The Sex Lives of Cannibals (2004) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

• Sylvia: The author's girlfriend, she works on the island and is the reason they moved to Tarawa.
• J. Maarten: Narrator and guy who follows his wife to Kiribati.
• Mike: Add a description of this character.
• Wilson
• Kate
• Beiataaki
• Tiabo
• Mama Dog
• John
• Half-dead Fred
• Martha
• Atenati
• Maiana
• Hillary
• Farouk
• Brown Dog
• Diana
• Bingham
• Reibo
• Vaclav

Quotes edit see section history

• “Life in Kiribati has a strong Darwinian cast to it, and men, except for one brief glorious moment, are pretty useless from an evolutionary perspective and can therefore be allowed to wither, whereas women are hardwired to survive. The "weaker sex" moniker may apply to the bench press, but Nature isn't a gym rat.”

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• Those who had the time lacked the money. And those who had the money lacked the time. There’s the conundrum of American life in a nutshell.

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• I had grown accustomed to life being interesting and adventure ridden and, rather childishly, I refused to believe that this must necessarily come to an end and that the rest of my life should be a sort of penance for all the reckless, irresponsible, and immensely fun things I’d done before.

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• I learned there that the distance between civilization and savagery is exceedingly small and this has scared me ever since.

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• Like many highly educated people, I didn’t have much in the way of actual skills,

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• you are subsequently ruined from a conversational point of view, that you can no longer even pretend to be remotely interested in someone’s trip to the mall, or their thoughts about the stock market, or their opinions about the relative merit of a football player, and soon you will be branded as aloof, simply because once, on a faraway island, you heard some good stories.

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• Like many air travelers, I am aware that airplanes fly aided by capricious fairies and invisible strings.

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• We had departed a country where children are swaddled in helmets and body armor, and only then allowed to ride a Big Wheel in a carpeted living room, and now we had arrived in a country where children play on active runways.

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• Now take away electricity, running water, toilets, television, restaurants, buildings, and airplanes (except for two very old prop planes, tended by people who have no word for “maintenance”). Replace with thatch. Flatten all land into a uniform two feet above sea level. Toy with islands by melting polar ice caps. Add palm trees. Sprinkle with hepatitis A, B, and C. Stir in dengue fever and intestinal parasites. Take away doctors. Isolate and bake at a constant temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The result is the Republic of Kiribati.

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• No one who claims this to be a small world has ever flown across the Pacific.

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• It is a remarkably easy thing to do, pointing out the faults of others and suggesting remedies or courses of action in an argumentative and pedantic sort of way, and I am still amazed that there are many people in the American media who are paid very big money to do this.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• South Tarawa
• Kiribati
• South Pacific
• Washington
• China
• Betio
• United States
• Australia
• America
• Nauru
• Fiji
• North Tarawa
• England
• California
• Tabiteuea
• Tahiti
• Cuba
• Hawaii
• Samoa
• Christmas Island
• Europe
• Pacific Ocean
• Prague
• Banaba
• Marshall Islands
• D.c.
• Ocean Island
• Temawa
• Asia
• Ise
• Japan
• Papua New Guinea
• Victoria Bitter
• Ukiangang
• Tarawa Lagoon
• Hong Kong
• Majuro
• Havana

First Sentence edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. J. Maarten Troost (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 306.099681

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Nonfiction › Social Sciences › Anthropology › Cultural
• Books › Travel › Reference & Tips › Essays & Travelogues
• Books › Entertainment › Humor › Jokes & Riddles
• Books › Entertainment › Humor › Love, Sex & Marriage
• Books › Travel › Australia & South Pacific

More Books Like This edit see section history