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The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific
 
 

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The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific (Paperback)

by Paul Theroux (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
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Product Description

Product Description
Paul Theroux invites us to join him on one of his most exotic and tantalizing adventures exploring the coasts and blue lagoons of the Pacific Islands, and taking up residence to discover the secrets of these isles. Theroux is a mesmerizing narrator – brilliant, witty, keenly perceptive as he floats through Gauguin landscapes, sails in the wake of Captain Cook and recalls the bewitching tales of Jack London and Robert Louis Stevenson. Alone in his kayak, paddling to seldom visited shores, he glides through time and space, discovering a world of islands, their remarkable people, and in turn, happiness. ‘A sharp, fascinating and highly entertaining book … Theroux at his best’ Daily Telegraph.

About the Author
Paul Theroux was born in Medford, Massachusetts, in 1941, and published his first novel, Waldo, in 1967. His subsequent novels include Picture Palace, winner of the Whitbread Prize for Fiction, The Mosquito Coast, and the hugely acclaimed, Kowloon Tong. His travel books include The Great Railway Bazaar and The Pillars of Hercules.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific
82% buy the item featured on this page:
The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific 3.3 out of 5 stars (6)
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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Corrective to Lonely Planet Overkill, 21 Feb 2002
By A Customer
I found this a well-written, very funny antidote to the endlessly sunny, ultimately irritating "travel copy" contained in my Lonely Planet guidebook. Theroux is the best antidote to being stuck on some never-ending bus-ferry-train journey in the depths of the Third World where there are no Pyramids, Taj Mahals or Great Walls, within a thousand miles, the people are not warm and gracious but poor and grasping and the governments in charge are not victims of the West but inept imbezzelers and tin pot tyrants.

Theroux rejuvenates the weary long distance traveller with his unfailing wit, good sense and stubborn determination to be beholden to no one.

I particulary liked in this book his account of Australia and New Zealand struggling with their identities in a post 1973 (Britain joining the EU) world. Good writing, and it corresponded with what I was seeing in these countries at the times. His account of the NZ Prime Minister making a pig of herself with her food after running down John F. Kennedy for his personal habits is a bit of satirical writing worthy of Gore Vidal.

His depiction of the the modern squalor and boredom of much of Pacific island life matched my experiences in places as diverse as Kuwait, Hong Kong and Singapore (of which Theroux writes about with such accuracy and wit - be sure to try his Kowloon Tong and Saint Jack if you like this one).

And despite the sad realities, Theroux almost always likes the places he visits!

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8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Theroux spins out, 13 Jul 2001
By A Customer
This is Theroux at his best. Obviously bitter from his failed marriage, he sets out to paddle around the Pacific Islands. Altough at 750 pages this looks a long book, it is in fact a gripping and enlightining look at a region which receives little coverage in many parts of the globe.

Theroux is even more cynical than usual which actually raises the laugh quota. Although sometimes the views seem a little harsh,he is always perceptive and entertaining.

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13 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars A travel novel about the author and not the destinations., 26 Feb 1999
By A Customer
The title 'The Happy Isles of Oceania' can only be ironic. In this book of Theroux's travels around Australasia and the islands of the Pacific, happiness is one emotion that is noticeable by its absence. The opening chapter on New Zealand, in which its inhabitants are variously described as frightful, scruffy and dirty, sets the tone for the rest of the book. According to Theroux, every Pacific island is inhabited by a lazy, mendacious, tardy, thieving and lying populace devoid of culture and manners. Fellow travellers to these islands do not escape the wrath of Theroux's pen as they are collectively dismissed as fat, ignorant, oafish and rude. Yet for all his criticisms of other people for being rude, racist, indifferent and obdurate, the clear impression from reading the book is that Theroux is the worst offender of the lot. Even though the book is over 700 pages long, little interest is paid to the description of his destinations in terms of the natural habitat and the flora and fauna; which I imagine is one of the obvious attractions of the Pacific. Instead the book concentrates almost solely on the author's brooding following a separation from his wife and on his utter disdain for all he meets. Sadly, my lasting impression was not one of beautiful sandy beaches, blue lagoons or vibrant coral reefs, but of a sad and bitter old man who would do well to paddle to a deserted island and not return.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars A dismal whinge
This book is a prolonged snivel about the pain of voluntarily going to places the author then found tacky, hostile or boring. Read more
Published on 27 April 2006 by Mike Daplyn

4.0 out of 5 stars As enjoyable as his others
The happy isles of of Oceania is, like all of Mr Theroux other travel writings an honest account of a lone mans travels. A most enjoyable read!
Published on 21 May 2000

4.0 out of 5 stars Paradise lost?
An honest depiction of a Paradise that has been desecrated by western "civilisation". The people and their surroundings are often harshly portrayed, yet the over-riding... Read more
Published on 1 Jun 1999

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