The Elephanta Suite unites Paul Theroux’s travel and fiction writing in three loosely connected novellas. Returning to India, one of the settings of his earlier travelogue The Great Railway Bazaar, Theroux presents snapshots of the country from the points of view of a trio of very different Americans – a well-off couple, whose idyllic stay in a yoga retreat is shattered by thoughts and acts of infidelity; an American businessman who starts as an outsider but is soon entangled in the seedier side of Indian life; and a young female gap-year student heading out to explore the country on her own. 

The novellas relate to each other on the level of theme rather than plot. The characters connect with their alien surroundings via financial and sexual transactions, and the results for each of them are markedly different. However, Theroux avoids painting the Americans simply as unpleasant and exploitative colonialists; they are more than matched for deviousness by some of their Indian counterparts. He also explores the spiritual side of Indian life with pleasing ambiguity. Although he occasionally makes sweeping generalisations about the country, Theroux mostly succeeds in bringing the whole vivid landscape to life, from society dinners to squalid slums.