And others said, for many hastened near, The loveliest thing in all the world to see, Surpassing all, to heaven and earth most dear, By angels welcomed, is a sorrowing tear. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books.
Find more at www. Trieste Publishing has a massive catalogue of classic book titles. Our aim is to provide readers with the highest quality reproductions of fiction and non-fiction literature that has stood the test of time. The many thousands of books in our collection have been sourced from libraries and private collections around the world.
The titles that Trieste Publishing has chosen to be part of the collection have been scanned to simulate the original. Add a library card to your account to borrow titles, place holds, and add titles to your wish list.
Have a card? Add it now to start borrowing from the collection. The library card you previously added can't be used to complete this action. Please add your card again, or add a different card. If you receive an error message, please contact your library for help. Error loading page. Try refreshing the page.
If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help. Alameda County Library. Search Search Search Browse menu. I like to think I have a great sense of humor, so I'm a bit confused as to what was supposed to be amusing about this book. I have always wanted to learn more about the south Pacific, but I feel reading this book was a major turn off. The only positive thing I can say about this book, is that Theroux didn't sugar coat how he felt about things.
This can't be said for some other travel writers I have read. I don't want to be lead into a false sense of paradise, but I definitely think that Theroux could have made more of an effort to show some more good points about his adventure. Apr 01, Missy J rated it really liked it Shelves: oceania-related , books , non-fiction , travelogue. I especially recalled how one day sailing back to an island we were delayed, and night fell.
There were stars everywhere, above us, and reflected in the sea along with the sparkle of phosphorescence streaming from the bow wave. When I poked an oar in the ocean and stirred it, the sea glittered with twinkling sea-life. We sped onward. There were no lights on shore. It was as though we were in an "It was in the Trobriands that I had realized that the Pacific was a universe, not a simple ocean.
It was as though we were in an old rickety rocket ship. It was an image that afterwards often came to me when I was traveling in the Pacific, that this ocean was as vast as outer space, and being on this boat was like shooting from one star to another, the archipelagos like galaxies, and the islands like isolated stars in an empty immensity of watery darkness, and this sailing was like going slowly from star to star, in vitreous night.
While visiting these places, he brings along a collapsible kayak, which he sometimes uses to paddle around the islands he visits. This was the first time for me to read a book by Paul Theroux and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I loved learning about all the different islands, their characteristics, history and culture, and general observations made by Theroux about the islands and its inhabitants. It quickly became clear to me that Theroux is a well-experienced traveler, because he manages for the most part to get along with the locals, he tries to speak the pidgin language, always takes notes of certain words in the local languages of the places he visits which gives him an overview of the striking similarity within Austronesian languages , he can understand the "unspoken" language, always asks permission of villagers if he wants to camp somewhere, always carries gifts along for potential hosts on distant islands, and he is glad to enjoy moments in nature without a camera!
Unfortunately, he set out on this trip due to a very sad reason he was about to get divorced from his first wife. Also, while I was reading this book, I had to constantly remind myself that all of this was happening in Back then times were different.
In the nineties, the Japanese were the rich people, who were investing in luxury hotels and golf clubs around the Pacific and were notoriously known for over-fishing. The Gulf War was looming ahead and many Pacific islanders were paranoid about the war coming to the Pacific it happened in WWII and that it would increase fuel prices.
Also, the French were still doing nuclear tests in their Polynesian colonies, which drew heavy criticism from around the world. Fast forward to today, the French have stopped their nuclear experiments, the Japanese influence is probably being counter balanced by the Chinese who are not much better and the Gulf War has transformed into yet another war in the Middle East.
Global-warming is threatening the Pacific islands like never before and plastic trash is circulating throughout the Pacific Ocean. It makes me so sad to think how much reckless devastation has been brought to and still continues to these islands and they are completely helpless - they cannot fight off the outside influence. Globalization has trumped these islands.
Maybe this has changed in the 21st century? On the other hand, Polynesian people are very proud of their sea-faring ancestors, who arrived from other islands. They believed they were related to snakes - to kangaroos, to the whole earth; and they did not see the point where the earth began and their lives ended.
It was all part of a continuum, a natural process, in which with the blessings of the gods they whirled around with the rocks and stones and trees. Now the natives are covered from head to toe, while the foreign tourists walk around nude under the sun. Much more likely is an experience of intense nostalgia, a harking back to an earlier stage in your life, or seeing clearly a serious mistake. But this does not happen to the exclusion of the exotic present.
What makes the whole experience vivid, and sometimes thrilling, is the juxtaposition of the present and the past. In the Pacific the interlopers were doing the most damage - bringing nuclear waste [ What else do they have? Jul 19, Jamie rated it really liked it Shelves: travel-writing. Damnit Paul Theroux, once again you made this book work by the skin of your teeth. Almost as if you can make your books work by sheer force of will and effort as opposed to any clear message.
And somehow that works. So the gimmick or setting of this Paul Theroux travel book is a year and a half, yup, a year and a half spent traipsing through the Pacific islands with a collapsible kayak. Theroux is a master of creating this fantasy of perfect travel: exquisitely written little vignettes informed b Damnit Paul Theroux, once again you made this book work by the skin of your teeth.
Theroux is a master of creating this fantasy of perfect travel: exquisitely written little vignettes informed by a serious amount of research and firsthand reportage. I certainly learned a ton about a part of the world I had previously known next to nothing about i. However, Theroux does have this smug and knowing damn tone that skirts a few big issues.
For a book that discusses the personal lives of so many people Theroux is pretty damn reticent about his own. Like how did he finance this whole thing? Was he really never concerned about money? And why does he keep on dropping references to how sad he is about the failing relationship with his wife without telling us why the heck it's happening? You could argue it's tact, but dropping hints all over the place and then saying you can't talk about it isn't tack, just weird party manners.
In anycase wouldn't even be writing this if Theroux's book weren't so damn good. A lot of gripes but he pulls off a doozy of a wrap up, and in retrospect every individual scene is masterful in its grasp of the human dance of comedy and tragedy. They do end up as just a pile of well written moments however, never linked together by a narrative more complete than the financially mysterious and romantically ambiguous journey of Theroux from island to island. View 2 comments.
What to say about this book that won't put off the rest of my book club fellows before they've read it. I did not enjoy this book. I think it probably could've been named "The Depressing Isles of Oceania" and been a lot more accurate. The author is not a very happy person as he travels in his collapsible kayak around the isles.
However, there doesn't seem to be anything that can make him happy. People are either t Huh. People are either too helpful, or not helpful enough. He's desperately afraid that he's going to be robbed in American and Western Samoa.
He really seems to have a problem with fat people repeatedly mentioning that certain islanders are fat, such as Samoans, Tongans, various chiefs, etc. He searches for the decadence of the mythical South Pacific, but seems a little disturbed when it's actually hinted at.
He abhors religious which, fine, I'm not fond of it either , but actually will challenge and mock individuals for their faith. I'm always up for a debate, but I think he mistook the word "debate" for "baiting. Theroux visits not even Hawaii In one of what I thought was the most telling passages in the book, Mr. In Fatu-Hiva, he maintains that the Marquesans are too lazy to have create the ambitious stonework and carvings on Hiva Oa.
Theroux is in a happier place now he seemed much happier in Hawaii, although whether that was due to the fact that he was beginning to accept his divorce, or whether the comforts of America were all he needed for a good cheer up, I can't say - and I'd like to read another book about this region from a more positive point of view.
Jan 08, Srivatsan Sridharan rated it it was amazing. Travel writing isn't easy. I've read books that start off as engaging, but quickly lose the reader with dense facts, boring subtleties and the rigors of a timeline based storytelling "this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened. Yes, this book has the facts, the subtleties and the rigors, but they are never too dense or rigorous or boring.
Paul Theroux is a gifted writer and in this book, he managed to keep me hooked all through its pages. The fact that I traveled to Is Travel writing isn't easy. The fact that I traveled to Islands in the South Pacific while reading this book helped. I was able to make connections, layer my own little observations on top of Theroux's rich tapestry to create a resonating picture in my mind.
But even if you've never traveled to this part of the world, I suspect you'll still deeply enjoy this book, for the writing is witty, insightful, and madly entertaining. Oct 09, Charles rated it it was amazing. This book was really neat. Theroux took a year to kayak around many Pacific islands in a collapsible travel kayak. He navigates around sharks, warring tribes, head hunters, and new age Hawaiians.
I found that he was happier in this book than some others. He is a sharp observer, even if I don't agree with all his thoughts. He shows how travel can test one's civility. I appreciate that he doesn't hide this, and shares his experiences warts and all. Culture shock sneaks up on you, surprises you This book was really neat. Culture shock sneaks up on you, surprises you, and makes you grow. His readers can do this from the safety of their armchairs.
This book makes one want to set up a kayak rental shop in Sulawesi. Someone told me there are great whites there though. Books are dangerous. Nov 29, David P rated it really liked it Shelves: travel. The south sea islands! His journey starts with New Zealand and Australia, parts of the prosperous western world, though their native inhabitants do not seem to share much of that prosperity.
It ends in Hawaii, which also seems fami The south sea islands! It ends in Hawaii, which also seems familiar. But in between he moves off the beaten track to the Solomon islands, the Marquesas, Tonga, Fiji, Tahiti, Easter island, and some whose names I had never heard until I opened this book--Vanuatu, Aitutaki, Trobriand islands, Vava'u group.
A travelogue on television usually involves more than meets the eye--a camera crew is always around, and what seems spontaneous often isn't. Not so here. Theroux travels alone, carrying a collapsible kayak for travel around and between islands; he talks to countless natives and visitors, learns pidgin, collects words all Polynesian languages seem related , camps in his small tent on deserted beaches and no doubt, takes copious notes throughout his trip.
Like other travel books by Theroux, this one too seems a bit too personal--too many pronouncements, too much of the writer's ego, and the reader may also wish for more passion for the islanders. No matter: so much is crammed here that the reader is swept up by the story. It is an easy read, most chapters stand on their own and it makes little difference whether you read them in order or skip around.
The lush islands and the sunny lagoons are all still there, but times have changed. Having fought bitterly over some of these islands in World War II, the world has largely lost interest in them. Once again they are a backwater of civilization, and once again their inhabitants have to live austerely off fish, coconuts, yams and foraging pigs.
The old culture, though, is fading: old seafaring skills are neglected and lost, and ancient traditions are smothered by missionary Christianity. Alcohol, rock music and canned food make inroads: societies which until recently had lived in the stone age do not adapt gracefully to modern times. And yet. And yet, life on these islands still echoes old tribal ways, and as Theroux drifts from one island to another, he experiences many interesting encounters. It is a world tourists rarely see: read this book and catch a glimpse of it, for it might not last much longer.
Jun 02, Stephanie rated it really liked it. I also chose this book, Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific , by Paul Theroux, in preparation for our trip to Hawaii alas, now at least a month in the past. Theroux describes the journey he began in New Zealand, a journey essentially retracing the steps!
Theroux traveled by airplane, not by outrigger canoe, but he carried a little collapsible boat with him, and made sure to get some paddling in at each is I also chose this book, Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific , by Paul Theroux, in preparation for our trip to Hawaii alas, now at least a month in the past. Theroux traveled by airplane, not by outrigger canoe, but he carried a little collapsible boat with him, and made sure to get some paddling in at each island.
I've read several books by Mr. Theroux before, and have always thoroughly enjoyed his observations and envied his travels. He is a bit of a curmudgeon and does not shy from injecting a fair amount of the personal indeed, I suppose he is simply explicit about the degree to which his travel writing is subjective, which other writers simply do not acknowledge in his book.
This said, I was flabbergasted to reach the section on Hawaii -- fully expecting a peevish complaint about tourism and tourists -- to find Mr.
Theroux relaxing and enjoying himself. Upon arriving there myself, I understood. I was most interested in Mr. Theroux's ongoing tally of Polynesian words that are cognate from island to island, whether Tahiti, Fiji, Easter Island, or on Hawaii itself. I was most saddened by his descriptions of the loss of seafaring, fishing and thus was elated beyond all measure to eat, in Hawaii, a native Hawaiian fish that we bought from a local fisherman , and navigational skills of the islanders, and was fascinated by the theory -- advanced by an anthropologist and repeated by Mr.
Theroux -- that cannabalism is the result of a food scarcity, and not the by-product of war or religion. The theory seems to postulate that war and religion were essentially used as after-the-fact justifications for cannabalism, rather than its raison s d'etre. I suppose we're all animals first, and thinking, rational beings second.
Jan 13, Claudia rated it it was amazing. This book was my first Paul Theroux. I probably got it almost twenty years ago, and have read and read and read it. What is he looking for, in this tough moment in his life?
I admire his ability to resist making himself look good in every book, but in this one in particular, he is vulnerable and open in his need to find comfort in the familiar, the interesting, the strange.
I'm reading it again right now, for the twenty-somethingth time. He's in the Troubled Trobriands right now. I'm not sure wh This book was my first Paul Theroux. I'm not sure why I find this particular book so soothing. I suppose it's a wish that I'd have the money or the time or freedom to deal with my own angst by exploring, with an open mind. May 27, Troy Parfitt rated it it was amazing.
The Great Railway Bazaar is a masterpiece, the others merely very good to outstanding. But Happy Isles really is possibly his best — possibly. He could have rented cars and he did, occasionally and trudged around the more developed areas he does, sometimes , but no, this author is prone to doing things the hard way — exploring the middles of myriad nowhere, and even setting up camp — and the reader is rewarded for it. The isles are diverse, yet similar.
Words have travelled thousands of kilometers, and the writer talks about how most islanders have a sense of family, of connectedness. Though there are happy inhabitants in the South Pacific islands, or at least contented ones, the writer reports on the despondent, the taunting, the slow-witted, and the downright peculiar: a man standing up to his neck in a lagoon while puffing on a cigarette; another cradling and cuddling with a large pig.
The first Iraq War is on, and people in the Solomons worry about the war spreading to their islands. There are harbours of fish, yet people eat canned tuna and spam. Beaches are often used as communal toilets or dumps. Villages are often threadbare — huts and what not; missionaries have convinced islanders they are sinners, and the Mormons are out recruiting souls for their planet in outer space.
He draws people out, and jots down what they say. He plays botanist, beachcomber, anthropologist, investigative journalist, humourist, historian, philosopher, and bum — and he does it all so well.
0コメント