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What are readers saying about The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific?
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A Reader posted a review at 2012-04-18 05:12:44.
(Language: English)
 
This was hysterical, I just loved it!
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-30 09:26:39.
(Language: English)
Humorous
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Wan-Shoo posted a review at 2009-08-09 02:06:24.
(Language: English)
An interesting story of how the author morphed from a city dweller into an islander. The civilization in an island and the plight he has when he first landed. Some parts are pretty funny but still prefer lost on planet china. There are more background history to those island (in which some you could hardly heard of), but intellectually stimulating.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-08-31 04:40:14.
(Language: English)
As with most good nonfiction books, the title is entirely misleading. There are hardly any cannibals in the book, and they really don't have sex. This is an entertaining travel book about a hapless twenty-something who decided it would be better to go off and live on an unknown, undeveloped desert island than get a real job. Very funny. And it gives you a different perspective on the Pacific Islands.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-07-19 07:42:37.
(Language: English)
I picked this book up at a free book exchange in a small village in Mexico...what a find! what a gem! Troost had me laughing out loud over and over again...I would recommend this travel book to anyone...whether you read travel books or not you are sure to get a hoot out of this one!!
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-04-18 08:33:15.
(Language: English)
The title is certainly intriguing and I'm sure it accomplishes its main goal of getting people's attention; however, it has little to do with the book. There actually is a section devoted to this topic, but really the book is about the author's time spent living in the small island nation of Kiribati. It really is a very entertaining book in which you might accidentally learn something.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-09 07:22:56.
(Language: English)
The language and perspective of this book tends to be a little raw, but every person contemplating missions ought to read it. It explains both the sensitivity and the calouses needed to do true cross cultural work. The effect the US can have on the world for better and for worse are discussed. What it takes to aclimate to a culture is illustrated well. Also, the US exatriate attitude toward missionaries and the unintended consequences of missions work are touched upon. Good, but not great.
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Jan posted a review at 2010-08-01 12:17:42.
(Language: English)
Great reading for a beach vacation!
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-07-07 03:07:52.
(Language: English)
A light belightful read took all of three days and it quick Humorous!
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Jason posted a review at 2011-03-01 03:47:10.
(Language: English)
A gem I found by accident at the library.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-08-16 11:52:57.
(Language: English)
Okay, so I was initially attracted by the title. I mean, who wouldn't want to know all about the sex lives of cannibals?? What happened was I was at Lyle's party and people were being wusses and going to sleep and it wasn't even midnight yet, so I figured I'd just read Lyle's books until I fell asleep. I was going to flip through this one quickly before moving on to Hunter S. Thompson, but the narrative was quirky and funny and I felt I could really relate to it, because, well, I have also spent a considerable amount of time in a tiny island in the middle of nowhere. So I kept reading. And kept reading. And I read 160 pages before I fell asleep. I read the rest of it the following day, a Sunday. I loved it. Its well-written, funny, meandering style combines well with the theme of a travelogue. This is something I could have read while I was in Timor and totally gotten the jitters from. My only complaint is that the book is too short. At 272 pages, there is certainly ample room for... expansion. This book was read in two days in Ford, VA, during a roadtrip to Richmond, VA, and then a further roadtrip to Washington, DC, and in DC itself.
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Erik posted a review at 2011-07-17 02:19:59.
(Language: English)
Wonderful read. I cruised through this in about 3 days, unable to put it down. Troost's writing is a perfect cross between descriptive and engaging, and hilarious. At times it reminded me of Vonnegut's "Gallapagos" in his descriptions of life and times on a small South Pacific island, as well as the black humor of the issues of society and the rest of the world. I will definitely be looking out for more by this author!
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-07-02 12:27:15.
(Language: English)
This book sat around on my shelf for many months collecting dust before I ran out of other things to read and started in on it. Once I got going, I sincerely regretted waiting so long.The writing style is brilliant and very humorous. Those who have some idea of this part of the world that are based on watching films such as South Pacific are in for a rude awakening. Paradise is not always what it seems to be when viewed from thousands of miles away.In the beginning of this travelogue, you can hardly believe the author and his wife signed up for two years of this misery. Yet, at the end, the tables are magically turned on both the writer and reader as we see our own modern technological world with different eyes.I've never been a big fan of travel books, but I highly recommend this one. And I do believe that I will now have to see these places for myself.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-11-04 12:34:50.
(Language: English)
J. Marteen Troost's witty and humorous telling of his life in the middle of the Pacific is impossible to put down! Few authors have the talent to make the reader want to run off to a god forsaken island in order to experience the great and wonderful things that await. Things like....dysentery? rabid dogs? stifling heat? You get the picture. Read this and you'll be booking yourself a ticket nowhere in no time!
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-04-25 05:12:58.
(Language: English)
Very funny book, I too want to run off to middle of the Pacific Ocean and live the life of luxury.
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Jeanna posted a review at 2009-05-29 09:46:46.
(Language: English)
Pretty funny book. I haven't read a travel memoir before - and I enjoyed it so much, I'm going to pick up his second book about living in Fiji... It's fascinating, the culture and lifestyle Troost recounts while living on a tiny, remote island in the Pacific that doesn't have Internet, TV or any sort of food other than canned corned beef and tuna every day. I could not imagine...
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-09-15 01:55:24.
(Language: English)
This is hands down my favorite book. It's hilarious. I've read it 3 times and made my last 3 girlfriends read it too. Troost reminds me so much of myself it's scary. Except for the part where he moves to Tarawa and I don't. Who hasn't dreamed of moving to a small island in the middle of the pacific. This book lets you know what it's really like to be "stranded" on a small island. Troost is a new college grad bouncing around various temp jobs, and not really trying to get a "real" job. His girlfriend and he decide they are going to move to another country and when she lands a job in Kiribati neither of them know what they're in for. The book is mostly him kicking around the island while his wife works. He describes the limited and often unappealing food choices, the Great Beer Crisis, fishing for sharks, the Macarena, and the daily life of living on a coral atoll. It makes you really appreciate what you have but some how feel that you are missing out by having so much.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-10-07 08:45:24.
(Language: English)
About a guy who moves to the south pacific and the differences there. All right.
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Toomas posted a review at 2010-05-21 11:58:02.
(Language: English)
Enjoyable, funny and lively tale. so I'm glad Maarten experienced all this exotic stuff for me so I don't have to, but can grasp at least some of the feeling from the compfort of my civilized life (oh what joys can I now appreciate: our house has two toilets and the lake next to the house is not used for that purpose by anyone!)
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-10-02 12:10:57.
(Language: English)
It starts out pretty good. Humorous, engaging. Then it bogs down in the middle, where the author seems to be trying too hard. It is almost like he is trying to be Christopher Moore, but is failing. The last part of the book he returns to his own voice, where the story becomes enjoyable to read again. I wouldn't recommend hunting this book down, but if you run across it, it will give you a few chuckles.
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Mindy posted a review at 2010-06-12 02:29:38.
(Language: English)
Title is the best part. The tale itself is boring and depressing.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-04 02:49:15.
(Language: English)
Very funny book. It reminded me so much of Micronesia and Yap where my brother Jon lived with his family for years.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-02 05:16:08.
(Language: English)
enjoyed it...fun read...definitely directs the thoughts toward notions of traveling and island dwelling
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-07-01 12:26:37.
(Language: English)
Okay, the title just screamed at me, being a horror movie fanatic that I am. Plus I thought that it was homourous.This book so far is anything but what the title implies, but I had to get the book regardless. So far the book starts off ,with dry wit, about the author's disgruntled situation and his dealings with office temp positions. He goes on to say how he and his girlfriend decide to leave it all for a little Pacific Island that's nothing but a dot on the world map. I haven't gotten very far in the book (at first chapter now), but I find the story very humourous, and the various characters diverse and entertaining.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-30 03:13:55.
(Language: English)
Hmmm, there wasn't much about sex or cannibals in this book, but despite this, it was uproariously funny. I had read one of Troost's books before and was only luke-warm towards it, this one however, was a a pretty good book. Troost and his girlfriend Sylvia decide they need to get away from it all after graduating from college. They apply for jobs all over and finally one comes in from a little island in the Pacific, Tarawa, which is a part of the Republic of Kiribati. Since he is essentially a "house husband" here he finds himself spending the days surfing, cleaning, worrying about clean water and trying to find some sort of food. Most worrying is that with the abundance of people and no reliable waste disposal, the surrounding area is very toxic and even the local fish are dangerous to eat. It certainly provides an adventure for even surviving on the island. Troost and his girlfriend spend two years on this island where gradually they become used to the living conditions (although not the Macarena, which is played constantly by everyone). Although somewhat deceiving there is cannibalism and an interesting sex life portrayed on the island. But it isn't by the people, but rather the wild dogs that roam the area. They manage to survive their time but it leaves them deeply changed and the last chapter deals with how they try to adjust to life in America and their attempts to buy clothes, shop for groceries in a place that provides maximum choices, and re-adjusting to needing money for most things. Troost is a very funny writer. While his work isn't very polished it does have a great flow to it and he injects a huge amount of humor into it. With his descriptions it is easy to see the island where he lives through his words. You can see the beaches, the trees, the glaringly hot sun. But to this same extent you can see the filth, the mangy animals and the other disastrous elements that makes the island a dangerous place to live. Troost is a great narrator and his voice provides a good telling for the story. My only complaint would be that he is very whiny. Yes he tells everything as hilarious, but overall there is a sense of self pity in the book. Its almost as if he barely found anything utterly fantastic and that there was a bad element to everything. He does a decent job of describing the people of the island. They are varied in their thoughts but all love storytelling, eating good food, and beer. On an island there's not much to do so singing and dancing and overall just music is a great hobby here. They also have "local legends" of their own and love telling Troost stories about the people and area. He in turn gives us a nice retelling of some of these stories. This book was definitely one of the better ones I've read of his. I'll probably continue to read his books and look forward to some of the other places he visits and writes about. The Sex Lives of Cannibals Copyright 2004 272 pages Review by M. Reynard 2010
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