The Edge of Paradise

P.F. Kluge captures the essence and the flavor of Micronesia, from the Federated States of Micronesia to Palau and Saipan, CNMI. Th author worked as a Peace Corps member and helped to write the Constitutions and public speeches. He returned a generation later and found that the American efforts and aid turned "a fish and taro" subsistence economy into a "Spam and cheese cargo cult." I would liked to have read about America's accomplishments, which there are many, discussed more in detail. Of course, he covers all the craziness of the politicians and their selfish motivations, and also talks about some of the special, favorite people in the islands. If you like the islands (anywhere) you'll relate to this narrative and enjoy the writing. I found his recollections realistic and found the overall book entertaining and educational. Recommended reading.

B.C. has got to be right as he's the only attorney in all of the world to have witnessed Northern Virginia, Vietnam with the USMC, Europe, GMUSL, and Saipan and lived to give such a review. Go Bill.

I've been living in Palau for over four years and finally got to reading this book. What a pleasure to sit on my balcony in the warm air reading this brilliant book. A really good laugh at times.I have a nightmare that I will leave Palau and then not find my way back. This book is about someone who faces that nightmare.Wonderful insights, of course things move along and Palau is not the Palau of old. I know the author recently re-visited Palau, I'd be interested to know if he found it as welcoming as always.I know a budding author here who is keen to follow in his footsteps in terms of retelling Palau in a foreigners words. I only hope she uses the respect and humour this author chose to use.Good book.

I am reading P F Kluge's book on loan from a friend. Not only is it entertaining prose but it is perceptive, fresh and even 10 years on very relevant. Although it is written around a trip to the islands, this is no travel book. It is hard nosed social commentary.Fortunately I am working in Micronesia, with people who remember Kluge. This makes the book more personally relavant. His observations are sometimes stark and even biting, almost to the extent of being satirical. They are not however untrue. Perhaps in their vividness they overpower other more positive aspects of Micronesia as it is for Micronesians.This should be mandatory reading for anyone dealing with the renegotiations of US funding support for FSM and other Compact countries. I am finding that all too often it is convenient to forget the history of US involvement here and how the impacts of decisions made in Washington and elsewhere in the Trust Territory administration are as much to blame for the 'mess' here as is the conduct of this small population of Micronesians.I am just a short term Aussie with no liver spots, so I can say these things. Mr Kluge is an American and states them with the clarity of an outsider and the intimate knowledge of an insider.Find out what happens to the tails of turkeys, why it is dangerous to have sex in Chuuk, how to identify a Peace Corp volunteer by the look in their eyes. This book has it all.While outsiders trickle into their idea of an island paradise, Micronesians flow out to their idea of a consumer paradise. Only occasionally do we really meet. When that happens you have lasting friendships which Mr Kluge's book chronicles so well.Enjoyable enjoyable enjoyable. I will read it many times after I depart in a years time because it captures images of the recent social history islands so well.

We lived in Micronesia (Pohnpei and Guam) during the time the book was written and published, in the 1990's, and I found it a good treatment of the region. Everyone knows about Polynesia, some know about Melanesia but hardly anyone knows about Micronesia. This book makes up for that. Kluge's story makes the Western Pacific islands a real place with real people who had real stories and real lives. While I may not agree with all of the author's ideas, opinions and perspectives, Edge of Paradise is an honest and informative work of a vibrant, colorful and authentic part of the world. It was more interesting to me because I knew of or was acquainted with many of the people named in the book. I would recommend it for anyone looking for a non-academic (non-boring) "feel" for the Micronesian islands and in fact have used it just that way for my friends and family "back home".