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 enlarge | Author: J. Maarten Troost
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy Used: $3.46
You Save: $9.49 (73%)
New (45) Used (74) Collectible (2) from $3.46
Rating:  103 reviews
Sales Rank: 5903
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0767915305
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.099681
EAN: 9780767915304
ASIN: 0767915305
Publication Date: June 8, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: In good condition. Good reading copy in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact. Some pages may include limited notes and highlighting. Ships in 24 hours. Satisfaction Gauranteed.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Fantastic and incredibly realistic July 24, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I grew up on Tarawa in the 1970's when it was still a British Colony and my parents were working out there. This book brought back so many wonderful and horrible memories and is so very true to life. My family still operate a 'bubuti' system amongst ourselves!
I am incredibly saddened that such a beautiful place has become so squalid and rundown. As a child the island was so safe we were allowed to run wild. Crime was so low that theft of a bottle of my father's whisky was the main item on the news for 2 days - and there was no Macarena...
Troost captures the warmth, kindness and humour of the I-Kiribati perfectly. His descriptions of the deprivations - water, electricity and the incredible heat (and no air conditioning) and lack of food are perfect. My mother remembers taking my [...]sister to an UK supermarket on a visit home and her announcing loudly "Look mummy, the ship has come in" at the sight of full shelves!
Best book I've read in ages - hilariously funny and a real eyeopener to anyone who believes that Blue Lagoon is the reality of life on a pacific island.
Paradise Not! July 17, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you have ever fantasized about being marooned on an island in the South Pacific read this book; you will be instantly cured.
Written by Maarten Troost, The Sex Lives of Cannibals is a travelogue/memoir/adventure novel. The adventure being how to survive when your most pressing daily need of fresh water is rarely met.
Troost's book tells the story of having to spend two years on Tarawa, an isolated atoll in the equatorial South Pacific. He is there to accompany his girlfriend/fiance who takes a job with the Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific. Her mission is to educate and attempt to meet various needs of an isolated tropical culture. His job is to survive the daily onslaught of insects, rats, wild dogs, reef sharks and intestinal parasites.
The book is well written and although not a page turner it is enjoyable for it's prose and interesting historical and anthropologic essays.
Troost makes both the trivial and the solemn funny and interesting with his wit and turn of phrase.
Take it to the beach with a Corona or a Pina Colada for even greater effect!
 Read Honeymoon with my brother June 15, 2007
1 out of 17 found this review helpful
Exaggerated. Overly dramatic. Derived. The author is a pretty awesome guy, just ask him. Right when you start to think that the story is getting interesting the author slides back into a pit of self-absorption. Few notable pieces of entertainment surrounded by a sea of drivel...erroneous facts. Don't write a book using information gleaned from wikipedia. If you are the type of person who 1) keep hamsters as pets, or 2) remains celibate despite no moral conflicts, then this book is for you.
great travel writing April 18, 2007
so much travel writing is heavy and dull. this book was funny and amusing and a delight because it wasnt the typical worship of third world peoples.
I also can tell you that his experience with temp agencies was right on the mark. He hands out the grim facts yet manages to make it entertaining .
I hope he writes more travel books. I would place it in the same catagory as " my family and other animals"
 Funny March 20, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
My daughter who is serving in the Peace Corps on an equatorial island told me to read this book. She said all the Peace Corps volunteers there read it because it describes their lives. It's not quite the same as this island is quite arid and flat but the culture sounds very familiar from what I've heard. The writing is pretty funny. I found myself sort of smiling all the way through it. It's enjoyable and light.
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