Book Review: The Sex Lives of Cannibals

In The Sex Lives of Cannibals, J. Maarten Troost writes a  travelogue of the two years during which he lived on the remote island, Tarawa. The back cover boasts this book as "the laugh-out-loud true story of a harrowing and hilarious two-year odyssey in the distant South Pacific island nation of Kiribati - possibly the Worst Place on Earth." After having read it, I can safely tell you it falls in the category of smirk and giggle quietly to yourself, which is not a bad place to be. Few books consistently make me laugh out loud, like David Sedaris' Holidays on Ice and this did not live up to that standard. However, there are definitely amusing sections of The Sex Lives of Cannibals, particularly once Troost arrives in Tarawa and recounts his adjustment to life in the South Pacific. I found the early part of this book to be too cute and over the top "tongue in cheek" clever, but once examining daily life in Tarawa, Troost's style is enjoyable to read and often enlightening about the stark differences in American culture and the I-Kiribati culture. Troost's misadventures in that remote part of the world consist of 75% of the book, but when Troost returns to the United States through the conclusion, the book becomes dull again. While Troost explores his reacclimation to American culture and subsequent, but temporary life as a yuppie, he returns to verbose, complex sentences that fail to elucidate the situation. The ending feels trite and slapped together, which diminishes the delightful middle section. Overall, the middle is the best part, so skim the beginning and the end.

- KER