The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific » (None)

PAUL THEROUX is the author of many highly acclaimed books. His novels include A Dead Hand and The Mosquito Coast, and his renowned travel books include Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and Dark Star Safari . He lives in Hawaii and on Cape Cod.

In one of his most exotic and breathtaking journeys, the intrepid traveler Paul Theroux ventures to the South Pacific, exploring fifty-one islands by collapsible kayak. Beginning in New Zealand's rain forests and ultimately coming to shore thousands of miles away in Hawaii, Theroux paddles alone over isolated atolls, through dirty harbors and shark-filled waters, and along treacherous coastlines. This exhilarating tropical epic is full of disarming observations and high adventure.

Publishers Weekly

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)

Meganesia
New Zealand: The Land of the Long White Cloud     17
New Zealand: Sloshing Through the South Island     25
Waffling in White Australia     36
Walkabout in Woop Woop     53
North of the Never-Never     73
Melanesia
Buoyant in the Peaceful Trobriands     105
Aground in the Troubled Trobriands     129
The Solomons: Down and Dirty in Guadalcanal     152
The Solomons: In the Egg Fields of Savo Island     164
Vanuatu: Cannibals and Missionaries     186
The Oddest Island in Vanuatu     201
Fiji: The Divided Island of Viti Levu     218
Fiji: Vanua Levu and the Islets of Bligh Water     239
Polynesia
Tonga: The Royal Island of Tongatapu     265
Tonga: Alone on the Desert Islands of Vava'u     293
In the Backwaters of Western Samoa     320
American Samoa: The Littered Lagoon     346
Tahiti: The Windward Shore of the Island of Love     360
A Voyage to the Marquesas     382
The Cook Islands: In the Lagoon of Aitutaki     410
Easter Island: Beyond the Surf Zone of Rapa Nui     435
Easter Island: The Old Canoe Ramp at Tongariki     456
Paradise
O'ahu: Open Espionage inHonolulu     473
Kaua'i: Following the Dolphins on the Na Pali Coast     494
Ni'ihau and Lana'i: Some Men Are Islands     502
The Big Island: Paddling in the State of Grace     513