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Customer Review
Product Description
With The Sex Lives of Cannibals, Maarten Troost established himself as one of the most engaging and original travel writers around. Getting Stoned with Savages again reveals his wry wit and infectious joy of discovery in a side-splittingly funny account of life in the farthest reaches of the world. After two grueling years on the island of Tarawa, battling feral dogs, machete-wielding neighbors, and a lack of beer on a daily basis, Maarten Troost was in no hurry to return to the South Pacific. But as time went on, he realized he felt remarkably out of place among the trappings of twenty-first-century America. When he found himself holding down a job—one that might possibly lead to a career—he knew it was time for him and his wife, Sylvia, to repack their bags and set off for parts unknown.
Getting Stoned with Savages tells the hilarious story of Troost’s time on Vanuatu—a rugged cluster of islands where the natives gorge themselves on kava and are still known to “eat the man.” Falling into one amusing misadventure after another, Troost struggles against typhoons, earthquakes, and giant centipedes and soon finds himself swept up in the laid-back, clothing-optional lifestyle of the islanders. When Sylvia gets pregnant, they decamp for slightly-more-civilized Fiji, a fallen paradise where the local chiefs can be found watching rugby in the house next door. And as they contend with new parenthood in a country rife with prostitutes and government coups, their son begins to take quite naturally to island living—in complete contrast to his dad. Top to learn more
Nowhere near as good as his 1st book which was great but not bad.
I stumbled upon Troost's first book in Powell's due to a 'Staff Recommendation' and devoured it within a day: A truly funny and engaging read. The following day I ran out and purchased this expecting more of the same but it ain't. Well, not exactly anyway. Whereas I read his first book in a day, it has taken me over a week to get through this and I doubt I'll finish it actually. What's the difference? Well, to start with the premise is that Troost will write a 'Travel Book' in the vein of Evelyn Waugh, and Paul Theroux around A year that spent living in Fiji and Vanuatu. His previous book revolved around the two years he spent in Kiribati. This latter book was a masterpiece of humor, anecdote, gentle self-deprecation and just pure good will. It was fresh and engaging and a real pleasure to read because of the author's uncanny ability to turn small events into good story fodder and for his willigness and ability to mock himself within the adventures told of. The present book...
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July 2, 2006
(pdx, or United States) | Helpful Votes: 57 | Rating: 3
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll come away with a new appreciation for the South Pacific
J. Maarten Troost's sophomore effort is another travel memoir about a suburbanite displaced to a remote, third-world culture. This time around, he's not merely following his wife's career in assisting impoverished countries. He's not moving around the world for lack of anything better to do; he's moving of his own free will and desire. Maarten and Sylvia, after returning temporarily to the hectic pace of Washington, D.C., make a conscious decision to return to the South Pacific and start a family. They research locations, look for employment, and consider the political unrest in various locales before deciding on their new homeland.In his first memoir, Troost's reluctant adoption of his new culture is the core of the story. Heck, he wasn't even sure why he agreed to go there! His writing drew the reader into a foreign culture, bringing a higher level of appreciation for a dirty, poor, unconventional village that the average American wouldn't survive a day in. This...
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September 8, 2006
(Rosamond, CA) | Helpful Votes: 20 | Rating: 4
engaging, but not up to sex lives of cannibals
Back to the South Pacific, but this time to Vanuatu and Fiji.Curiously, cannibalism is much more relevant in this book thanin Sex Lives of Cannibals--maybe he should have saved the wordfor here! Once again we escape from the structured life ofsuits-and-ties and commuting to visit exotic places. You'llread about visiting active volcanoes where tourists had beenkilled a few weeks before, foot-long poisonous centipedes, thejoys of drinking kava, which is best if you don't think abouthow it's made, and cannibalism, which last occurred in Vanuatuwithin the author's lifetime.Troost is a very engaging and humorous writer, frequently pokingfun at himself. And yet....and yet..there seemed to bea difference between this book and Sex Lives--something thatgave his first book a full 5 stars, something that maybe wasn'texactly...
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June 17, 2006
(knoxville, tennessee United States) | Helpful Votes: 23 | Rating: 4
Solved my search for an insomnia cure
