, their true distance from India – and the artificial nature of the place they’re staying – becomes painfully apparent.

The second story, “The Gateway of India,” deals with a businessman who goes to the teeming slums of Mumbai for illicit sex.

It’s the last tale that’s the most uncomfortable and also the funniest. “The Elephant God” is the story of a young frump from Brown University who tries to touch the soul of India and ends up being sexually assaulted.

That part of the story, of course, is tragic. But along the way, she finds work with a telemarketing firm that handles the American market. Theroux offers some hilarious insights into the negative effects of American English on a culture that first learned a far different form of the language in the days of the Raj.

All three stories show individuals who are far outside the culture they’re visiting, despite their attempts to plumb its depths in various ways.

Each of the three stories can be digested by most readers over a long evening.

That makes for three perfectly manageable and interesting little trips to India with some less-than-agreeable traveling companions, including Theroux.