Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu

My husband, Daniel, and I have always joked about quitting our jobs and moving to a tropical island.  He'd mix coconut drinks on the beach and I would braid hair.  After reading Getting Stoned with Savages by J. Maarten Troost, I've decided paradise may not be all it's hyped up to be.   This is the second book by Troost.  In his first book, Sex Lives of Cannibals, he writes about his adventures on the island of Kiribati.  In both books it is his wife's job that takes them to the far away Oceanic Islands.

Getting Stoned with Savages takes Troost and his wife to the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu.  While one often reads of lush celebrity vacations in Fiji, this is not the Fiji where Troost lives.  Troost's Fiji is filled with giant centipedes, corrupt government and the intoxicating drink, kava.  His adventure begins in Vanuatu, a somewhat rural island, but compared to his first adventure in Kiribati, it's incredibly civilized.  On Vanuatu he is introduced to kava.  A drink with narcotic properties.  Kava begins as a root which is chewed by children.  The saliva and masticated root are spit into a bucket.  And, that finished product is kava.  When drunk, the high is very much like smoking weed, only better, according to Troost.

The book is a journal of his family's time on the islands.  Troost's writing style is full of sarcasm and dry humor.  His books are enjoyable, quick reads, although not quite a marketing tool for the islands he has visited.  Troost's latest book, Lost on Planet China:  One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation, looks to be as entertaining as his first two.  Although I've always wanted to visit China...  maybe I should skip his book!