Despite the title, the book is often has veil of sadness, cynicism and disappointment. Theroux pulls no punches, and when he describes what he sees, it's more than likely through the lens of pessimism, no doubt coloured by his own divorce and sense of estrangement. Still, his voyage is impressive and courageous and he describes it with great detail. His hard look also make his praises stand out all the more - what a beautiful moment it must have been!
A lengthy, sometimes toilsome, read but ultimately rewarding. ( )

I tend to have a nonfiction book on the go with a fiction...read your daily chapter of the n/f then you can indulge in the latter. It says something about Mr Theroux' writing abilities that I shelved the novel (and it was a great novel!) to immerse myself in his travels around Australia, NZ and the various islands of the Pacific, culminating in Easter Island and Hawaii.
It's never boring. I'm trying to work out why he succeeds where other travelogues can be SO turgid. For a start, the whole adventure revoves around the author- HIS mindset, experiences at sea, interaction with locals and other tourists. It keeps the reader involved ...too much factual commentary can be like looking at someone else'soverly extensive holiday snaps...a bit of a yawn.
It's extremely funny too, as he delves into both the urban and the off the beaten track. Even a volcano is brought entertainingly to life:
"In the distance I could hear the volcano grumbling and eructating, the amplified belches like those of a fat man after an enormous meal; and these sounds of digestion were accompanied by distant crepitating rumbles like those of loosened bowels. The expression 'bowels of the earth' just about summed it up."
I think this is the apogee of travel writing. I shall be reading more of his works. ( )

The third time I’ve read the book, and I’ve enjoyed it each and every time. Thoreau is seen as caustic by many, but tis those very same attitudes that make the book so interesting. For example, his knock on the Japanese is both contemplative and fully warranted.
He does not cover the full range of the Pacific, but does a good job of the islands he does get to. Having worked and/or traveled to three of his destinations, his observations seem justifiable to me....maybe I’m also a caustic old-timer....read in Sri Lanka, finished 27.01.2020. ( )

Theroux takes planes, ferries, helicopters, and his kayak around fifty-odd Pacific islands. As usual, he's critical of all he sees, occasionally hypocritical, observant but prone to overgeneralization, often unhappy. But, he experiences a lot, he gets into conversation with a lot of people without taking advantage of them, he's funny. I think what distinguishes this from the previous Theroux I read, "Dark Star Safari," is that Theroux overall very much enjoys his travels through the Pacific, and doesn't want them to end. The final set piece, of a total eclipse in Hawaii, is a little awkward, but still a cute ending.

> Paddling along, the sound of the paddle or the slosh of the boat would startle the fish, and they would leap from the water and skim across the waves, shimmying upright, balancing on their tails – more than one, often eight or ten fish dancing across my bow as I paddled towards a happy island.

> “If someone, say your mother, gets bad sick, you feed your pig a lot of food. Get him fat.” “Because you might need him for your mother’s funeral?” “Right.” I could just imagine a sick Tongan’s sense of doom when he or she looked out the hut window and saw the family pig fattened. “Also your horse.” “To be in the funeral procession?” “Not the procession but the feast. We eat the horses.”

> Even with my stinging arm in this choppy sea, I would rather be here among the cathedral-like contours of the cliffs on this high island than seeing its architectural equivalent in Europe – and I knew that the next time I saw Westminster Abbey or Notre-Dame I would be instantly reminded of the soaring Na Pali coast and miss it terribly. ( )

Paul's voyage and writing meandered around the Pacific, not telling much of a story. ( )