Rating: 
Summary: Paddling Theroux's Bias
Review: As an Australian and a good friend of several Pacific Islanders, I was quite offended by this book. Theroux makes sweeping generalizations about Australians, New Zealanders, and Pacific Islanders that are derogatory and border on racism. This book was written at a time when Theroux was very depressed, as he freely admits, and therefore has a great deal of negative bias. Although he does pick up a measure of optimism as he goes through the book, it is impossible to know how much of his discription can really be trusted. Slightly amusing, but not for those interested in what Oceania is really like!
Rating: 
Summary: Theroux explores the darker side sometimes- but accurately!
Review: As tourists, especially on package or special interest tours, people are likely to see the "best foot forward" or "tourist brochure view" of the country they visit. The dearer the travel package, the less we see- a stay at the isolated and mod-cons Sheraton - Denerau in Fiji will virtually guarantee total ingorance of the real Fiji, presenting the traveler with a Disneylandesque version of this lovely, friendly and very conflicted island nation. Government tourist bureaus and travel agencies do little to dispell this view, carefully avoiding mention of the problems, conflicts, diseases and other challenges that are always there- whether in our home country or those we travel to. - Paul Theroux visits Oceania from a "backpacker" perspective, meeting people and customs at their sea level perspective. His humor is dark, his experiences are only too real (I can relate to many from my travels) and he "calls them as he sees them"- not endearing, cute or a hackneyed travelogue to sell a destination. - My perspective may occasionally be different form his, but he presents a valid and incisive perspective of Oceania and some of her people based on his encounters and observations. (For example, Fiji has some of the friendliest people, but those same people can be ethnically conflicted, can burn down a neighbor's home and try to politick for a "my culture first" constitution. And Fijian soldiers are still among the fiercest.) - Read this book for the off-the-tourist-path and behind-the-scenes looks at Oceania, and for some unique encounters with memorable people and customs that are really there... I still reread chapters when I want to recall more than the tourist-brochure memories of my visits in Oceania. The vivid word prictures and incisive expositions make it easy to remember, and laugh.
Rating:
Summary: Don't bother...
Review: But, if you can get over the writer's ego, condescension, racism, ego, morbid look at things, sarcasm, ego, ego, ego that is prevalent and predominant in this book, you'll love it!
Rating:
Summary: Very funny , very personal
Review: I have to say that I am somewhat prejudiced in that I have enjoyed many of Theroux's books (by the way, Theroux is American) and part of why I like them so much is his refusal to romanticize and idealize people. This book tends to generalize but it is very funny with its characterizations. I will probably never get out there and certainly haven't made up my mind about the pacific peoples from Theroux's observations but I can still appreciate them. So lighten up other reviewers! It's just a book. It's well written and witty and everything is seen through the Paul Theroux lens which is unique but obviously not the "truth".
Rating: 
Summary: Mouldy & Insightful
Review: I lived in Suva (the capital city of...) Fiji for a year during and just after that island nation's first 'bloodless coup d'etat" in 1987 (good ol' Sitivini "Steve", to his closest pals, Rabuka, and his racist henchmen- the leader of that response to a native India-Indian/Fijian man having won the last democratic election held in that archepelago) and on up into a remote village in Ra for the next year as a health education Peace Corps Volunteer.It took me all those 2 years living fully immersed within Fijian culture and among an interesting( and it must be said oddly racist, even amongst themselves) bunch of humans as one is ever likely to meet - to start to make sense out of their very complicated ways and mores. Paulie T. got to the crux pretty much immediately. Personally, I got to hate running into locals who had recently encountered tourists - as it always made interactions more complicated for me. Thus American, Aussie and Japanese toursists were a big headache for me. They would over pay for everything and scamper about scantily clad - tweaking at the Fijian moral compass, developed, ironically, directly from the teachings of those good ol' late 1800's Christian missionaries - who, at least had a hand ;-) in helping Fijians stop eating each other. He nailed the Fijian culture - and I am assuming he does the same to the others described. Who said traveling was pretty? Sure, it can be if one takes great care to insulate oneself from the local actualities - but where's the fun in that?! I travel to see how the rest of the world lives. Although, one time I went to the b.v.i. to lay about on the beach completely cut off from reality - and you know what? THAT ain't half bad either!
Rating:
Summary: Paddling with Paul
Review: I loved this book. Yes, Paul Theroux can be a bit crotchety at times but who among us isn't? I like that about him because he's not afraid to hide from us his imperfections and I feel like I know him. Yes, he's a bit judgmental but who among us isn't? If you have ever traveled far from home for a long period of time, then all of the above is part of the travel experience and as such, I think is valuable. I took this book to Hawaii with me and read it for a second time and enjoyed it even more than the first. There's a wealth of knowledge here about places that hardly anyone ever goes to. Along with the island hopping and camping and setting up the boat and interacting with all manner of people, you are also going to be witness to his personal thoughts and feelings on a variety of issues and people. For me this adds another dimension to his books that I find fascinating whether I agree with him or not. He writes with great style and I really like his sense of humour. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to read really great books.
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Summary: Verry different then his other books
Review: I myself i'm very fond of Australia and New Zealand, it was very good to read how Mr.Theroux was seening these country's, i have been in most of the places ware he has traveled only i think i enjoyed them more, still a very good book
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Summary: Ivy League ugly American goes troppo among the natives
Review: I read a short story at college called 'Travel is so broadening' (author forgotten) which of course showed, with heavy irony, that it was nothing of the sort. The protagonists were loudmouth trailer trash made good types - archetypal ugly Americans. Well Theroux's is a better class of ugly but still his heart seems to shrink further with every foray into the lands of the 'Other'. He seems to have sucked nothing from Naipaul but high-toned racist bile (and a shameful book profiting from the betrayal of a friendship). We all of us suffer from a natural degree of xenophobia; Theroux seems particularly badly affected. Either that or his profile as a curmudgeon is carefully contrived to carve a special (and lucrative) niche in the travel-writing market a la Naipaul with fiction. I suppose these days in any form of art you have to shock to be noticed, but the cumulative effect of this book is simply depression, unleavened with insight or enlightenment. It's hard to imagine that guarded, suspicious face of his ever lighting up with mirth or the sort of fellow-feeling most of us encounter when visiting anywhere new - he's just incapable of that kind of epiphany. In the book there is an inadvertantly hilarious set-piece in which, while Theroux is giving a talk to the usual bunch of provincial nobodies in Perth, a drunk reels up the aisle yelling 'You're an arsehole mate'.. he is eventually tossed out of the hall, still bellowing 'You're an arsehole'. He was right.
Rating: 
Summary: Theroux has a poor impression of everything non-American
Review: I read all 500 pages of Theroux's 'Happy Isles of Oceania,' and even though I enjoyed some parts of it, many chapters left me wondering about what the heck is going on in this guy's head. He was very mean-spirited toward Australians for one, calling them racist drunks. There are no racists in America, right? Also, he continuosly criticized the French government for 'destroying' the cultures on the French Polynesian islands. Yes, some of it may be true, but what about the Americanization of Hawaii? I noticed Theroux had no complaints about Hawaii -- of which he discussed with the chapter heading 'Paradise' -- turning into a motorized society with natives working at McDonald's restaurants.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointment in Theroux' book
Review: I read this book a couple of years ago and am still galled by Theroux' writings. Although I have visited many of the islands of the South Pacific, I will contain my comments to Fiji alone.
I have visited many, many times and lived in Fiji for over five years with my family (my mother lived there for almost 20 years). What is written about Fiji is almost fiction. I don't know how Theroux interpreted the islanders as threatening. Their smiles could light up the world. I've been married to a Fijian (man) for over 20 years now and Theroux' take on the people couldn't be further from the truth.
Finally, his section on the two coups that occurred is so far from the truth as to be fiction. He must only have spoken with the Indian faction to get such a one-sided slant. My mother was there during the coup and there was no threat or danger to anyone. In fact, very little "uprising" to say the least.
I've been waiting for a forum to vent my anger over the Fiji section of the book and I thank you for the space.
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