Customer Reviews:
 Very funny, engaging May 29, 2007
This is the first Troost novel that I have read, but it certainly won't be the last. Very entertaining, and at times hilarious, this is a look at island life that most of us don't get to see. A word of warning though, I got kicked out of bed for laughing too much while reading this!
A good bit of light ethnotourism May 28, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you're looking for a basic book on Vanuatu -- one which sticks to the strictly scholarly -- don't buy this book. But if you want an interesting and unusually emotionally candid firsthand account of one suburbanite's experience of flying halfway around the globe to find paradise only to discover that even paradise has its troubles and complexitiies, then this one's for you. It makes quick and easy reading, and would be especially valuable on a plane bound for Vanuatu or Fiji as it raises and deals forthrightly with the big issues: post-modern ennui, canabalism and the rich/poor and colonial/native divides, as well as showing the challenges a real middle class American couple faces in relocating to the islands longterm, rather than as tourists. The author is thoughtful and manages insight at times, though it's a bit uneven because of all his fairly predictable hangups and prejudices. But these actually make this book better than if he'd pretended to be an ivory tower academic, as does his undisguised foibles (read to find out). Finally, this may be the only book you'll find in which an American expat couple in the South Pacific deals with the arrival of a child, a choice they make for reasons explained quite well and tied in nicely with the overall themes of the whole book. Bottom line: Not an academic tome, but rather a thought-provoking layperson's travel experience. Enjoy!
 Learning about Vanuatu May 11, 2007
Vanuatu is a series of small islands in the Pacific that speaks 113 distinct languages and gave me reason to stop and think, "I need to go there." Then I stopped and thought, "Holy crap, how can I get good information on Vanuatu?" There is not much available and I am not planning a trip there in the short term. Then I got good news. I read "Getting Stoned with Savages," by J. Maarten Troost.
I am not much of a book review person, so I won't pretend, or try to be cutesy. It is a good, fast read filled with memorable personal adventures of the author while he and his wife lived in Vanuatu and Fiji. However, these stories do not mean to inspire vacationers. They are glimpses into these unique cultures through the eyes of someone from the outside, doing his best to battle enormous centipedes, unpredictable weather, shark infested waters, a growling stomach for cannibalism, and the potent differences between kava -- the interesting sounding and popular hallucinogen -- found on Fiji and Vanuatu.
I must have liked it. I was willing to sit under a sizzling Yucatan sky to finish the last twenty pages and come home with third degree burns instead of putting it down to pick up some SPF 45. Now it looks like I have to start planning a trip to Vanuatu and get some real experience.
An inspired romp through the islands... March 21, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Getting Stoned with Savages: Tripping Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu is the second offering from travel writer, J. Maarten Troost. I read and adored his first book, The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific, a few years ago and fell instantly in love with Troost's humor and candor. So, as you might imagine, when I heard about Getting Stoned with Savages, I quickly and single-mindedly stalked it on BookMooch.com until I had a pristine copy in my talons.
Maarten and his wife, Sylvia, after returning from a harrowing few years on the South Pacific atoll of Tarawa, resume a somewhat normal life in Washington, D.C. Maarten, with an eye on earning a living, takes a job as a consultant for the World Bank but soon finds that he is inching dangerously closer to what seems a full-blown career. With that horrifying fact in mind, he promptly gets fired and the Troosts set off for a life in Vanuatu, a small, rugged cluster of islands. Sylvia works for an international aid organization and earns a Western living that comes in handy on Vanuatu, and the arrangement leaves Maarten the time and opportunity to write. When Sylvia becomes pregnant the family relocates to the slightly more "civilized" Fiji where they round out their latest round of island adventures.
While both of Troost's travel memoirs have undoubtedly catchy titles, this second offering has much more to do with its respective title than Troost's first book. On the islands of Fiji and Vanuatu a most popular social activity is the consumption of a hallucinogenic drink called kava. Traditionally produced by the chewing of a root by male adolescents and then mixing with water, the kava is then served in bars (shacks more like) called nakamals. Shortly after arriving in Vanuatu, Maarten and Sylvia have the pleasure of consuming a few "shells" of kava. Troost writes:
Clearly this was different than drinking wine. With kava, one didn't admire its lush hue, or revel in its aromatic bouquet, or note the complex interplay of oak and black currant. This was more like heroin. Its consumption was something that was to be endured. The effect was everything. What concerned me, however, was not the taste but the possibility that this bowl of swirling brown liquid may have had as one of its essential ingredients the spit of unseen boys, which, frankly, I found a little off-putting.
Much to Maarten's relief, a friend informs him that while the chewing of the kava is generally the preferred method because it produces a supremely potent product, the kava they ingest is simply ground and strained through a sock. Better? Perhaps.
The kava story is just one of many instances that are enlivened by Troost's humor. But beyond the blatant out-loud laughing that I did while reading the book, there's also a real humanity and wonder in Troost's writing. The overall theme of the work is aptly expressed when he writes, "Paradise was a place that could be seen only from a distance, but it pleased me knowing that we lived so close to it."
Quite literally there is a dark side to island life. The islands harbor a history of cannibalism, there is overwhelming poverty, rampant prostitution, and political instability. On the side of the positive, however, the majority of the people are friendly and welcoming and willing to help the foreigners along in their new surroundings. In a more philosophical way, Maarten begins to see that while chasing paradise has been a good experience for his family, and they quite often find it in even the most outrageous of circumstances, at some point it becomes important to pursue a type of paradise near family and friends, even if it means rejoining the Western world with all of its bustle and baggage.
I think what I admire most about Troost's writing is his supreme respect for the cultures in which he lives. While he is quick to make jokes about his feelings and reactions to new cultural experiences, he is also more than willing to devote time to evaluation of the culture's economy, hardships, priorities, and the well-being of native peoples. What sets the Troost family apart from the tourists they often encounter on the islands is a seemingly honest willingness to engage with the culture, observe it, and try to avoid infringing too much on the world in which they live, even if some parts of their character and situation will always make them outsiders. It is this attitude of curiosity and respect which really makes me a fan of J. Maarten Troost and his adventures.
 Occasionally funny, contrived work March 15, 2007
4 out of 11 found this review helpful
The book's jacket gives the impression that the author made a radical decision to move to the South Pacific without a safety net just to experience a different lifestyle. Actually, he had already had a book published on this very topic previously and surely had a book advance ahead of time.
Although the book is short, it is also frequently boring and full of dishonest statements from the author implying that he prefers native life to life with Westerners. Naturally, after less than a year of life on the island he and his wife return to America.
The author seems to find little of interest to do besides get high on Kava and he takes several trips to visit natives mainly just for writing material. The author's life seems rather boring and unpleasant and it shows in this book. I would advise skipping this book.
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