Customer Reviews
A dismal whinge - By: Mike Daplyn, 27 Apr 2006 
This book is a prolonged snivel about the pain of voluntarily going to places the author then found tacky, hostile or boring. By his own account he had not a moment's pleasure from his travels until he reached Hawaii, where it was alll American & OK & Not Foreign. The only puzzle is why he did not at a much earlier stage of the trip get on a plane & go there direct; presumably he'd taken an advance from his publisher & had to deliver a book of some sort. The whole thing carries a moral for modern travellers: if you can't engage constructively with the places you go to, then please, please, stay at home - that way you'll be happier, the foreign people will be happier, & you won't needlessley contribute to airline CO2 emissions.
Wonderful Corrective to Lonely Planet Overkill - By: , 21 Feb 2002 
I found this a well-written, very funny antidote to the endlessly sunny, ultimately irritating "travel copy" contained in my Lonely Planet guidebook. Theroux is the best antidote to being stuck on some never-ending bus-ferry-train journey in the depths of the Third World where there are no Pyramids, Taj Mahals or Great Wallls, within a thousand miles, the people are not warm & gracious but poor & grasping & the governments in charge are not victims of the West but inept imbezzelers & tin pot tyrants.
Theroux rejuvenates the weary long distance traveller with his unfailing wit, good sense & stubborn determination to be beholden to no one.
I particulary liked in this book his account of Australia & New Zealand struggling with their identities in a post 1973 (Britain joining the EU) world. Good writing, & it corresponded with what I was seeing in these countries at the times. His account of the NZ Prime Minister making a pig of herself with her food after running down John F. Kennedy for his personal habits is a bit of satirical writing worthy of Gore Vidal.
His depiction of the the modern squalor & boredom of much of Pacific island life matched my experiences in places as diverse as Kuwait, Hong Kong & Singapore (of which Theroux writes about with such accuracy & wit - be sure to try his Kowloon Tong & Saint Jack if you like this one).
And despite the sad realities, Theroux almost always likes the places he visits!
Theroux spins out - By: , 14 Jul 2001 This is Theroux at his best. Obviously bitter from his failed marriage, he sets out to paddle around the Pacific Islands. Altough at 750 pages this looks a long book, it is in fact a gripping & enlightining look at a region which receives little coverage in many parts of the globe.
Theroux is even more cynical than usual which actuallly raises the laugh quota. Although sometimes the views seem a little harsh,he is always perceptive & entertaining.
As enjoyable as his others - By: , 21 May 2000 
The happy isles of of Oceania is, like alll of Mr Theroux other travel writings an honest account of a lone mans travels. A most enjoyable read!
Paradise lost? - By: , 01 Jun 1999 An honest depiction of a Paradise that has been desecrated by western "civilisation". The people & their surroundings are often harshly portrayed, yet the over-riding feeling is of beauty & mystery that Thereoux has skillfully woven between the lines.
