The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific | Paul Theroux

The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific | Paul Theroux | A wonderful travel journal of a non-tourist !

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The Happy Isles of...

	The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific Paul Theroux Mariner Books, 2006 - 528 pages average customer review:based on 56 reviews view larger image
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In one of his most exotic and breathtaking journeys, the intrepid traveler Paul Theroux ventures to the South Pacific, exploring fifty-one islands by collapsible kayak. Beginning in New Zealand's rain forests and ultimately coming to shore thousands of miles away in Hawaii, Theroux paddles alone over isolated atolls, through dirty harbors and shark-filled waters, and along treacherous coastlines. This exhilarating tropical epic is full of disarming observations and high adventure.

Unapologetically Direct

A terrific read, Theroux has the courage to be politically incorrect in an age where Americans fear speaking the truth of their own experience.
As a travel writer myself, I am always astonished when someone is angered because my travel experience does not mirror his own, as is the case with other reviewers here.

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A wonderful travel journal of a non-tourist !

Theroux is a master observer with a keen eye and a sharp wit. In this book he delves deep into Polynesia and Oceana and it's characters and culture.

He uses a collapsible kayak that he packs from place to place to help him get away from the troubles in his life. Along the way, he has plenty of encounters. The result of which is a funny and interesting look behind the scenes and in out of the way places at the way people on these islands live, what they believe and how they go about their lives.

It's a great read, and has inspired more than a few of my own adventures !

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Really helpful

I can understand how this book would offend some people from Oceania, as there are lots of unflattering descriptions of people Mr. Theroux encountered on his journey. There are, however, lots of lovely and interesting people and places described. In any event, I had the opportunity to take a trip to Tonga and I heard some negative things about it from several people. One man told me that his brother had been and didn't feel safe and thought it would be really unsafe for women. I was surprised, but went back to reading my Lonely Planet guide with a more critical eye. I found the statement, "While the threat of rape does exist"... taking precautions like not walking around alone on empty beaches, etc, should keep women safe. That it even needed to be mentioned seemed telling to me. So I bought this travel book to get a more thorough description from someone opinionated and a little cranky, like me (I read Dark Star Safari and respect his opinion) and I found it really enlightening. Yes, it's slanted, but it's slanted from the point of view of an American who isn't used to the more unfortunate and seemingly common aspects of some Pacific Islands' cultures, with their stealing, with their often nasty treatment of outsiders (jeering and insults), and with the threat of violence. Of course, in the wrong neighborhood almost anywhere in America, these things occur, but that's not the point here. These kinds of things are really useful for an outsider (especially a female) to know going in and I really appreciated being able to read this book and radically readjust my naive idea of the Happy Isles as looking and feeling like a Gauguin painting. I recommend this book.

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