The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost (3.5 ★)

The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the equatorial pacific by J. Maarten Troost

I have seen this book recommended so many times that I really expected to love it, but it fell a little flat. The writing is dry and funny, but pretty often it falls into the trap of being too mean at other people’s expense. The stories in each chapter are more episodic than I expected– they don’t seem to follow the timeline of their experience in Kiribati and so it didn’t flow in a natural way. I think Troost took the greatest pleasure in writing the chapter titles. 

There is also a lot of time spent by the author teasing himself for not writing a novel (the thing he’s supposed to be doing while his girlfriend/wife– they apparently get married specifically to take advantage of health care while on this trip– works) which gets very old. He’s probably aiming for a lovable lazy house-husband sort of thing, but I just couldn’t get over how annoyed with him I would’ve been if I were in that position. He does paint Sylvia to be very patient, kind, and funny however. I am also on Sylvia’s side that cockroaches are the worst thing in existence. 

Actually living in Kiribati sounds ridiculous. I thought I wanted to go almost everywhere in the world but the chapter on stray dogs and the Troost’s modest proposal to eat them or drown the puppies in the ocean finally clinched it for me. The constant interactions with other people’s fecal matter, the wax and wane in the availability of food and alcohol, the questionable arrangements for travel to and from the island, and the interesting cultural traditions Troost describes all beggar belief. If everything he says is true, then honestly the book should be more highly rated for managing to make light of what sounds like a truly awful experience. It does have a short bibliography at the end, so there was some research involved, and for all the horrors, it sounds like he genuinely liked living on the island, so maybe more than a little exaggeration took place. 

I was still tempted to bump it up to a 4 for easy-reading, but in chapter 17 Troost likens living on Tarawa to a “visceral form of bipolar disorder” which is a personal pet peeve. It’s a mental illness, not an adjective. The chapter on the Bill Clinton sex scandal seemed a little unnecessary and really drove home for me how dated this book is. Overall, it’s a fun read. I’d be interested to hear more about what Kiribati is like now. 

Rating: ★★★.5
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars