The play throughout the book is the main character as himself running into situations and people so foreign and outlandish that the reader just can’t help but belly laugh….or cry with frustration.
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Maarten Troost’s book, “The Sex Lives of Cannibals, Adrift In The Equatorial” is a book aimed at adults who have a sense of the wry humor and wit. The author certainly understands and hopes that no one really takes his writing too seriously as he definitely doesn’t take himself too seriously. He has created a book that makes the reader laugh out loud in the middle of pages and storytelling that just cannot be made up. Published by Broadway Books/Random House in 2004 and coming in at a lean 272 pages, this is another book I had trouble putting down. It’s a rare tome that keeps attention from the HelmsMistress and makes her laugh mid-page for multiple chapters, but this was the book for that.
The main character of the book is Troost himself, as the book is non-fiction and filled with moments of truth so far out that they must be true. The play throughout the book is the main character as himself running into situations and people so foreign and outlandish that the reader just can’t help but belly laugh….or cry with frustration.
Body: Maarten Troost follows the love of his life to a remote island in the South Pacific where she has a job with a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and he is supposed to become a budding writer, but life intervenes in the writing process too often. Life seems to keep intervening too, as Troost and his wife must work hard for the basics like (clean) water, any variety of food stuffs and music that doesn’t channel the Macarena.
Conclusion: Troost isn’t the only memorable character in the book, but I can’t give away the rest. Needless to say, the characters and life on the island are about as real as you can get….to that culture. To western culture, everything is backwards and foreign until you either understand the life, accept the life or decide they are just backward islanders who won’t change. Troost paints the picture for real in this book, but understanding and acceptance also come through, as the author and his wife escape the years on the island changed souls. Great read that neither the HelmsMistress or I could put down and the only book I’ve ever seen that made her laugh out loud, lots. Grab the book, The Sex Lives of Cannibals, here off my link to Amazon and we get a few cents out of the deal. –
This was a book that neither of us could put down and now we’ve ordered the rest of his series as it reminds us of the ups and downs of traveling in remote and outlandish lands….where your norm isn’t normal at all. This is what invigorates us when we travel and this is why we often stay in places longer than others. What a tourist views and is never the same as looking at the same culture….inside looking out.
