Theroux the Keyhole is a relatable record of locked-in family life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
How has the pandemic changed relationships with family members, friends and work colleagues? In his lockdown diaries, Louis Theroux gives us a fly-on-the-wall look at the day-to-day turmoil of attempting to home-school three children while running a business and maintaining positive connections within and outside the home.
In entries covering the period from March 2020 to March 2021, bookended by a prologue and epilogue, Theroux records personal reflections alongside acknowledgements of the devastation wrought by the virus and a recognition that we’re not all in this together.
Louis Theroux is an award-winning British-American journalist, film-maker, author and podcaster known worldwide for his documentaries that introduce audiences to hidden or controversial subcultures. His calm, easy-going manner allows him to get close to his subjects, in settings where open access is far from the norm. He’s ventured into prisons, visited porn film sets and met paedophiles, crime figures and members of a range of fringe communities. Theroux the Keyhole is his second autobiography. (His first, Gotta Get Theroux This, was a Sunday Times bestseller.)
Like many of us, Theroux initially approached lockdown with a can-do attitude and a feeling of being able to manage. His optimism does not last. At home in North London with his wife, Nancy, and his three sons, he’s soon defeated by the challenges of remote learning, trying to remind himself that every moment with his children “will one day feel like a treasure to look back on, knowing it was true, and at the same time not really persuading myself”.
COVID-19 arrived just when Louis and Nancy had started their own production company, prompting the need for them to think creatively about work. Projects were postponed then rescheduled. Compromises were made. One new venture—a podcast called Grounded—became popular despite Theroux’s initial reluctance to jump on the “bandwagon” (the number of new podcasts surged as presenters were forced to find new ways of reaching their audiences).
Theroux is assigned key worker status due to his role as a broadcaster at the BBC. In addition to working from home, he’s able to make it out of London to do some filming in the US for a documentary on Joe Exotic (of Tiger King fame). Frequent travel disruptions and guilt associated with leaving his family, however, add layers of complexity to his trips. At the age of 50, Theroux is contemplating staying at home rather than “chasing SoundCloud rappers and alt-righters around Florida”.
We hear of Theroux’s growing obsession with keeping up with Joe Wicks workouts (Wicks, a British fitness coach and media personality, gained a worldwide viewing audience for his PE with Joe YouTube livestream, created to keep children active during the pandemic). He exposes the difficulties of repeatedly recording voice-overs while trying to sound unrehearsed. He also shares observations on the weirdness of lockdown lifting when feeling like life is far from “normal”, and confesses to cheating during pub Zoom quizzes but still not winning.
The book is surprisingly honest, in particular about the easy slide into questionable habits. Theroux is frank when chronicling his alcohol intake, wondering about its effect on his health but expressing joy at time spent in the kitchen listening to music while mixing himself sneaky drinks.
Theroux the Keyhole will definitely be a popular read for fans of the documentary maker but will likely also capture a broader audience, particularly those who coped (and are still coping) with educating children at home while trying to keep work on the boil and family bonds intact.
Reviewed by Jo Vabolis
This review is the opinion of the reviewer and not necessarily of Glam Adelaide.
Distributed by: Pan Macmillan Australia
Released: November 2021
RRP: $34.99
More News
