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The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost

The Sex Lives of Cannibals

Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific

by J. Maarten Troost
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  • Jun 2004, 288 pages
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There are currently 8 reader reviews for The Sex Lives of Cannibals
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Lynn

This book was read by my book club. Although the beginning was a bit long-winded, and one person found the humor in that first part too sarcastic, as a whole we all loved it. It had humor, travelogue, daily life and history all woven into a fun story that kept us laughing, or alternatively gave us retrospective thought on the outside world's intrusion on native life in the islands. Recommended by all of us.
wendy

A real page turner... funny, interesting and entertaining!
Marc

Great and funny read!!!!!!!
Anna

I thought this book was hilarious! The scenes he writes about are easily imagined and often very comical. He honestly captures the harsh beauty and stark realities of island life. As one of the few Americans who has also travelled to the "end of the earth" I was happy to see that Troost's portrayal of the I-Kiribati remained respectful although many of his interactions were humorous. Being as I have also done the "chicken dance" with many a hot-footed Unimane I could easily relate to his point of view and was happy to laugh at the memories his book has stirred up. I will definitly recommend this book.
DeepBluSea

This book made me literally burst out laughing on a quiet cross-country flight...scaring my row mates out of their peaceful, jet-noise induced stupor. I am so not a "laugh out loud on a quiet plane" kind of a person. But the author's writing style just cracks me up! It is an excellent book and I found it very informative as well - but don't buy it for that reason (that's a bonus) - buy it because it will make you howl! And what could be better than that?
Rach

This was an exellent book. I felt as if I myself was right along wih Troost and Sylvia on their cray escapades. I grew rather attached to them which is why I had to browse on the internet and see wha other information I could find out about them. My only comlaint is I often found some of Troost's ramblings, while very informative, somewhat exhaustive. But there was enough humor, compassion, crazy mishaps, adventure, wit and intellect to sustain my interest.
Paul

'Tis not often my wife and I are split on a book, but it happened in this case.

First off: The book - about a well-educated work-shy guy who decides an indeterminate time off on a desert island would be quite fun. It gives a realistic picture of what living on a very small island in the middle of nowhere is really like. To give the author (and his wife) credit, they did integrate well into the island environment, meeting a lot of the locals and managing to survive. And perhaps did some good. There are also some good stories, some of which are very funny - in particular an episode with an ill-advised sail to a nearby island and a shark.

I score it low because of the writing style - which didn't bother my wife so much, which explains the split. The first part of the book, for the first few chapters anyway, was characterised by very long sentences, with a lot of commas, and asides, which I think was meant to convey a relaxed writing style, which was supposed to reflect the authors laidback attitude, which it didn't, well not really, at least in my opinion, which is important as I am the reader. See what I mean? After 20 pages of that I was crawling up the wall; I never quite forgave the book.

After a while it settles down. But it still feels like a first-time author's book - to me the good story was held back by the uneven style. If writing style doesn't bother you too much, you will probably enjoy it more than I!
Susan

i though it was an ok...book...but
for ME it was sort of boring...no offense.....
it didn't seem funny for me at all...
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