The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific

I admit I was sucked in by the title of this book. I mistakenly purchased it, believing it was a piece of fiction. I quickly realized my error when I noticed the word "travelogue" on the spine. That word filled me with terror as I envisioned a boring read about a place I had no real interest in. I couldn't have been more wrong. This is an excellent book for anyone who has the slightest hint of a sense of humor. J. Maarten Troost is a fantastically funny author, whose willingness to self-deprecate is displayed at every turn. He is human and the majority of the experiences he shares in his novel about the South Pacific ring true. Whether he is describing battling the stormy sea in a small, rickety boat or meeting the locals and partaking of their traditions, he is honest. We learn as much about the author and his pseudo-wife, as we do about the islands he visits and the people he befriends. Each chapter is brilliantly introduced with clever summaries that will have you laughing out loud. Enjoy this book. It deserves nothing less.

Troost and his wife truly do go to the end of the world, to a tiny country in the equatorial Pacific, and live in an alternate reality. Troot's misadventures with the town's hygiene and sanitation, the toxic fish, a complete lack of vegetation, limited dry goods, cannibalistic dogs, a rundown airplane, high seas on a plywood boat, and the like are relayed to the reader with humor and wit. Beer is popular because it "tends to be parasite-free and calorie-laden, two very useful attributes on Tarawa." At first, Troost is an outsider, shocked by the island going-ons, but over the course of his two years there, he truly adopts the island lifestyle, so much that America is a complete culture shock for husband and wife when the part ways with Kiribati. Troost makes some insightful comments on infrastructure--he took for granted in his previous life that water and electricity came to your house by magic. On Kiribati, he has hilariously eye-opening experiences ensuring a supply of both. Throughout the book Troost recounts the history of Kiribati, its culture, and its relationship to the outside world. He actually does a real service to the island by recording the oral tradition and myth, and placing it in context with the slim amount of published literature on Kiribati. Over the course of his stay, he grows to be a real defender of the nation. When Kiribati sincerely accepts the offer of a British drunkard to become their Poet Laureate, the global media has quite a laugh at the nation's quaint nature. Troost is certain to set the truth straight about the lout who only lasted a few months in Kiribati.

The author describes living for two years in Kiribati, an ex-British colony in the Pacific Ocean that is now independent. He thought he was moving to a tropical paradise, but instead found that even in the national capital, people would regularly defecate in the lagoon, the grocery stores couldn't keep basic staples in stock, and water and electric supplies were irregular at best. He speaks of the Kiribati people with enormous and sincere affection, but a reader can't avoid the conclusion that these islands would be better off if they were still a British colony. Troost writes in a light, humourous tone, making this book a pleasure to read, although there are places where Troost is a little too cute for his own good. A few photos would have been a nice touch, and is it asking too much for the publisher to include a map? And by the way, the title is misleading - there is very little here about sex and nothing about cannibalism. A book this good does not need the cheap gimmick of a misleading title.

As one is undoubtedly able to ascertain before reading this book, it has very little to do with sex or cannibalism. Yes, dogs do eat each other and there is that outer island with its unlikely reputation for oral sex, but other than that, Troost takes us on a journey through everything and nothing that defines daily existence on Tarawa. Some stones are left unturned, but that is because we probably don't want to deal with whatever lies underneath them. Troost did not set out to create the ultimate resource about this remote place, but with two years of observations presented - sometimes with a sense of awe and sometimes with a sense of disbelief - the picture he does present is a broad and interesting glimpse into a world that few, certainly including myself, could claim to know anything about. All through the pages of the book, one can't help but think, "better him than me," as the author tells the tales of heat, disease, limited diet options, heat, horrible imported music, feces baking in the sun, and... oh yeah, heat. And yet, just as Troost finds himself gradually growing comfortable in this environment that has broken so many others who had previously been "sent by the gods" to this Pacific island, the reader cannot help but think that, in spite of its daily trials, Tarawa might just be a place that could be home.... just not forever. one must come back, if only to discover why they need to journey again. In spite of his numerous claims that suggest otherwise, Troost has a story to tell, and he does so with humor and wit that never force the reader to take him too seriously. This is not to say that you won't learn something from this book. Rather, it will be like the times in elementary school where the teacher managed to get his/her point across in a manner that made you excited to learn. This is a truly enjoyable read and most will hope that tales from Vanuatu and Fiji are to follow.