The Sex Lives of Cannibals

Title: The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific

Author: J. Maarten Troost
Published: 2004
Read: April 2009
Number of pages: 272
Non-fiction
Where I obtained the book: Barnes and Noble
How I discovered it: on one of the display tables at Barnes and Noble
My grade: A

The kooky title made me pick up this book at Barnes and Noble and reading the back cover convinced me to buy it. Troost, who was 26 when he spent two years in the Kirabati Islands in the South Pacific (aka the middle of nowhere) when his girlfriend had to move there for her job, writes a memoir about the experience. And what an experience it was! He documents his life on the tiny island, noting often that it is very hot and there is not much to do on the tiny island and it is very easy to go stir crazy. If you're planning a vacation to a tiny island near the equator, this book might make you change your mind. Moving from the United States to these tiny group of islands was quite the culture shock for Troost and his girlfriend. 

My favorite chapter was about the island's Poet Laureate, a young British guy who wrote to the head of the government and asked if he could be theirs and was granted his wife and a free trip to Tarawa. 

The book gets its name because the island was home to cannibals at one point. Usually I find travel writings to be a bit on the dull side, but this one was anything but dull. The ending may even surprise you.