SOURCE: Knudsen, James. Review of Kowloon Tong, by Paul Theroux. World Literature Today 72, no. 2 (spring 1998): 374.

In the following review, Knudsen offers a mixed assessment of Kowloon Tong, which he finds excessively “dreary,” but redeemed in part by Theroux's observational skill.

Through Paul Theroux's long and varied career as a writer, he has shown himself to be an acute observer of foreign cultures. Whether he is recording his railway experiences everywhere from England to Asia, or exploring, through fiction, the lives of characters who find themselves for personal or professional reasons in cultures not their own, Theroux never shies from strong opinions and often provides his readers with rare insights and local color.

Kowloon Tong, subtitled “A Novel of Hong Kong,” is no exception. Set on the eve of the handover of Hong Kong by the British back to the Chinese, it explores the cultural zeitgeist of British settlers...