BootsnAll Travel Community

by Maarten Troost.

I'm sorry if this book was already mentioned previously, I could not find any posts about it and I thought it was worth it's 15 seconds of fame in BNA. It's about the author's 2 year stint in Tarawa, a tiny remote island on the Pacific. It's hilarious! He can make the description of the most mundane situation or object so funny and interesting. I'm halfway through the book now and am really enjoying it. Has anyone else read this book?

Yeah, I read it.

I was ok, some of it was well writen, some of it wasnt...
it was a pretty good read but nothing special really..

Philip

I liked it more than my long-eared comrade above did.

I liked it, too, but then I have a Tarawa frame of reference including that horrible, bloody, stinking "song" Macarena. Tarawa may be the most objectionable place I have seen in the Pacific, with the possible exception of Chuuk.

Parts were very funny but some of it was pretty gross too.

quote:

Originally posted by scubamama:
Parts were very funny but some of it was pretty gross too.

LOL true. Wow Salmo, you've been there? I'd love to hear about your experiences. Do you have a blog somewhere?

I quite enjoyed the book. I read it while I was living oin Hawaii, and although its obviously not as remote as Tarawa.... I could really relate to some of his daily trials.

Good read.

I read it and had high expectations. By the end, just wanted it to be over.... some sections were "interesting", like when his girlfriend comes home to find him and the "vet" performing a c-section on on a dog on the dining room table. Yum. Overall, it was a fairly average read.

PC

<< Wow Salmo, you've been there? I'd love to hear about your experiences. Do you have a blog somewhere?>.

I am not a blogger. Places like Tarawa, Peleliu, and Guadalcanal do not lend themselves to carrying a laptop. Ditto most of the remote areas I travel in. I'll try to write a story about it.

I will say that all of those areas mentioned are
exceedingly hot, humid, and difficult. I thought Troost did an excellent job of describing the veritible shit hole that is Betio.

Salmo, I will definitely look out for that story. I've never travelled to any remote places like that outside the Philippines ( we have our fair share of those kinds of places here - hot, humid, difficult) but am very interested in other peoples' views and takes on these places.

I really love books of this type. I'm reading now The Full Montezuma. While it is about more civilised places (Mexico and other Central American countries), the writing style of the author is similar to Troost's. They have an almost identical sense of humor.

I just wanna let you guys know that I went out and bought this book and read it after reading this thread. I kept hearing about this book and forgetting to check it out, and I finally did. I was very excited to read it and I thought it was good, but could have been much better.

Believe it or not, I actually did get some reading done this weekend in NY and finally finished this book. I really enjoyed it up until the end. I just don't care about his personal life and having an "island baby." It struck me as sentimental drivel in a book that didn't revolve around his personal sentiments like that until the very end.

Otherwise I read it like a good letter from a friend off travelling. I became more familiar with an area of the planet I know very little about and had a few chuckles. Too bad it turned so shamelessly sappy.

If a book makes me laugh out loud a couple of times, then I like it well enough. I got something out of this, so I remember it fondly even though I don't like the title. And...even though the Philippines is much different than his remote experience, there's enough the same that had me cracking up from time to time.

Just finished this - I actually really enjoyed it. I felt like I learned a bit about a part of the world I was ignorant of, and I got a kick out of the author's sense of humor. I tend to agree with others though about the final chapter; just didn't seem to belong with the rest of the book, and it seemed kind of rushed, as if the author didn't have a clue how best to end the book.

You might like his Vanuatu book as well, Getting Stoned With Savages, but it isn't really as entertaining. Here the charm of being an "independent" westerner amongst a tribal people begins to wear thin. At times, he is a bit too clever and cutting for his own good.