White Savages in the South Seas
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Book Overview
White Savages in the South Seas is a book about Polynesia after the cruise ships have sailed, the jet has flown off into the sunset and the maitai curtain has droppeed on a dream that was more performance than reality. Writing with zest, humor and great affection, Mel Kernahan introduces the reader to the islands of Polynesia and an array of extraordinary inhabitants: Susy No Pants who lives an uproarious life of pleasure but never strays far from who she is or where she came from; a nuclear nomad from Tuamotus who attempts suicide by ancient means in California's Balboa Fun Zone, home of the chocolate-dipped frozen banana; an elderly Tahitian freedom fighter, revered by his people, who is smuggled off the island to a French prison in an attempt to silence him; French officials who concoct an elaborate charade to create an uplifting image of the Foreign Legion in Papeete. The author encounters, on remote islands where tourists seldom tread, missionaries, visionaries, drunk bureaucrats, randy kings and Ghost Woman. Kernahan does not find paradise, although she admits to looking for it. Instead she presents, in travel writing who exuberance pushes the limits of the genre, a reality riddled with potholes, shifting truths and a distinct lack of answers.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:1859840043
ISBN13:9781859840047
Release Date:October 1995
Publisher:Verso
Length:216 Pages
Weight:0.80 lbs.
Dimensions:0.7" x 6.0" x 9.2"
Related Subjects
Australia & South Pacific General Reference South America Travel Travel Writing WritingCustomer Reviews
2 ratings
An extrodinary real life look at Polynesian people & places.
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
White Savages in the South Seas is a candid look at the not so glamourous lives of real people living in the South Pacific. This book is filled with fasinating characters like Susy No Pants and interesting adventures. Their stories are well written with great passion and witty humor. I enjoyed every moment.
Much more than a travel expose....loaded with wit & reality
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
A thinking person's look at life in the South Pacific as seen through the eyes of an imaginative and involved participant in life. You'll laugh and you'll cry and you will get an insight into the lives of many unusual and colorful people. Definitely not a "travel book," but rather a carefully written volumne which will forever effect the way you see life in the South Pacific.
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