- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Virgin Books; 1 edition (4 May 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 075350491X
- ISBN-13: 978-0753504918
- Product Dimensions: 19.5 x 13.1 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
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1,407,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #8 in Books > History > Countries & Regions > Australasia & Pacific > Polynesia
- #37 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Australia & New Zealand > South Pacific
Where The Hell Is Tuvalu?
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More About the Author
Product Description
Jonathan Dimbleby, April 2000
'A delightful read - sharp and humourous, [with] a great capacity for self-parody'
Jonathan Dimbleby
'A delightful read - sharp and humorous'
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Jolly Writer - Dark Material,
By Sam "samueltyler" (Reading, Berkshire) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Where The Hell Is Tuvalu?: How I became the law man of the world's fourth-smallest country (Paperback)
`Where the Hell is Tuvalu' is the part travelogue, part autobiography of Philip Ells' term as the people's lawyer for the small island community of Tuvalu. It is comparable to the work of Danny Wallace or Dave Gorman as it is a sideways glance at life. What separates this from other lad non-lit is that it has a deeper core than most of the books in the genre as Ells' deals with real people and their impoverished life. For large parts of the book I enjoyed the ride as Ells is a witty writer and he describes his time on the islands warts and all. At no point does he try and make out that he was a hero, but someone trying to do a job that was different from the usual daily grind.
What limited the book for me was the juxtaposition of the light nature of the writing style and the dark material it described. For the first half of the book the cases that Ells investigates are usually pretty low key including drunkenness and pig rustling. However, later on tales of domestic abuse, murder and rape become the norm. Perhaps Ells was trying to highlight the difference in cultures between `civilised' countries and remote areas or perhaps as a professional lawyer he is numbed to the nature of man? Personally, I found it all a little depressing as the women of the country were sorely put upon and charges of rape and murder were not punished enough. By introducing such dark reading matter any sense of joy or innocence that I felt for the people of Tuvalu and nearby countries was lost. Ells is obviously trying to inform the reader about life elsewhere, but I think these issues would be best tackled in a serious book, not half comedy/half serious. An initially light hearted book takes makes a dark decent around halfway.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderfully accurate,
By A Customer
This review is from: The People's Lawyer (Paperback)
As a former volunteer lawyer in a remote island archipaelego, I wholeheartedly endorse Philip Ells comments, and congratulate him not only on finding the time and commitment to produce his personal account, but on the humour and literary skills evident throughout the book. People's Lawyer ought to be compulsory reading for all VSO and Peace Core personnel, and also for any lawyer considering a move out of big city private practice into various esoteric and underpaid areas of the law.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An engaging story of culture shock on many levels,
By Mr. Stuart Bruce "DonQuibeats" (Cardiff, UK) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The People's Lawyer (Paperback)
This book was re-published in 2006 as "Where The Hell Is Tuvalu?". The 2006 edition adds a short (6 page) epilogue which gives the major details about Tuvalu's history after Ells left the country in 1996, but the epilogue is not an essential read and so this edition is still a worthwhile read.
It is an engagingly written account that covers Ells' culture shock spending so much time as an Englishman abroad, neatly balancing the personal and light-hearted social problems with the fundamental clashes of ethics and politics. The cast of characters involved is a little hard to keep track of and Ells' habit of "hinting forward" to things he hasn't written about yet is a little confusing in parts but otherwise it is a very well-written and readable book, and should be read by any Western reader- whether you think you've got it good, or you think your own circumstances are terrible, this book will give you pause for thought.
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