What theme or themes do you see in the book?

Ok. Off the top of the head with absolutely no opportunity to go back and refresh the brain..

The overwhelmingly bankrupt nature of the American culture in overseas settings. I spent 25 years with a man who was intimately tied into this culture of feeding off the 'less developed'. For some odd reason more ex-pats with absolutely no sensitivity for anything but their own narrow way of looking at the world seem to end up in jobs overseas. I don't know why this is? In any case, Hunter's depiction of these bottom feeders is spot on -- love that scene when he is describing the visiting Americanos and their wives. Right out of Fear and Loathing.

Hunter also offers a needle sharp depiction of the local population that lives off the bottom dwellers. We wonder why poor countries continue to be poor. It is a system wrapped in itself, feeding upon itself and overwhelming disinterested in anything but its own advancement. In fact, occasionally, Hunter perspective was so harsh, so cynical -- it was hard not to want some greater portrayal of the other side: the great numbers of people in the local culture that work hard and true for the indigenous population. They far outnumber of sycophants and leeches.

Besides this -- the book does a great job at tracking people who are empty and have no idea how to fill themselves. Whether its alchohol, sex, sucking up or ripping off -- these people do a great job at avoiding living their lives. It is as though Hunter took example A of desperation and then example B of desperation etc.

Uh, don't know where all of that came from -- I am sure these are many more ways to look at this book, but these are what still stick in me a year plus since reading the book.

I do not take credit for these comments which I found elsewhere:

A stitch in time that was experienced and has passed on

and

Nagging inevitability of getting older and reassessing life's choices

The re-ocurring theme that stayed with me is the poverty and struggle of the island people. No one was caring to upgrade their lives - just taking advantage of them and selfishly (or greedy) trying to make money for themselves. With the newpaper it was survival of the strongest.

I was struck by the loneliness of the characters. I think that is what made the epigraph and the Pulitzer quotes resonate for me...in spite of great love or lofty ideals, the characters ended up alone and separate, both from each other and from society.

Well said fireflydances. I read the book twice and look back with the same thoughts about his American characters working overseas that you describe so well. I even go a step further than you. Hunter through Kemp's eyes, certainly does not give american virtue towards others a good name. I found it hard to understand that Hunter made some of the characters have so much integrity for defending true journalism and not to have any concern for the actual citizens of the island.

Here goes...
Once a thing of beauty shatters into a million pieces, it is beyond repair: whether it's a girl, an island or the American Dream. The best you can do is stop history from repeating itself. Fight the childish greed that makes us reach for shinny, pretty things before we know how to handle them with care. Find your voice, with the right kind of ears, it will be heard.

Yes I agree about the loss of innocence and the greed in spoiling a beautiful place for profit, but are you also saying that the journalism Kemp so protected was his way of using his voice to stop it or that it could have been? I am confused because with Chenault as the anolgy for PR, he was unable to stop what happened to her. Is the point that no one did anything to stop either and so history repeats itself?

On the other hand, it was a well-told story and sometimes I like to just enjoy that part and not look for underlying themes. I wonder what Hunter truly intended here........

Not knowing the answer to that question about so many authors frustrates me so.

Yeoman was the one who found his voice. Kemp heard it when others couldn't, but was paralyzed and incapible of righting the downward cycle of events. By rescuing Yeoman and preventing his demise, Kemp becomes more than a witness to history... he finally commits an act of civil disobedience and keeps hope alive. Too little, too late. However by giving TRD its fictional voice, heart and soul he makes the case for history not repeating itself.

(Film and book might have gotten a bit commingled in my earlier comments.)