The best-selling author of My Secret History ( LJ 4/1/89) and Riding the Iron Rooster ( LJ 6/15/88) spent 18 months in a one-man collapsible kayak exploring such exotic Pacific islands as New Zealand, Australia, the Soloman and Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti, Easter Island, and Hawaii. Never a kind-hearted chronicler of place, he sets out on this voyage in an especially dour mood, leaving behind a failed marriage and expecting to be diagnosed with cancer at any moment. Soon after he escapes the crowded towns of Australia, however, he starts to lose some of his harsh edge and enjoy his travels, which ultimately heal him. A brilliant storyteller with an eye for the absurd, Theroux takes the reader to little-known places where time seems to have stood still and people lead simple lives totally unrelated to 20th-century America. Highly recommended for all libraries. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/92.-- Lisa J. Cochenet, Rhinelander Dist. Lib., Wis. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

/*STARRED REVIEW*/ The Pacific journey of celebrated travel writer and novelist Theroux did not begin propitiously. His marriage was on the rocks; he had symptoms that could mean skin cancer; and he had to schlepp off alone on a dreary author tour across New Zealand and Australia. Once there, Theroux decries the dumpy mediocrity of the towns and the bristling mockery of the populace but soon finds solace in the spectacular wilderness. Inspired, he decides to explore the islands of the Pacific, collapsible kayak and notebook in hand. A gifted observer and writer with a flair for history, Theroux's unflagging curiosity and gutsiness serve him well on this ambitious, island-hopping expedition. His itinerary includes the Trobriands, or the Islands of Love, where he learns about the annual Yam Festival during which women are the sexual aggressors, and the Solomon Islands, which offer beauty and peace as well as filth and fear. He paddles his kayak along the island coasts, camps, and hangs out with whoever is willing to answer his questions. On each of nearly 20 islands he visits in Melanesia and Polynesia, including Tahiti (where Europeans now go nude on the beaches while natives stay clothed), the Marquesas, and Easter Island, Theroux gets a firm grip on the inhabitants' prevailing attitudes, beliefs, and habits. He muses on the influences of whalers, missionaries, and other intruders while also pondering the region's history of cannibalism, penchant for alcohol, and environmental problems. By the end of this consistently compelling, companionable volume, both Theroux and his readers are better off for having made this journey. (Reviewed Apr. 15, 1992)0399137262Donna Seaman

Despite the euphoric title, Oceania as Theroux ( Riding the Iron Rooster ) experienced it was only occasionally a carefree paradise. In the Trobriand Islands, celebrated by anthropologists for their supposed sexual freedom, the novelist and travel writer found prostitution and fear of rape. Samoa struck him as noisy, vandalized, with American-style conspicuous consumption. The intrepid Theroux discussed world politics with the king of Tonga, encountered class consciousness in Honolulu, mingled with street gangs in Auckland, and lived in a bamboo hut in Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides), where he investigated a cargo cult and rumors of cannibalism. In Australia he braved the Woop Woop (remote outback) to camp with Aborigines. This exhilarating epic ranks with Theroux's best travel books. It is full of disarming observations, high adventure and memorable characters rendered with keen irony. First serial to New York Times Magazine; BOMC featured alternate; QPB alternate. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved