 "Excellent, funny, well written, and left me wanting more" | 2009-09-25 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1048DKUMC121U |
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and having traveled modestly in French Polynesia and the Hawaiian Islands I was very curious about life on some of the lesser traveled atolls.
The details Maarten provides about daily life were hilarious and shocking at the same time. I will be adding him to the list of authors I would love to have a conversation with.
Only thing lacking in this book would be a few pictures of the places and people. If you watch the History Channel's "Back to Tarawa" you can see the trash Maarten is talking about.
I'm not much of a charity type person but I would love to get the people of Kiribati basic sanitation and some decent food more often!
5 stars for "Sex Lives of Cannibals" and I'll be buying the other books by the same author. |
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 "Hilarious stories about life in the Pacific" | 2009-09-04 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3U6J0DLLDEWM2 |
I've traveled to the South Pacific. I've been to Fiji, Tahiti, and New Zealand. All are wonderful places that I'd love to revisit a hundred times.
Mr. Troost, on the other hand, spent time in Kiribati, a small coral atoll country in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by feral dogs, far too much wildlife, inadequate sanitation, and more misadventures. As a reader, I alternately wept for this poor soul and laughed my brains out at the situation he threw himself into. In the middle of nowhere, Mr. Troost learned some new techniques on life and experienced what very, very few westerners do - almost complete deprivation.
Read it, laugh at his stories, then mull over the implications - that some people live like this without choice, and be thankful for what you've got. |
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| "very interesting" | 2009-08-31 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3RS5OE6UTS4WM |
| This is the freshman effort by Troost, and a very successful one at that. His humorous account of life on a small island in the middle of nowhere really drives the point in from an environmental and social point of view. It is almost as if the island is a metaphor for our world, which may have have been an unintended consequence of dodging fecal streams in the tide pools from the locals, having to live on subsidies of rich countries, and having an interesting clash of old and new traditions and cultures. While I may never get to visit Kiribati due to global climate change, I feel like I already have with Troost's book |
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| "Funny Book. Rambling. Author is a bum." | 2009-08-07 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2DJFYBB2L5VSN |
The book is funny. I wouldn't like to endure what the unemployed, bum of humanity turned author and his employed hardworking girlfriend, wife experienced, though there are parts of this USA that are not far off from being just like Kiribati in ideals and ecology.
The book starts out strong, but halfway spirals downward, especially when he rambles about nothing in paritcular, as if he ran out of something to say. It's clear from the outset, the author is a bum, he knows it and admits it. He lives off his girlfriend, now wife, and she doesn't seem to mind one bit. He is a bum, shiftless and doesn't want to work, though opportunities presented themselves on more than one occasion before the big move to Kiribati. Seems to me that this island fit him, and he to it like a t. It's funny to hear how one bum, him, calls the locals lasy. Talk about calling the kettle black.
If you want to have a chuckle or two, and realize how very good your own life is when you think it is utterly bad, I'd have to recommend you give this book a perusing. You might just realize just how very good you have it.
Don't want to spoil your reading, but I can't imagine nothing worse than going for a leisurly swim under the heat of the sun, in the beautiful Pacific only to find your neighbors using it as a toilet. Yuck! Eeww! |
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| "Funny, smart, 5 stars!" | 2009-07-15 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3VYMB493010QG |
| This is a fabulous book, and I recommend it to anybody with a brain and ears! Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for his book on China. Well, you can't win 'em all. |
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 "Lost interest quickly" | 2009-07-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3RN703LRMI84G |
| I was looking forward to reading this book based upon my previous and upcoming trips to Australia. Once into it I quickly lost interest. The author uses a style of writing and humor that are familiar but unappealing to me. I am sure others love it but I would suggest anyone preview the book before purchase. I think appreciation for this offering is reserved for a narrow audience. |
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