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The Cauliflower Chronicles: A Grappler's Tale of Self-Discovery and Island Living
When Marshal Carper broke up with his long-time girlfriend, he packed up his white belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and moved from rural Pennsylvania to Hilo, Hawaii to train at the BJ Penn MMA Academy.
The Cauliflower Chronicles follow Carper's adventures and misadventures, both on the mat and around the island. He quickly learns that Hawaii is not the carefree paradise advertised in brochures and finds himself feeling like a foreigner in his own country. On the mat, he experiences Hawaiian fight culture from the inside, goes head to head with BJ Penn, and struggles to overcome injuries. Off the mat, he explores the Hawaiian Independence movement and the effects of colonization, battles with giant cockroaches and centipedes, meets a myriad of colorful locals, and travels the island in the bed of the Red Baron—a rusted 1986 Mazda pick-up truck.
At times sad, shocking, and laugh out-loud funny, The Cauliflower Chronicles is a must-read for both sports fans and travel buffs, showing a side of mixed martial arts and Hawaii not available anywhere else.
The Cauliflower Chronicles follow Carper's adventures and misadventures, both on the mat and around the island. He quickly learns that Hawaii is not the carefree paradise advertised in brochures and finds himself feeling like a foreigner in his own country. On the mat, he experiences Hawaiian fight culture from the inside, goes head to head with BJ Penn, and struggles to overcome injuries. Off the mat, he explores the Hawaiian Independence movement and the effects of colonization, battles with giant cockroaches and centipedes, meets a myriad of colorful locals, and travels the island in the bed of the Red Baron—a rusted 1986 Mazda pick-up truck.
At times sad, shocking, and laugh out-loud funny, The Cauliflower Chronicles is a must-read for both sports fans and travel buffs, showing a side of mixed martial arts and Hawaii not available anywhere else.
- GenresMartial ArtsNonfiction
310 pages, Paperback
First published September 10, 2010
9 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
October 21, 2011
I REALLY, really wanted to like this book. It's right up my alley, and they author is sympathetic and obviously talented. But I have to say, I was sorely disappointed. First, the book clearly needed a stronger editor. It was all over the place - parts of it should have had a red pen taken to them, other parts needed to be developed. Then there is the problem I have with a guy getting his blue belt writing this book. BJJ derserves somebody with a little more seasoning writing this book. No offense, a blue belt in BJJ is no joke. But I think about the book "Falling Hard" - by a man who took up judo on his 50th birthday (and eventually, amazingly, earned his black belt). I'm not blaming the author that he's not yet a black belt, or that he's too young. Finally, I have a problem with the author "going native" after spending half a year in Hawaii. I've spent years and years abroad, and it takes more than that to "get" a place, let alone take it upon yourself to speak for that place. For a better example of just what this book could have been, I refer you to one of my all-time favorites: "The Gloves", by Robert Anasi - about his life as an amateur boxer and budding writer. It's better in every way.
July 15, 2020
White dude learns that being white doesn't make the world go 'round. Also, bjj.
Not a bad book, just lack luster small town white dude problems and relevations. Will give the author that he grew while immersing himself in the unknown and his passion.
Not Shakespeare, but well written. Sad to say, meant for folks who don't read much, aka, most of the BJJ community.
Not a bad book, just lack luster small town white dude problems and relevations. Will give the author that he grew while immersing himself in the unknown and his passion.
Not Shakespeare, but well written. Sad to say, meant for folks who don't read much, aka, most of the BJJ community.
October 1, 2018
Not what I expected.... it was much better. I thought I was purchasing a book about Jiu jitsu, but this book is much more than that. A very personal and real accounting of a young man’s growth during a six month stay in Hawaii. A plethora of information about Hawaii... what to see, how to interact with locals, history and more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 25, 2017
The book is well written and there is some good story telling here, but I wish he would have focused a bit more on BJJ.
Want to read
February 13, 2022Good
October 18, 2013
I learned about this book when Marshall Carper was interviewed on the Fightworks Podcast. I was intrigued to hear about his story since I to am also a practicioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The book is very good. I enjoyed reading about his journey and his getting a Blue Belt from BJ Penn. However, the editor needs to do a better job as there were many mispellings and punctionation marks in places they shouldn't be such as in one instance a period was in the middle of a sentence.
I enjoyed Carper's journey. He struggled to fit in to the new academy and was constantly getting tapped by the much better practicioners at the academy. I could totally relate about the frustration one feels when they get tapped over and over again. And never feeling like you improve.
The only thing I didn't like about the book was his romancing of Hawaiian culture. Carper is only in Hawaii for 5 months. While there he learns about the fact that Hawaiians don't like people from the main land because we colonized the islands and destroyed their culture. After a month he no longer likes "haoles" pronounced "howl-ees," which is the Hawaiian word for non-Hawaiians. After a month he no longer wants to return to his hom in Pittsburgh as he feels that, that life is gone.
This is a typical tourist romancing of a culture and talking like he has had such a deep understanding of a culture or a people even though he/she has only been there for a short period of time. It reminds me of a cruise I took. The last stop was in Haiti where we stopped at a resort. After we left for home all the tourists proclaimed that they loved Haiti the best yet they completely ignored the fact that they didn't see the entire island, only a resort and ignored the men posted with guns on the outskirts of the resort to protect the people inside.
If you can get past that stuff, you have a pretty solid book about learning Jiu-Jitsu in an intense academy and overcoming your own personal weaknesses in order to achieve your goals.
I enjoyed Carper's journey. He struggled to fit in to the new academy and was constantly getting tapped by the much better practicioners at the academy. I could totally relate about the frustration one feels when they get tapped over and over again. And never feeling like you improve.
The only thing I didn't like about the book was his romancing of Hawaiian culture. Carper is only in Hawaii for 5 months. While there he learns about the fact that Hawaiians don't like people from the main land because we colonized the islands and destroyed their culture. After a month he no longer likes "haoles" pronounced "howl-ees," which is the Hawaiian word for non-Hawaiians. After a month he no longer wants to return to his hom in Pittsburgh as he feels that, that life is gone.
This is a typical tourist romancing of a culture and talking like he has had such a deep understanding of a culture or a people even though he/she has only been there for a short period of time. It reminds me of a cruise I took. The last stop was in Haiti where we stopped at a resort. After we left for home all the tourists proclaimed that they loved Haiti the best yet they completely ignored the fact that they didn't see the entire island, only a resort and ignored the men posted with guns on the outskirts of the resort to protect the people inside.
If you can get past that stuff, you have a pretty solid book about learning Jiu-Jitsu in an intense academy and overcoming your own personal weaknesses in order to achieve your goals.
January 11, 2011
I liked this book a lot. While it appears to be about jiu-jitsu on the surface, there is quite a bit about Hawaiian culture and, more importantly, it is about Marshal's journey of self-discovery. I know a little bit about jiu-jitsu so I was not put off by his descriptions of fighting, I knew who the main fighters were that he talked about and understood most of the moves he described. That being said, I think you can enjoy this book even if you don't have that rudimentary knowledge. You also learn more about Hawaiian culture than what is represented in a colorful travel brochure.
My one small nitpick about this book is there are several consistent spelling errors - he uses wondered when he means wandered, peaked when he means peeked. Did no one edit his book and check for these very basic errors?
I enjoyed his writing style and was happy to see him become more comfortable with himself over the course of the book (and his five months in Hawaii). His flip-flopping is a little annoying (I'm a haole and so are my friends; I hate all haoles because they suck), but I realize he is/was young and I suspect he'll have a larger and less easily influenced world view down the road.
My one small nitpick about this book is there are several consistent spelling errors - he uses wondered when he means wandered, peaked when he means peeked. Did no one edit his book and check for these very basic errors?
I enjoyed his writing style and was happy to see him become more comfortable with himself over the course of the book (and his five months in Hawaii). His flip-flopping is a little annoying (I'm a haole and so are my friends; I hate all haoles because they suck), but I realize he is/was young and I suspect he'll have a larger and less easily influenced world view down the road.
March 25, 2016
My expectations going into this book were mixed; the premise sounded like a book that I would love, however, some reviewers pointed out that despite their best efforts, they did not enjoy Marshal's jiu-jitsu journey towards self-discovery. Luckily my instincts were correct, and this was a book that I loved.
Marshal does a great job of not only painting a vivid account of Hawaii and his travels, but also in detailing all the intricate details of his jiu-jitsu progress. As a reader, you can see the author developing and growing not just as an athlete, but as a person as well. You feel that this growth is also reflected in his writing, as his body and physical conditioning increases, his thought processes also increase, specifically in his ability to reflect. It is during these frequent scenes of reflection that we see just how much he has changed from his short stay in Hawaii.
I would recommend this book to fans of MMA, BJJ, or someone who enjoys travel stories that involve the author going through a period of self-discovery.
Marshal does a great job of not only painting a vivid account of Hawaii and his travels, but also in detailing all the intricate details of his jiu-jitsu progress. As a reader, you can see the author developing and growing not just as an athlete, but as a person as well. You feel that this growth is also reflected in his writing, as his body and physical conditioning increases, his thought processes also increase, specifically in his ability to reflect. It is during these frequent scenes of reflection that we see just how much he has changed from his short stay in Hawaii.
I would recommend this book to fans of MMA, BJJ, or someone who enjoys travel stories that involve the author going through a period of self-discovery.
June 25, 2012
Like another reviewer here, I really wanted to like this book. I enjoyed the author's books about Marcelo's tactics. It was well-received on Amazon. And it's about my favorite sport, one I have been intimately involved in for 16 years.
So it pains me to admit, that this book is OK, is readable, but excels in zero facets. The writing is grammatically competent and there are flashes of potential, but the content is just not compelling. There is no depth! There are better armchair-travel books on Hawaii, better nonfiction tales of budding new fighters, better books to learn about jiujitsu. And the author's narratives about his attempts at romance are clumsily inserted.
About the only good thing about this book is the detailed picture of how things run at BJ Penn's gym in Hilo. Pass on this, or, buy it used. Of value only to die-hard BJ Penn fans or to those who personally know the author.
No disrespect is intended by this review.
January 21, 2014
This book is 1/3 travelogue about Hawaii, 1/3 about training BJJ, and 1/3 coming of age story. The author is a talented writer that pulls the reader in with him, but I must admit I found myself skimming many of the anecdotes not related to training.
I would recommend this book primarily to people interested in BJJ that do not have a wealth of experience with it, as the author shows how his experiences both on and off the mat build his confidence and make him walk a little taller. People knowledgeable about the sport might not find the book as informative, but it is always interesting to hear someone's story of falling in love with the sport.
I would recommend this book primarily to people interested in BJJ that do not have a wealth of experience with it, as the author shows how his experiences both on and off the mat build his confidence and make him walk a little taller. People knowledgeable about the sport might not find the book as informative, but it is always interesting to hear someone's story of falling in love with the sport.
February 25, 2016
I really liked this book, I had chosen this book right when I was getting into jiu jitsu myself. I wanted to see how this author experienced being a white belt, since I am a white belt. It was cool seeing how the author was able to incorporate some aspects of his personal life into the story. He often mentioned his girlfriend who he had just broken up with in Philadelphia, and would mention how his lifestyle was changed due to the major differences in Island life and city life.
September 27, 2012
Really fun, well written read. About a kid who leaves it all behind to train in Hawaii with his (and my) idol, BJJ Black Belt BJ Penn. Inspired me to get off my butt and get back into the gym, and soon back onto the mat.
July 15, 2013
Read this book a year after I started training BJJ. Kind of similar with the author as I has a bad relationship that ended as well. Learned how to almost live with jiu jitsu as oppose to in it. I travel that fine line and I am aware of it because of this book.
August 13, 2013
Absolutely fantastic book, highly recommended for all lovers of BJJ. I went into this book expecting a BJJ journey & finished learning a lot about both Hawaiian culture, history, & the author as well. I would love to visit Hawaii someday & hope I would come off as too awful a haole!
November 6, 2012
Marshal is a white belt as a BJJ practitioner, as a writer, and as a human being.
August 8, 2014
excellent Hilo stories and description. story itself is fair.
March 20, 2017
I liked the story... and how he lived on an island, doing Jiu-Jitsu twice a day while subsisting on ramen noodles and drinking out of the same water bottle the entire time.
July 11, 2012
I thought this was a great little book. Good on Marshall for putting so much of himself out there!
April 3, 2017
It is a nice memoir and easy to read. The author is inexperienced and sometimes the story is too long and not relevant to the readers. I liked and I gave 4 stars because I like BJJ and the story is interesting in the BJJ view.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews