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| The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific | 
 enlarge | Author: Paul Theroux
Publisher: Mariner Books
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $7.99
You Save: $7.96 (50%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (55 reviews)
Sales Rank: 88980
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 528
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.5
ISBN: 061865898X
Dewey Decimal Number: 919.504
EAN: 9780618658985
ASIN: 061865898X
Publication Date: December 8, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 50 more reviews...
 Unapologetically Direct July 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
 Yes - he should have stayed home January 20, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
It's been some years since I read this book but it still comes back loud and clear - what a bitter person he was. He "toured" the South Pacific right after he got divorced - and he distrusted and hated everybody. The book was published as we (me, wife and 2 teenagers) we sailing thru the SoPac in our sailboat - and having a wonderful time with the people, the islands, the beautiful environment - where people were happy and environmentally concerned - and this was 1991-1995. We loved it all and he was a bitter fool to miss it all.
 Theroux should've stayed home.... November 1, 2007
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Good grief, if I wanted a tale filled with hours of tooth-gnashing hatred and bitter invective I can just go to work. It's certainly not the sort of atmosphere I enjoy when reading a travelogue to try and escape my workaday existence.
I understand that the South Pacific is not the ideal place, but it is depressing to read Theroux' constant struggle to express any sense of joy in his travels or the people he meets along the way.
For an alternative, more light-hearted, still realistic take on the South Pacific with far less spleen, I highly recommend Tony Horowitz' "Blue Latitudes".
A wonderful travel journal of a non-tourist ! September 28, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
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 !
 Kayaking the South Pacific September 3, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Paul Theroux is a great travel writer, and among my favorite books is his look inside China in "Riding the Iron Rooster." This book, however, centers on his adventures paddling his way around the South Pacific. Among the places Theroux visits are Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti, the Marquesas, and Easter Island; in all, he travels among fifty some islands, from large areas to tiny islets without habitation. Using a traditional form of transport to the area (well, an updated version anyway), he covers a huge area of water and land that few people (except those native to the area) ever see.
His reporting style is the true measure of his worth: Theroux has an unflinching eye for both the beauty and the horrors of the places he visits. You won't get a romanticized version of these locations (no Peter Mayle here), but you will learn a lot about the people and places of the South Seas. His traveling style is fearless, and this is apparent from many of the adventures he chronicles in this volume. Theroux sets out to meet the people of the islands without knowing what their response to him might be, and it is not always a welcoming one.
I highly recommend any of Theroux's books, including his novels. However, it's in his tales of travel in which his true skills shine. His gift to readers is that he reports the truth as he sees it (good and bad), and he isn't afraid to make you uncomfortable. The adventure will not be what you expect but you will enjoy it all the same. In "The Happy Isles of Oceania," his unflinching eye will take readers to fascinating places they are unlikely to visit on their own, and it makes for some unbelievably wonderful reading.
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