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Loading... Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu (original 2006; edition 2006)by J. Maarten Troost
Work InformationGetting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu by J. Maarten Troost (2006)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Troost had lived in Kiribati for quite some time and after moving back to Washington DC, he and his wife decided they needed to be back on the islands of the Pacific: Vanuatu and Fiji. While truly hilarious, the book is also informative about the islands. Nothing is funnier than his getting stoned on mudwater, otherwise known as the Kava drink—so long as you’re listening to it at least. I enjoyed this book immensely and have embarked on reading his other books in Oceania. A very fun author who is appropriately serious when he needs to be. ( ) Author J. Maarten Troost takes us along for his time living in the Pacific island nations of Vanuatu and Fiji, including his experiences with cyclones, mudslides, and annoying colonialist Frenchmen, not to mention starting a family and becoming entirely too fond of kava, the local recreational drug of choice. Along the way, he tells us a bit about the history, culture, landscape, and politics of these islands. (The politics were particularly relevant on Fiji, which had recently experienced a coup before Troost moved there, and was clearly in a disturbed and unsettled state.) It's a fun, interesting, breezily written book, with a good sense of humor, making it a pleasant experience for the armchair traveler. I do look a little askance at the title, because, come on, are we not over referring to people as "savages?" But Troost certainly never takes a condescending attitude towards the native peoples of the islands, even if he does have a little trouble wrapping his brain around the violence of their history, which apparently includes a fairly recent tradition of cannibalism. Don't let the title of this book fool you into thinking it's a superficial look at another culture. The author is intelligent, observant, and extremely funny. He and his wife abandon promising jobs in Washington, DC and move to the South Pacific, an area where they traveled previously . The book begins in Vanuatu and moves to Fiji when the become prospective parents. The audio book is very well read. Highly recommended as a good way to learn about this part of the world and have some good laughs along the way. Troost specializes in that self-deprecating, clueless traveler mode of writing that is popular with good reason. We get the experience of watching someone else stumbling through exotic cultures with all the hopeless cowardice and ineptitude which we secretly know would be our own lot. In Troost's earlier book, he and his wife spent two years on one island, whereas in this, they move several times. Troost doesn't get into any deep philosophizing and yet he knows the absurdity of trying to "go native" and the pointlessness of describing Western style tourist accommodations. Having read his third book, which was written after this one and is a discussion of his recovery from alcoholism, it is a little disturbing through hindsight to realize that he seeks a bar at every destination and spends quite a bit of time rhapsodizing over kava drinking. But, Troost has wit and style, is a good observer and adopts a good natured, humorous persona. A fun read. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesLiving in the South Pacific (Book 2)
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. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)919.59504History and Geography Geography and Travel Geography of and travel in Australasia, Pacific Ocean islands, Atlantic Ocean islands, Arctic islands, Antarctica and on extraterrestrial worlds New Guinea and neighboring countries of Melanesia Other parts of Melanesia VanuatuLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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