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"Engaging and at times brilliant...he goes places where the rest of us might fear to paddle, often beaching his kayak on a small South Pacific island without the foggiest idea whether those awaiting him will be friendly, indifferent, or anxious to give him a good thwack...well worth reading." USA Today
"A superb blend of sharp-eyed observation and pungently expressed opinion. It's hardly paradise, this lovely part of the world, but Theroux makes it endlessly fascinating." Newsday
"Feisty, eloquent, and vast in scope...a multilayered odyssey." The San Francisco Chronicle
"Perceptive, terribly readable, and wickedly funny...[An] exhilarating book." --Book Review The Los Angeles Times --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
"A superb blend of sharp-eyed observation and pungently expressed opinion. It's hardly paradise, this lovely part of the world, but Theroux makes it endlessly fascinating." Newsday
"Feisty, eloquent, and vast in scope...a multilayered odyssey." The San Francisco Chronicle
"Perceptive, terribly readable, and wickedly funny...[An] exhilarating book." --Book Review The Los Angeles Times --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Product Description
At a low point in his life, Paul Theroux packed a tent, a collapsible kayak and a sleeping bag, and set off for the Pacific Islands. Paddling his canoe from New Zealand and Australia to the Solomon Islands, Polynesia and Hawaii, he discovered a melting pot of cultures and contrasts, and happiness.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I realise that Theroux wrote this whilst going through bad times splitting from his first wife, and he masterfully makes that more evident as the book progresses through a recurring theme of being asked about his wife by Pacific Islanders who seemed to pity his lack of family presence. However, having travelled extensively around Oceania I fail to see how anybody can be as critical and miserable as Theroux is at times.
On occasions he is inaccurate and builds almost racial prejudice such as calling The Samoans thieves, not something I have experienced having lived and worked there. I suspect he remained blighted by his recent theft in Tonga whilst writing about Samoa, his next stop. As mentioned in other reviews, some of the commentary about The Japanese is startling and bitter.
Another point of contention is that I am uncertain how long he actually spent in some of these countries, his writings about Fiji are particularly sketchy and thin on daily life commentary as if he padded that section out with a commentary on the political situation which could be readily extracted from the news.
For such a discerning traveller who throughout this book seeks solitude, wilderness and simple living I cannot believe that the longest stay Theroux makes is in Hawaii - is it down to his American roots? Surely Hawaii is the most culturally boring of the places he visited.
Overall this is a good book, well written and beautifully observed with the ability to take the reader on a journey through the Pacific. I pick this book up when I want a Pacific Island hopping fix and would recommend it to any Pacific traveller as essential literature in planning their travels... just don't believe all of it!
On occasions he is inaccurate and builds almost racial prejudice such as calling The Samoans thieves, not something I have experienced having lived and worked there. I suspect he remained blighted by his recent theft in Tonga whilst writing about Samoa, his next stop. As mentioned in other reviews, some of the commentary about The Japanese is startling and bitter.
Another point of contention is that I am uncertain how long he actually spent in some of these countries, his writings about Fiji are particularly sketchy and thin on daily life commentary as if he padded that section out with a commentary on the political situation which could be readily extracted from the news.
For such a discerning traveller who throughout this book seeks solitude, wilderness and simple living I cannot believe that the longest stay Theroux makes is in Hawaii - is it down to his American roots? Surely Hawaii is the most culturally boring of the places he visited.
Overall this is a good book, well written and beautifully observed with the ability to take the reader on a journey through the Pacific. I pick this book up when I want a Pacific Island hopping fix and would recommend it to any Pacific traveller as essential literature in planning their travels... just don't believe all of it!
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Perhaps his least enjoyable work
Most people, when they think of Polynesia, think of warm weather, pleasant beaches and overall bliss. Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2010 by M. A. Krul
The guy despises everyone he meets!
I bought this book because I dream (or dreamt) of visiting Oceania. After just a few pages I realised this man, who has the best job in the world, hates it just as much as we hate... Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2010 by Joanna
did he go to the same place as me?
I read this book a few months ago as I was planning a trip to Fiji. He made the place sound so unappealing I nearly didn't go but I'm so glad I did. Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2009 by nomad
A dismal whinge
Paul Theroux is by no means the inventor of the genre of Grumpy Travel Writing, which goes back at least as far as our very own (in UK) Tobias Smollett's 1766 `Travels Through... Read more
Published on 27 April 2006 by Mike Daplyn
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
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
A travel novel about the author and not the destinations.
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... Read more
Published on 26 Feb 1999
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