Translating La: A Tour of the Rainbow City

Let's face it, Los Angeles gets more negative press than any other city in America. Much of this is because it's such an easy target-from police brutality, to earthquakes, to disgustingly ostentatious wealth, to smog, to gang violence, to sprawl, to racial tension, to the film industry-so much of how outsiders define LA is easy to use as fodder for contempt. And when you have a city that covers over 1,000 square miles and includes about 85 incorporated cities, one is left with a megalopolis that's hard to get one's mind around, much less defend.That said, Boston-raised writer and translator Theroux does his best to find the good in LA. After ten years living in the Middle East, he moved to Long Beach in 1985 and set himself up as a translator. In twelve breezy chapters that mix the history of LA's different areas with his own excursions and recent history, Theroux makes the case for LA as a multicultural melting pot that remains as the overwhelming symbol for the American good life in the Third World.It's far from a comprehensive history or in-depth analysis (Mike Davis' City of Quartz will serve one better), but it does do a nice job of taking the reader through some of the neighborhoods with the aim of trying to explain how they are different and why. There are no big lessons to be learned, but Theroux's crisp prose and storytelling are a treat, and his open-minded approach to the city make for a nice change.