Lua's Way: Ten Tips on Health and Well-Being for Mainlanders

by Rico

During a week of filming a ludicrous second-chance romance reality show aboard an exquisite hand-built island-hopping Polynesian sailing catamaran in the South Pacific, a humble, laughter-loving, ukulele-playing boat chef from the islands named ‘Lua’ surprisingly imparts much good advice on maintaining good health and well-being on a warming, crowded, and ecologically stressed planet. In this salt-sprayed musical tale of mainland madness, island wisdom, and second chances, writer, musician, and first mate Rico reveals chef Lua’s mindful way of living and joyful spirit of giving and the wisdom of her fellow islanders, who—unlike most mainlanders—recognize and respect natural limits to growth, their embeddedness in Nature, and their direct connection to the natural world—and to its fate.

224 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2016

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Rico is Rico Schacherl, a popular South African cartoonist and illustrator whose projects include corporate communication, advertising, animation, character creation, and children's television.

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was quite disappointed by this book. I should start by saying that I am completely on board with the author's recommendations on how we should live, as individuals and as a society. But I was left feeling that he should have just done what he perhaps really wanted to do and write his straight-up advice for life.

In fact, he has basically done that, but cloaked it in a thin veneer of story, but where all that the characters really do is act as mouthpieces for his views on how we should live, and then all agree with each other about it. Occasionally there's a kiss or a punch thrown in, and then they go back to pontificating. Maybe I should have paid more attention to the sub-title than the book description.

It's a shame, as while the message Rico is seeking to spread is much-needed, I was also kinda interested in the story about the "ludicrous second-chance romance reality show", to break it up a bit! The ending also didn't seem to make much sense to me, but I won't add spoilers.