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Headhunters on My Doorstep: A True Treasure Island Ghost Story
Follow in the footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson with J. Maarten Troost, the bestselling author of The Sex Lives of Cannibals. Readers and critics alike adore J. Maarten Troost for his signature wry and witty take on the adventure memoir. Headhunters on My Doorstep chronicles Troost’s return to the South Pacific after his struggle with alcoholism left him numb to life. Deciding to retrace the path once traveled by the author of Treasure Island, Troost follows Robert Louis Stevenson to the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, Tahiti, Kiribati, and Samoa, tumbling from one comic misadventure to another. Headhunters on My Doorstep is a funny yet poignant account of one man’s journey to find himself that will captivate travel writing aficionados, Robert Louis Stevenson fans, and anyone who has ever lost his way.
273 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
106 people are currently reading
1807 people want to read
About the author
J. Maarten Troost
8 books817 followersJan Maarten Troost (known professionally as J. Maarten Troost) (born 1969 in The Netherlands) is a Dutch-American travel writer and essayist.
J. Maarten Troost is the author of The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific. His essays have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post, and the Prague Post. He spent two years in Kiribati in the equatorial Pacific and upon his return was hired as a consultant by the World Bank. After several years in Fiji, he recently relocated to the U.S. and now lives with his wife and son in California.
J. Maarten Troost is the author of The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific. His essays have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post, and the Prague Post. He spent two years in Kiribati in the equatorial Pacific and upon his return was hired as a consultant by the World Bank. After several years in Fiji, he recently relocated to the U.S. and now lives with his wife and son in California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 259 reviews
June 30, 2018
<Rewritten 29/6/18, warning it's a bit of a rant now. Unlike some of Troost's books which I have enjoyed very much I absolutely loathed this one and dnf'd it quite late, two-thirds of the way in. It really wasn't about his travels in the South Seas, there were no headhunters on his doorstep or anywhere else. It was about his alcoholism and giving up the booze with sundry elements thrown in. The biographies of Gaugin and Robert Louis Stevenson were a lot less than revelatory and enthralling. The jaded eye on the rich travelling Polynesia was just so fake - this man had been a banker and was travelling as a tourist himself!
The book droned on and on, Troost so unbelievably self-absorbed and full of hate for modern society and praise for primitive pig hunters that I thought yes, when you do go to where the yachties gather and start to relate your tales they probably think you are one of them, not realising they are just more fodder for his inner hate machine. About the only non-third worlders he doesn't despise are Muslims whom he thinks get a raw deal travelling a world where they are not welcomed anywhere. Eh? Where does he get that from? We aren't all stupid and think that everyone called Mohammed is a terrorist as he implies.
What finally did it was his anti-semitism. He must have thought he did it quite cleverly. First of all he says the French are anti-semitic and they have no grounds for that at all, it's so terrible. Then through the device of a man he meets says that all the Jews are after in Polynesia is gold. Notice, all the French and all the Jews. No no, says Troost, this is not true, the couple in the next room are Israelis, the man is a medical botanist.
On his next encounter with the Israeli the man asks to buy his watch, then his wedding ring, he wants the gold! He says he travels through the islands with his hot wife (another stereotype here, dark-eyed Jewish women are hot), going from village to village to buy gold from these stupid people and then reselling it at a profit in Tel Aviv. Thereby confirming exactly the Frenchman's stories. Yes these Jews are all about gold ad ripping people off.
Does it even sound true? Do you think he even met such unnamed people? Are the French anti-semitic (as a nation, no of course not). Can you imagine someone going up to an American asking to buy their wedding ring and watch and then telling him about stupid people who do sell them?
Even in Troost's first book, The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific his view of local islanders was that they were the salt of the earth, really really wonderful incredibly primitive people who lived happy savage lives. But those of them who moved to the towns were without any sophistication or desire to improve themselves living in utter squalor and cared not about education or the benefits of a first world life and have only degraded local customs and traditions. So here he continues, he's not stupid enough to part with his wedding ring, and only a Jew/Israeli would be venal enough to presume he would, unlike the islanders.
I live on a small third world island. It isn't poor to be true, but there are a lot of poor people here up from the much less advanced islands. They are here to earn money to send back, so that their kids can be educated, so that they can build a proper house instead of a tin shack, so that they can get electricity from the company rather than a hook-up from a pole. And ultimately so that they can get a Green Card, go to the US, get a job and themselves an education. Would they sell the gold they have, sometimes a chain? Maybe. Would they sell a watch (like they own gold watches?), what about a wedding ring? Not a chance. Are these people likely to be different from Pacific Islanders, I think not.
Where do you think all of us came from? We all came from poverty originally but the hard work of our ancestors, distant or (in my case, my family were Russian peasants until the 1920s) not so distant has enabled us to climb the ladder from no indoor sanitation to university degrees.
Troost isn't as clever as P. J. O' Rourke or Paul Theroux with their often-jaded view of travel, probably because these authors don't have favourites and those they hate, they just generally get in a bad mood when they travel and write from that angle. But Troost, originally Dutch, a very welcoming and liberal nation - apart from the Boers who left and did all that shit in South Africa, sees life through a smaller lens, categorising people according to his prejudices and then writing about them in his sometimes humorous way.
This wasn't humorous, it was boring when it was about his struggles with the bottle. It made him sound pseud when he was going on about how life on a continent was one of the causes of his alcoholism - he needs to be in the islands. His fillers of biography were Wikipedia expanded but it was the prejudice that did it eventually. I felt he was trying to persuade (don't all racists?) and I'd had enough.
Not recommended.
The book droned on and on, Troost so unbelievably self-absorbed and full of hate for modern society and praise for primitive pig hunters that I thought yes, when you do go to where the yachties gather and start to relate your tales they probably think you are one of them, not realising they are just more fodder for his inner hate machine. About the only non-third worlders he doesn't despise are Muslims whom he thinks get a raw deal travelling a world where they are not welcomed anywhere. Eh? Where does he get that from? We aren't all stupid and think that everyone called Mohammed is a terrorist as he implies.
What finally did it was his anti-semitism. He must have thought he did it quite cleverly. First of all he says the French are anti-semitic and they have no grounds for that at all, it's so terrible. Then through the device of a man he meets says that all the Jews are after in Polynesia is gold. Notice, all the French and all the Jews. No no, says Troost, this is not true, the couple in the next room are Israelis, the man is a medical botanist.
On his next encounter with the Israeli the man asks to buy his watch, then his wedding ring, he wants the gold! He says he travels through the islands with his hot wife (another stereotype here, dark-eyed Jewish women are hot), going from village to village to buy gold from these stupid people and then reselling it at a profit in Tel Aviv. Thereby confirming exactly the Frenchman's stories. Yes these Jews are all about gold ad ripping people off.
Does it even sound true? Do you think he even met such unnamed people? Are the French anti-semitic (as a nation, no of course not). Can you imagine someone going up to an American asking to buy their wedding ring and watch and then telling him about stupid people who do sell them?
Even in Troost's first book, The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific his view of local islanders was that they were the salt of the earth, really really wonderful incredibly primitive people who lived happy savage lives. But those of them who moved to the towns were without any sophistication or desire to improve themselves living in utter squalor and cared not about education or the benefits of a first world life and have only degraded local customs and traditions. So here he continues, he's not stupid enough to part with his wedding ring, and only a Jew/Israeli would be venal enough to presume he would, unlike the islanders.
I live on a small third world island. It isn't poor to be true, but there are a lot of poor people here up from the much less advanced islands. They are here to earn money to send back, so that their kids can be educated, so that they can build a proper house instead of a tin shack, so that they can get electricity from the company rather than a hook-up from a pole. And ultimately so that they can get a Green Card, go to the US, get a job and themselves an education. Would they sell the gold they have, sometimes a chain? Maybe. Would they sell a watch (like they own gold watches?), what about a wedding ring? Not a chance. Are these people likely to be different from Pacific Islanders, I think not.
Where do you think all of us came from? We all came from poverty originally but the hard work of our ancestors, distant or (in my case, my family were Russian peasants until the 1920s) not so distant has enabled us to climb the ladder from no indoor sanitation to university degrees.
Troost isn't as clever as P. J. O' Rourke or Paul Theroux with their often-jaded view of travel, probably because these authors don't have favourites and those they hate, they just generally get in a bad mood when they travel and write from that angle. But Troost, originally Dutch, a very welcoming and liberal nation - apart from the Boers who left and did all that shit in South Africa, sees life through a smaller lens, categorising people according to his prejudices and then writing about them in his sometimes humorous way.
This wasn't humorous, it was boring when it was about his struggles with the bottle. It made him sound pseud when he was going on about how life on a continent was one of the causes of his alcoholism - he needs to be in the islands. His fillers of biography were Wikipedia expanded but it was the prejudice that did it eventually. I felt he was trying to persuade (don't all racists?) and I'd had enough.
Not recommended.
August 7, 2013
Headhunters on my Doorstep has an unfortunate and misleading subtitle: A True Treasure Island Ghost Story. The only ghost story here is the Alcoholic Troost haunting the sober Troost with passing mentions of Robert Louis Stevenson and his fixated jealousy on RLS's lifestyle.
Being familiar with the South Pacific, having lived there for several years, and having a great interest in the cultures beyond the overly romanticized travel logs of the early explorers, I also know that there is a paucity of good recent literature about the South Pacific. This book does nothing to fill that void. For engaging and thought provoking travel literature pick up Shark Gods by Charles Montgomery or better yet We Are the Ocean by Epeli Hau'Ofa.
Being familiar with the South Pacific, having lived there for several years, and having a great interest in the cultures beyond the overly romanticized travel logs of the early explorers, I also know that there is a paucity of good recent literature about the South Pacific. This book does nothing to fill that void. For engaging and thought provoking travel literature pick up Shark Gods by Charles Montgomery or better yet We Are the Ocean by Epeli Hau'Ofa.
October 26, 2013
You've heard of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the book, right? Well, meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the author. I've enjoyed Mr. Troost's previous books about his humorous experiences in the South Pacific. Evidently, this is his first book after recovery from his alcoholism (which I did not know about). Don't get me wrong, this is a great feat and I am happy for him and his family and do not discount in any manner how worthy this achievement is. However, his self-depricating attempt at humor about this illness was not something I expected when I picked up this book. The chapters that go on about his alcoholism as compared to those with limited references to the topic are as different as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
I'm certain that this book served as a cathartic exercise for him and I am willing to give him a pass on this one. However, I choose to read his books for the humor and the awe of the South Pacific. This book had little of that and ended up as simply sad.
I'm certain that this book served as a cathartic exercise for him and I am willing to give him a pass on this one. However, I choose to read his books for the humor and the awe of the South Pacific. This book had little of that and ended up as simply sad.
September 14, 2013
Let's get the worst part out of the way: This is a good book with a bad title. Actually, the title is fine, it just has very little to do with this book. The "Headhunters on My Doorstep" is taken from a quote by Robert Louis Stevenson, in whose footsteps J. Maarten Troost follows during the course of this book, and it works, but the subtitle was completely misleading. Had it been something along the lines of "Coming to terms with my own addictions by voyaging through the South Seas Islands," readers might have been more prepared for what they got.
Having said that, I loved the book. Troost is an excellent writer, and if he's not the same, charismatic, slightly neurotic, freewheeling twenty-something he was in his first two travelogues, well, who amongst us is? Instead, we find a more weathered, scarred author telling us about the islands, yes, and about the life of Robert Louis Stevenson, true, but also telling us far more about addiction and how his had crept up on him and how he was coming to terms with it. All of which is very compelling.
For anyone looking for a direct sequel to The Sex Lives of Cannibals and Getting Stoned With Savages, you may be in for a disappointment. This is not that book. For someone looking for an honest look at alcoholism with a few side trips into the life of an acclaimed author (RLS) and the ecological and economic crisis facing the island nations, you might find that this is a good read.
Having said that, I loved the book. Troost is an excellent writer, and if he's not the same, charismatic, slightly neurotic, freewheeling twenty-something he was in his first two travelogues, well, who amongst us is? Instead, we find a more weathered, scarred author telling us about the islands, yes, and about the life of Robert Louis Stevenson, true, but also telling us far more about addiction and how his had crept up on him and how he was coming to terms with it. All of which is very compelling.
For anyone looking for a direct sequel to The Sex Lives of Cannibals and Getting Stoned With Savages, you may be in for a disappointment. This is not that book. For someone looking for an honest look at alcoholism with a few side trips into the life of an acclaimed author (RLS) and the ecological and economic crisis facing the island nations, you might find that this is a good read.
December 31, 2013
This is possibly the hardest book review I have ever written. Maarten's 'Sex Lives of Cannibals' is in my personal top 5 favorite books of all time. That books has such heart and comedic timing unlike almost any other, never had I laughed so loud or hard from a book, and it also taught and drew me in as the reader completely. His books after that subsequently declined with each one and so did the number of laughs and engaging nature.
That brings us to this title, which was tremendously crushing to the point that I had to force myself to even read it through. It is a mess, no aim, no point, not much of anything. We learn that the author has been battling alcoholism in his real life but that is about it, and even that is dealt with in a strange and incomplete and continual way. He has lost his way in life and it translates into his writing. His relationship to his wife and children is hard to ascertain, it is impossible to sympathize with him, he now has an addiction to addiction which manifests itself mostly in running which is also not conveyed in any meaningful way, he seems to think he is above standard touristy fare but seems to gravitate to it on his useless "adventure" which is told here. There is nothing for me to praise here. Nothing. It is a disaster and really just sad, not because of the words on the page either but because of the lack of those words to accomplish anything. Addiction is sad and to watch such a talent steadily decline to the point of this "book" is even worse.
I wish him well personally, I hate to have to offer such a low review, I can clearly tell he has and is struggling, but this is not anywhere near a book that any publisher should have sent to print. Truly a shame.
That brings us to this title, which was tremendously crushing to the point that I had to force myself to even read it through. It is a mess, no aim, no point, not much of anything. We learn that the author has been battling alcoholism in his real life but that is about it, and even that is dealt with in a strange and incomplete and continual way. He has lost his way in life and it translates into his writing. His relationship to his wife and children is hard to ascertain, it is impossible to sympathize with him, he now has an addiction to addiction which manifests itself mostly in running which is also not conveyed in any meaningful way, he seems to think he is above standard touristy fare but seems to gravitate to it on his useless "adventure" which is told here. There is nothing for me to praise here. Nothing. It is a disaster and really just sad, not because of the words on the page either but because of the lack of those words to accomplish anything. Addiction is sad and to watch such a talent steadily decline to the point of this "book" is even worse.
I wish him well personally, I hate to have to offer such a low review, I can clearly tell he has and is struggling, but this is not anywhere near a book that any publisher should have sent to print. Truly a shame.
July 10, 2016
Meh, 2 stars, but dangerously close to 1.5 stars.
The biggest complaint I've seen (and agree with) about this book is that the description is extremely misleading. It is touted as the author's journey to many different islands while following Robert Louis Stevenson's path. In actuality, it is about 5% Robert Louis Stevenson, 10% island travels, and 85% tales of the author's addiction to alcohol.
The book was not completely and utterly awful for what it was, but I probably wouldn't have read it if the description had been honest. I was looking for more of a fun, comical island travelogue.
The author is not very relatable or likeable, either. When coming fresh out of rehab and talking about wanting to be a better husband/father, why would the answer be to spend godawful amounts of money to travel across the world ALONE, away from your family, with constant temptation?
I could even see his aspect if it was for solitary alone-time to find himself, but it was more touristy, filled with constant yearnings for posh bars on cruise ships and lusting after every fit female of age he encounters. If I were his wife, I'd be pretty damn pissed after reading this.
I basically skimmed most of it and I don't feel like I missed anything at all. I won't be reading anything else by this author.
The biggest complaint I've seen (and agree with) about this book is that the description is extremely misleading. It is touted as the author's journey to many different islands while following Robert Louis Stevenson's path. In actuality, it is about 5% Robert Louis Stevenson, 10% island travels, and 85% tales of the author's addiction to alcohol.
The book was not completely and utterly awful for what it was, but I probably wouldn't have read it if the description had been honest. I was looking for more of a fun, comical island travelogue.
The author is not very relatable or likeable, either. When coming fresh out of rehab and talking about wanting to be a better husband/father, why would the answer be to spend godawful amounts of money to travel across the world ALONE, away from your family, with constant temptation?
I could even see his aspect if it was for solitary alone-time to find himself, but it was more touristy, filled with constant yearnings for posh bars on cruise ships and lusting after every fit female of age he encounters. If I were his wife, I'd be pretty damn pissed after reading this.
I basically skimmed most of it and I don't feel like I missed anything at all. I won't be reading anything else by this author.
August 31, 2013
Troost's prose style has changed since his first, and quite excellent, travel memoir that made me think he was going to be the next Bill Bryson--with a deft combination of humor, personal narrative, and travel. This book would be more accurately labeled: My Addiction and Me, With a Side Helping of Travel, But With All Points Leading Back to My Alcoholism.
Which is obviously fine if I'd had the chance to adjust my expectations ahead of time, but not what I had signed up for when reading his new book. As a bookseller, I'm more inclined to put this with the addiction memoirs than the travel ones.
My full review can be found on my blog: http://asthecrowefliesandreads.blogsp...
Which is obviously fine if I'd had the chance to adjust my expectations ahead of time, but not what I had signed up for when reading his new book. As a bookseller, I'm more inclined to put this with the addiction memoirs than the travel ones.
My full review can be found on my blog: http://asthecrowefliesandreads.blogsp...
July 9, 2013
This book features Troost's sharp wit and I laughed out loud on more than one occasion, but it lacked an overall cohesive theme. Troost spent much time ruminating on his alcohol addiction, visited some random islands, and occassionally tied in Robert Louis Stevenson. It was amusing, but was ultimately unfulfilling.
December 6, 2013
This was an ok read, but is easily the worst of Troost's books. The hook of following Stevenson's trip through the South Sea did nothing for me and this really lacked the charm of his previous works. In all honesty you can safely skip this, even big Troost fans.
January 11, 2015
The good thing about the author's previous pacific island books was that he lived there and had the time to develop some real insights. This time he was just a tourist, and the only insights were about himself. Here's what reading the first 9 chapters felt like: I'm a recovering alcoholic, me me me me. I'm now in the Marquesas. me me me me. Gaugin lived here, and was an alcoholic. me me me. Did I mention I'm an alcoholic? me me me me. Oh, and as an afterthought, the Marquesas are lovely. My reaction: snore.
dnf
September 13, 2018I read just over two hundred pages and couldn’t make the finish line. I liked that Troost focused on his recovery from alcohol addiction, but the island hopping in the Pacific felt incidental to the story.
I kept reading because I wanted to learn more about this part of the world, but it suddenly felt like work.
I kept reading because I wanted to learn more about this part of the world, but it suddenly felt like work.
September 10, 2018
Simply not my cup of tea and I can't really say this book is good or bad because of that. All I can really say is I hated it. And despite a couple of reviewers quotes, I did not laugh once, either silently or out-loud.
I thought it rambled too much although I assume many people would consider it witty banter. There was way too much whining about the fact that he was a recovering alcoholic. Also he gets crude at times, check that, quite often.
He describes a few famous people who traveled the South Pacific, especially Robert Louis Stevenson, but I can't say he described any of them generously. He relates his travel experiences giving attention to the poverty he sees.
As I said, not my cup of tea. It was a book club book. I may not finish it having gotten through 200 pages, but I definitely need to put it down for now.
I thought it rambled too much although I assume many people would consider it witty banter. There was way too much whining about the fact that he was a recovering alcoholic. Also he gets crude at times, check that, quite often.
He describes a few famous people who traveled the South Pacific, especially Robert Louis Stevenson, but I can't say he described any of them generously. He relates his travel experiences giving attention to the poverty he sees.
As I said, not my cup of tea. It was a book club book. I may not finish it having gotten through 200 pages, but I definitely need to put it down for now.
May 16, 2019
I didn't like this book at all. I thought it would be awesome because who doesn't love Treasure Island, but this just seemed to be weird. This guy travels all over and says he wrote a book about Cannibals and sex. It was well written but I just didn't like it. I never give a one star unless it is deserved and this is one book that I feel does. I hope that others that read it will like it.
September 14, 2017
Total waste of time, I kept hoping it would improve. Just ramble, ramble, ramble.
September 12, 2023
2.5 Stars
*A jumbled memoir that suffers from some seriously misleading marketing*
I thoroughly enjoyed The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific but never got around to reading any of Troost’s other books. I was looking for some armchair travel, so I thought it would be a good time to pick up Headhunters on my Doorstep.
Unfortunately, Headhunters on my Doorstep was extremely different from my expectations. I expected the humor of his first book as well as that wonderful feeling of wanderlust and explorations of cultures on far-flung portions of the world. What I found instead was a depressing memoir about a man’s recovery from alcoholism.
And yet, this is marketed as travel and adventure. The tagline for this book is “A True Treasure Island Ghost Story.” Let me tell you, this book isn’t really a travelogue. The travel was just an attempt to scrounge up material for the book that Troost admits he was close to being in breach of contract for not delivering. So his solution was to offer a book about retracing the steps of Robert Louis Stevenson. So he loosely followed Stevenson’s path through the Pacific and occasionally sprinkled in some background biographical info about him. I don’t know where the ghost story part was supposed to come in – other than some vague references to being haunted by the past. And that isn’t enough to cut it for me. I expected the title to be a bit on an embellishment; that’s how The Sex Lives of Cannibals was. But this description had too little in common with the actual the book.
But most disappointing was how little the setting came alive. I didn’t get any sense of the locations. I wanted to feel like I was in the South Pacific. I wanted wanderlust and adventure. So while this wasn’t objectively a bad book, it wasn’t what I was promised. And I just didn’t enjoy it.
RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 2 Stars
Attention to Details: 3 Stars
Structure and Development: 2 Stars
Objectivity: 2 Stars
*A jumbled memoir that suffers from some seriously misleading marketing*
I thoroughly enjoyed The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific but never got around to reading any of Troost’s other books. I was looking for some armchair travel, so I thought it would be a good time to pick up Headhunters on my Doorstep.
Unfortunately, Headhunters on my Doorstep was extremely different from my expectations. I expected the humor of his first book as well as that wonderful feeling of wanderlust and explorations of cultures on far-flung portions of the world. What I found instead was a depressing memoir about a man’s recovery from alcoholism.
And yet, this is marketed as travel and adventure. The tagline for this book is “A True Treasure Island Ghost Story.” Let me tell you, this book isn’t really a travelogue. The travel was just an attempt to scrounge up material for the book that Troost admits he was close to being in breach of contract for not delivering. So his solution was to offer a book about retracing the steps of Robert Louis Stevenson. So he loosely followed Stevenson’s path through the Pacific and occasionally sprinkled in some background biographical info about him. I don’t know where the ghost story part was supposed to come in – other than some vague references to being haunted by the past. And that isn’t enough to cut it for me. I expected the title to be a bit on an embellishment; that’s how The Sex Lives of Cannibals was. But this description had too little in common with the actual the book.
But most disappointing was how little the setting came alive. I didn’t get any sense of the locations. I wanted to feel like I was in the South Pacific. I wanted wanderlust and adventure. So while this wasn’t objectively a bad book, it wasn’t what I was promised. And I just didn’t enjoy it.
RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 2 Stars
Attention to Details: 3 Stars
Structure and Development: 2 Stars
Objectivity: 2 Stars
April 30, 2022
An 8 hour unabridged audiobook
Takeaways from this book - alcohol is bad, some pacific islands were very beautiful, some had ritualistic cannibals. I didnt find this nearly as amusing and funny as another book of this author, but it kept my attention - but overall just Okay.
Takeaways from this book - alcohol is bad, some pacific islands were very beautiful, some had ritualistic cannibals. I didnt find this nearly as amusing and funny as another book of this author, but it kept my attention - but overall just Okay.
November 1, 2018
I have to admit this was not my favorite book of JM Troost. I think the descriptions and following of RL Stevenson's adventures were overshadowing Troost"s attempt to follow the trail.
August 15, 2022
I usually love this guy's books. This fell short. Too much about his alcoholism (that had nothing to do with the travel) and not enough about the actual travel.
July 19, 2018
Interesting and funny at times, the author is a recovering alcoholic who sets out to follow in the traveling footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson. Each new island, atoll, and village is approached with humor and wonder.
February 9, 2017
This book just did not do anything for me. I loved The Sex Lives of Cannibals; Getting Stoned with Savages wasn't as good but still had some funny bits. Headhunters really fell flat compared to those two previous works by Maarten Troost.
The premise (a post-rehab Troost retracing the 19th-century South Seas journey made by author Robert Louis Stevenson) actually sounded pretty interesting to me. I like stories of self-discovery and self-healing through travel, and combining that with RLS's trip in the South Seas just seemed irresistible. Alas, it turned out just the opposite--I finished the book, but I had to make myself do so.
A big part of it for me was the merely perfunctory inclusion of the actual traveling in the book. Most of the book is actually about the author's struggles in rehab, his musings on the nature of addiction, etc., which I understand was part of the premise. However, the whole alcohol/drugs struggle dominated the whole story and travel scenes were inserted in the text almost as an afterthought, which is disappointing for a (supposed) travel book. The treatment of RLS is also quite shallow. A sketch of his life is provided, but the connection the author draws between his wanderings and those of RLS is superficial at best.
I also found the humor definitely more straight-out offensive than I remember from his previous books. The humor in this book had a racist edge to it that did not sit well with me at all. Some incidents that were supposed to be funny just weren't, and I got pretty tired of the obnoxious, more-than-slightly-juvenile overtone. I'll still read what he writes in the future (I still have yet to read his book on China which is supposed to be pretty good). I'm just hoping this book isn't the direction his style is going in.
The premise (a post-rehab Troost retracing the 19th-century South Seas journey made by author Robert Louis Stevenson) actually sounded pretty interesting to me. I like stories of self-discovery and self-healing through travel, and combining that with RLS's trip in the South Seas just seemed irresistible. Alas, it turned out just the opposite--I finished the book, but I had to make myself do so.
A big part of it for me was the merely perfunctory inclusion of the actual traveling in the book. Most of the book is actually about the author's struggles in rehab, his musings on the nature of addiction, etc., which I understand was part of the premise. However, the whole alcohol/drugs struggle dominated the whole story and travel scenes were inserted in the text almost as an afterthought, which is disappointing for a (supposed) travel book. The treatment of RLS is also quite shallow. A sketch of his life is provided, but the connection the author draws between his wanderings and those of RLS is superficial at best.
I also found the humor definitely more straight-out offensive than I remember from his previous books. The humor in this book had a racist edge to it that did not sit well with me at all. Some incidents that were supposed to be funny just weren't, and I got pretty tired of the obnoxious, more-than-slightly-juvenile overtone. I'll still read what he writes in the future (I still have yet to read his book on China which is supposed to be pretty good). I'm just hoping this book isn't the direction his style is going in.
June 1, 2015
Review title: Expunging the ghosts of his own addiction
Troost has made a living (fragile as it may be based on his funny "hypothetical" aside about the writing/publishing process) writing short wry accounts of his overseas sojourns. While classified as "travel memoirs" in his author bio here, they are more personal and more rooted than the typical tourist's account--he spent months living on Kiribati with his UN employee girlfriend for "The Sex Lives of Cannibals," his first book.
In Headhunters he takes a further step along the continuum away from the standard travel memoir. While he does journey through the South Pacific, including a return visit to Kiribati, to write about his attempt to retrace the route of Robert Louis Stevenson's journeys a century earlier, he spends more time writing about his experiences as a recovering alcoholic. While Troost employs his usual comic smart-aleck style, here it adds depth and poignancy to the very serious topics of addiction and recovery that he is still facing head on (he passed his one year anniversary clean and sober during the journey) and refuses to duck or minimize. The humor highlights instead of diminishing the seriousness of the subject.
As I wrote in my review of one of his earlier accounts. Troost's strength is as an observer of the cultural and social divides and denominators that bring us together and tear us apart. Here the divides are between non drinkers and the drinking cultures they must negotiate through, and between American and European tourist attitudes toward the cultures, economies, histories, and activities in the countries they were visiting.
If you want a travel memoir of a South Pacific vacation, you might be disappointed. If you enjoy a wry dry with a well-aged bouquet , you might want to order this round.
Troost has made a living (fragile as it may be based on his funny "hypothetical" aside about the writing/publishing process) writing short wry accounts of his overseas sojourns. While classified as "travel memoirs" in his author bio here, they are more personal and more rooted than the typical tourist's account--he spent months living on Kiribati with his UN employee girlfriend for "The Sex Lives of Cannibals," his first book.
In Headhunters he takes a further step along the continuum away from the standard travel memoir. While he does journey through the South Pacific, including a return visit to Kiribati, to write about his attempt to retrace the route of Robert Louis Stevenson's journeys a century earlier, he spends more time writing about his experiences as a recovering alcoholic. While Troost employs his usual comic smart-aleck style, here it adds depth and poignancy to the very serious topics of addiction and recovery that he is still facing head on (he passed his one year anniversary clean and sober during the journey) and refuses to duck or minimize. The humor highlights instead of diminishing the seriousness of the subject.
As I wrote in my review of one of his earlier accounts. Troost's strength is as an observer of the cultural and social divides and denominators that bring us together and tear us apart. Here the divides are between non drinkers and the drinking cultures they must negotiate through, and between American and European tourist attitudes toward the cultures, economies, histories, and activities in the countries they were visiting.
If you want a travel memoir of a South Pacific vacation, you might be disappointed. If you enjoy a wry dry with a well-aged bouquet , you might want to order this round.
October 23, 2013
What better place to escape a dark wet windy Portland, Oregon Fall afternoon than diving into the pages of Troost's latest work. Head Hunters will take readers on a journey that will have them dreaming of myths of the south seas, originally documented by Robert Louis Stevenson, now recycled and examined by one of the best adventure writers of our time.
I'll admit, I'm a big Troost fan. After reading "Sex Lives of Cannibals," and "Getting Stoned With Savages," I was hooked on anything Troost wrote about the Pacific Islands. In the first passages, with a true and blatantly honest account involving personal reflection, Troost shares his experiences of recovering from alcoholism. At the same time he relates his struggle to that of Robert Louis Stevenson's and the bouts of illness that drove the 19th century author to sail and visit the various remote islands of the Pacific.
Throughout this easy flowing non-fictional account of Troost retracing Robert Louis Stevenson's footsteps taken over one hundred years ago, readers will gain a historical perspective of the region. Troost, in his sometimes cynical and laconic reporting style doesn't hold back. He's a master observer and reports his observations within well researched context. His chosen title captures several themes that will come clear to readers, resonating through to the final pages.
Troost fans who enjoyed his earlier works won't be disappointed. He revisits several of the islands where he lived and worked while writing his other books. He points out some of the environmental impacts that global warming is having on the indigenous inhabitants of the remote atolls of Kiribati. The story culminates in Samoa - the resting place of none other than Robert Louis Stevenson.
I'll admit, I'm a big Troost fan. After reading "Sex Lives of Cannibals," and "Getting Stoned With Savages," I was hooked on anything Troost wrote about the Pacific Islands. In the first passages, with a true and blatantly honest account involving personal reflection, Troost shares his experiences of recovering from alcoholism. At the same time he relates his struggle to that of Robert Louis Stevenson's and the bouts of illness that drove the 19th century author to sail and visit the various remote islands of the Pacific.
Throughout this easy flowing non-fictional account of Troost retracing Robert Louis Stevenson's footsteps taken over one hundred years ago, readers will gain a historical perspective of the region. Troost, in his sometimes cynical and laconic reporting style doesn't hold back. He's a master observer and reports his observations within well researched context. His chosen title captures several themes that will come clear to readers, resonating through to the final pages.
Troost fans who enjoyed his earlier works won't be disappointed. He revisits several of the islands where he lived and worked while writing his other books. He points out some of the environmental impacts that global warming is having on the indigenous inhabitants of the remote atolls of Kiribati. The story culminates in Samoa - the resting place of none other than Robert Louis Stevenson.
October 1, 2013
J. Maarten Troost’s first two travel books—The Sex Lives of Cannibals and Getting Stoned with Savages—are hilarious, unforgettable forays into remote South Pacific islands. Although his third book, Lost on Planet China, was not as appealing, Troost returns to form with Headhunters on My Doorstep, an entertaining account of his return to wandering the South Seas, loosely based on re-creating Robert Louis Stevenson’s 19th Century voyages.
Headhunters includes plenty of Troost pondering his battles with alcoholism and his own writing career, but even when his tone is serious, the introspection is lightened with self-deprecation and humor. Laugh-out-loud funny, Troost’s new book provides memorable episodes involving his first tattoo, swimming with sharks, and re-visiting Kiribati, the primary setting of those first two books. Troost’s stories and observations always include colorful, sometimes wacky characters, including an island inhabitant who attempts to explain cannibalism as a valid human activity. Troost also delves into history to provide portrayals of island inhabitants based on the writing of Stevenson and others. For example, artist Paul Gaugin is shown menacing Tahiti as a pedophile miscreant while simultaneously painting idyllic island scenes.
I liked Headhunters on My Doorstep for its humor, insights, and satisfying vicarious tropical adventure. I hope Troost doesn’t wait too long before sharing another journey. Meanwhile, he may have inspired me to bide my time with Treasure Island and Mutiny on the Bounty.
Headhunters includes plenty of Troost pondering his battles with alcoholism and his own writing career, but even when his tone is serious, the introspection is lightened with self-deprecation and humor. Laugh-out-loud funny, Troost’s new book provides memorable episodes involving his first tattoo, swimming with sharks, and re-visiting Kiribati, the primary setting of those first two books. Troost’s stories and observations always include colorful, sometimes wacky characters, including an island inhabitant who attempts to explain cannibalism as a valid human activity. Troost also delves into history to provide portrayals of island inhabitants based on the writing of Stevenson and others. For example, artist Paul Gaugin is shown menacing Tahiti as a pedophile miscreant while simultaneously painting idyllic island scenes.
I liked Headhunters on My Doorstep for its humor, insights, and satisfying vicarious tropical adventure. I hope Troost doesn’t wait too long before sharing another journey. Meanwhile, he may have inspired me to bide my time with Treasure Island and Mutiny on the Bounty.
August 16, 2014
When I saw this at the bookstore the other day, I was so excited, since some of Troost's books are my favorites. How could I have missed this, a new one? Turns out, maybe it would have been better to miss. The author follows Robert Lewis Stevenson's path in the South Pacific, which is where the title comes from, but otherwise the title has nothing to do with the book. As other reviewers have pointed out, a more accurate title would be along the lines of "How Alcoholism Destroyed My Life and Career and Now I'm Going to Travel Aimlessly in the South Pacific to Try to Get a New Book Deal." There's more about addiction than actual travel, I think, and the author's disdain for anything globalized/touristy/or even well-maintained monuments is annoying and perplexing. I think the clincher of just how sad this whole thing was happened when the author got a misshapen Polynesian turtle tattoo. It's a good metaphor for the book overall. The one thing I did glean from it is a great desire to go to Fakarava, which sounds amazing for diving and snorkeling. Other than that, it was all over the place and depressing. The book also ignores an important question: having nearly lost his family to alcoholism, what was their take on him spending a ton of money and time to cruise the South Pacific alone?
December 31, 2015
I liked this book a lot, but I feel it suffers from a disjunction between its content and its title/cover. It's actually mostly about Troost's difficulties with alcoholism, his stay in rehab, and the year since that he's spent sober. While he reflects on that topic, he takes a trip around the South Pacific, vaguely following in the footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson (and occasionally other white 19th century dudes). Because Troost spent so little time in the places he visits for this book, he doesn't have any deep insights to offer about them, just amusing vacation anecdotes. But honestly, I vastly prefer that to the sort of travel writers who write as though taking a commercial cruise somewhere has made them experts; Troost doesn't pretend to be anything he's not. The book's still very funny, with the self-deprecating humor of his earlier books, and full of interesting and random trivia and history. Highly recommended.
(He does mention that he had been planning to write a book on India that fell through due to troubles with his publishing company, which makes me sad. I want the India book!)
(He does mention that he had been planning to write a book on India that fell through due to troubles with his publishing company, which makes me sad. I want the India book!)
June 20, 2014
Troost returns to the South Pacific after 10 plus years, and this time follows in the footsteps of his idol writer Robert Louis Stevenson (whom I also find interesting), through the Marquesas, Tahiti, Fiji, Fukarawa, and back to his first experience with the far South Pacific, Kirabati, ending up in Samoa at Stevenson's grave. This time it's a personal journey of reconnecting with himself again after struggling with alcoholism, going to rehab, and becoming sober. He is very candid and talks much about "the program". The narrative is wry and witty, comic misadventures mixed with real life brutal honesty. Still a lot of history and culture of these remote places is mixed in. This is his most recent book, and I am glad that I read it immediately after his first. A twenty-something's view vs. a forty-something's view, returning to the same place after having had some life experiences. I find a lot of laugh out loud moments in his observations, and I like his words, he keeps me interested.
I'm a big fan of audio, and this one is done very well.
I'm a big fan of audio, and this one is done very well.
September 1, 2013
I loved J. Maarten Troost's earlier travel memoirs, and I had been wondering why it was taking so long for another to be published. As it turns out Troost was struggling with alcoholism and then in rehab, plus it sounds like there were issues with his publisher (probably related to his alcoholism). His troubles play a large role in this latest book, so it is not as fun and zany as his earlier ones, but I still liked it. He follows the trail of Robert Louis Stevenson in the South Pacific, and revisits Kiribati, the locale of his earlier title, The Sex Lives of Cannibals. I enjoyed learning more about Robert Louis Stevenson, since I loved his "A Child's Garden of Verses" when I was a little girl, and have very early memories of his poetry. I wish Troost the best with his sobriety...I remember thinking that in one of his earlier books, that he drank way too much kava (I think in Fiji), so I was not surprised to learn of his later struggle with alcohol.
Read
December 4, 2018This book is so strange, because it's advertised as a travelogue to the fabled islands of the South Pacific, and the title hints at the author's tantalizing capers in it. The South Pacific islands are such a lusH area to explore that the literary proposal for this book should practically sell itself and all the author has to do is not mess up. Yet somehow, once the author gets to this place he spends most of his book studiously avoiding describing his subject and writing about anything that comes to his mind except for the South Pacific-- his alcoholism, his addictions, his backstory of meeting his wife, his time in Europe, his commentary on European economic conditions, his vacations in Hawaii, Israelis, and Governor Rick Perry. I'm really bewildered as to why. Others might still like this book as the author's humor recalls the tartness and many, many digressions and internal rambles of Bill Bryson.
August 14, 2014
Like other readers of this book, I had high expectations that the author would write with much of the same humor he did with his other books. It was hard to get through it. The first 100 pages were mostly about the author's alcoholism and recovery. The remainder of the book was some of that too. I didn't find much Stevenson or any ghosts in the writing, maybe 10% was actually about Stevenson's voyage to the Marquesas. The only reason I didn't give it one star is because there was a little bit of the author's humor that notched it up a little. I really wanted to read more about his unusual experiences written in the comic style he is known for. I barely laughed at all reading this compared to "Lost on Planet China" where I laughed through most of the book. I wish the author the best in his efforts not to relapse and hope this book helped him get through what he needed to...
April 29, 2015
I really enjoyed Troost's other two books about living in the Pacific Islands, and all the eccentricities that come with living there. They were generally hilarious and introduced me to the genre of travel-writing.
This book, starting with the title, was deeply misleading. It might have been more realistically titled "Battling Alcoholism and Cruising with Pensioners: A Midlife-Crisis." I think I was almost halfway through the book before he started focusing on the travel narrative rather than the prevailing narrative, the I'm a recovering alcoholic who replaced addictions with other addictions narrative.
If you are interested in trying out a novel by Troost, look into Getting Stoned With Savages, or The Sex Lives of Cannibals. This one isn't worth the time, even if you are a Troost fan.
This book, starting with the title, was deeply misleading. It might have been more realistically titled "Battling Alcoholism and Cruising with Pensioners: A Midlife-Crisis." I think I was almost halfway through the book before he started focusing on the travel narrative rather than the prevailing narrative, the I'm a recovering alcoholic who replaced addictions with other addictions narrative.
If you are interested in trying out a novel by Troost, look into Getting Stoned With Savages, or The Sex Lives of Cannibals. This one isn't worth the time, even if you are a Troost fan.
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